The fact that it took two weeks to free downed U.S. helicopter pilot Bobby Hall from North Korea highlights a split in the communist government.
Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., who was in North Korea Dec. 17 when the helicopter was downed, saw a power struggle between civilian and military forces.
He said that while the civilian foreign ministry, headed by Kim Jong Il, son of the late dictator Kim Il Sung, wanted to work with the United States, the military did not.
"The military still has a Cold War mentality and wanted to teach us a lesson. . . . They had the upper hand," he said.
But he said he urged Clinton to use a soft-pedal approach, without threats. That way, he said, the moderate forces who wanted to cooperate could gain some leverage.
Through it all, the United States steadfastly refused to say the helicopter was spying, as North Korea charged.
"The helicopter made a mistake and got into their airspace. But it was a routine training mission," Clinton said again Thursday.
Hall's release came not a minute too soon for Clinton.
The incident, carrying all the markings of a prolonged Cold War standoff, was threatening to become an embarrassment for Clinton and ran the risk of making him look weak if it carried on much longer.
However, in the face of growing unrest among Republicans in Congress who thought the president was being too cautious and conciliatory, Clinton carefully continued to play his cards close to the vest.
By not making any harsh public statements against North Korea, he hoped to win Hall's release without jeopardizing the nuclear pact struck last fall.
The strategy apparently paid off.
But former Bush administration secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger says that while the velvet-glove treatment may have worked this time, the administration shouldn't be fooled into thinking the North Koreans are now ready to play by the rules.
"This is a regime that is every bit as vicious as anything Adolf Hitler ever put together," he said.
