Some administration officials say they refuse to call it a red line because it would look as if Washington were threatening military strikes. Others admit there is a far simpler explanation: while the message is clear, the policy response is not. “What exactly do you want us to do?” asks one exasperated administration official.
Word games have been common when handling North Korea. The administration refused to call the situation a crisis, then refused the notion of bilateral talks–at least to begin with. (“We’ll have to talk to them,” Powell admitted this week, “but a multilateral forum is the best way.”) But Korean analysts expect the North to edge closer to the brink as soon as war begins in Iraq. This could mean a missile test close to South Korea or Japan, or a plume of smoke rising from the reprocessing plant. Either way, the North looks determined to cross any number of red lines.
