SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, we do intend to remain engaged politically in the Balkans - that's why I am here today for my first contact group meeting, notwithstanding other issues that the United States has been facing in the last few days. But it was important for me to be here as a sign of the commitment of the Bush administration to the Balkans and to our mutual efforts in the Balkans. We do have military forces both in SFOR and KFOR. We are always reviewing the size of that commitment, but our forces will stay here as part of our Alliance commitment, and as I have said previously on a variety of occasions, we came in together and we will go out together. So, yes, we are committed. And yes, the United States supports the prospect of elections by the end of this year.

QUESTION: Do you think that today with your colleagues you are fighting against what we call the KLA- the Kosovo Liberation Army - a bunch of terrorists. Do you think you are on the right track today when in the past your predecessor Madeleine Albright was very close to these people and was favoring them in some ways?

SECRETARY POWELL: The United States is working with its friends and colleagues in the region to fight terrorism, to fight extremism, to fight those forces that would deny people safety in their homes, safety on their streets and the prospect of a good life in a democratic system.

QUESTION: When do you believe that Milosevic will be handed over to the Hague? Do you believe that Kostunica is in a position to hand over Mr. Milosevic in the foreseeable future? The second question is, how worried are you that the mutiny by Croatian Bosnian soldiers could undermine or is undermining the Dayton Accords?

SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know when Mr. Milosevic will be handed over. I believe he ultimately will be handed over because I believe that the Serbian and Yugoslavian authorities will realize that, at the end of the day, they must comply with the will of the international community with respect to the administration of international justice, so I think that will happen. And yes, I am concerned about some of the actions of the HDZ undermining what we have accomplished since Dayton five years ago, six years ago now. So I will be following that very carefully and giving a message of support when I am in the region later this week.

QUESTION: I wonder, now that Serbia has arrested Milosevic, how important do you think it is that the problem in Bosnia be resolved, because Karadzic still seems to be wandering around, and there are other people. Should SFOR take a more active role now to finish this issue up? Maybe Mr. Cook, Secretary Powell or Mr. Vedrine would have some comments.

MINISTER VEDRINE: A lot of war criminals have been charged by the courts and have been arrested over the last few years, particularly the last few months in fact, and that will continue until they've all been arrested. It's as simple as that.

SECRETARY POWELL: I have nothing to add to that.

MINISTER COOK: In fairness to SFOR, SFOR has been very active in carrying out the arrest of quite a large number of the indicted war criminals with Bosnia, and indeed we are not aware of any other currently indicted war criminals in our sector.

QUESTION: Do you see any light at the end of the tunnel for the U.S. peacekeeping presence in the Balkans? I know you say it's up to NATO. What can you tell Americans? How long will our troops be there? Is there any end-game at all?

SECRETARY POWELL: We are constantly reviewing our troop levels both in SFOR and in KFOR, and all of us here, not just Americans, all of us would like for the troop levels to go down as quickly as possible as we transition to a more peaceful situation in the various places. The United States has made some reductions recently to bring us down to authorized levels, and we are constantly talking to our friends in NATO and others who are present in the region to see how best to perform the mission. But there is no end point. We have established no time by which U.S. troops have to be out. We're constantly looking to see if there are police forces or civilian organizations that could be and should be performing the role that troops are performing. So we are constantly looking at the mix and we participate in the regular reviews of the size of the forces, and we are looking for opportunities to draw down, but not for opportunities to bail out.

QUESTION: We know at the moment that the International Court has been very much criticized in Serbia. Do you think that, given the International Court's approach, these criticisms are justified?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think that the International Court is doing the job it was given. It has identified a number of individuals who should be brought to international justice, and they have been pursuing those individuals aggressively and openly, seeking the cooperation of authorities in Belgrade. I compliment the International Court for not shrinking from its duties.

QUESTION: President Bush has said that with every day that passed with the aircrew held in China, the greater the risk of the relations between the United States and China being damaged. What is your assessment of the damage to relations now, as you contemplate their return? And given that the United States went from expressing regret to saying sorry, to saying very sorry, why couldn't you just have apologized in the first place?

SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to the second part of your question, there was nothing to apologize for. To apologize would have suggested that we had done something wrong and were accepting responsibility for having done something wrong, and we did not do anything wrong, and therefore it was not possible to apologize.

With respect to the words that you use- regret, sorrow, very sorry � they were related to two specific things: one, the loss of the young Chinese pilot's life- and the death of anyone diminishes us all in some way � and so we were expressing the fact that we were sorry, very sorry, and regret the loss of his life. President Bush also wrote to his wife.

With respect to the second place where we used that language it had to do with the fact that we entered their airspace without permission, because we were unable to get permission. But that young pilot was faced with a crisis. His plane had been badly damaged, and he had to get it on the ground. He had twenty-three lives plus his own to save. Niceties and formalities were not available to him at that moment, and he did a marvelous job of putting the plane on the ground. But he did enter airspace without permission and landed without permission, and for that we are very sorry, but glad that he did it.

QUESTION: What about damage to relations?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think we've stopped this process that was unfolding before it became more serious. I think we'll just have to see how things settle out. This is not over. Some discussions will begin, and we still have our plane there, but this will all unfold in the days and weeks ahead. I don't see anything that isn't recoverable.

QUESTION: Most of the countries sitting here at this table have started recognizing North Korea, with two big exceptions � France and the U.S. especially. Why?

SECRETARY POWELL: North Korea is still a country that presents a very, very serious threat to our ally South Korea. Its army is poised at the border of that country. It's a totalitarian regime. We have serious differences with respect to some of the activities of that regime, with missile proliferation, weapons proliferation, some of the programs they've had in the past.

In recent years we have had discussions with North Korea. We are looking very carefully and conducting a review with respect to North Korea, looking how we might monitor and verify some of the ideas that are out on the table with respect to control of such activities. In due course we will engage, and will continue to support President Kim Dae Jung in the South and his efforts. But we are nowhere near even considering anything like diplomatic relations with North Korea because of the reasons I just cited.

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