Powell, Rice defend Bush's 'axis of evil' speech

Secretary of State Colin Powell called the president's statement "very powerful and clear and honest."

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Bush administration officials Sunday defended the president's characterization of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil," urging international critics to redirect their ire.

"My European colleagues should be pounding on Iraq as quickly as they pound on us when the president makes a strong, principled speech," Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer."

Bush's use of the "axis" term during his State of the Union address last month elicited international criticism from allies and the three countries named alike.

"There's a bit of a stir in Europe, but it's a stir I think we'll be able to manage ... [to] move forward and gather the support we need," Powell said.

On ABC's "This Week," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Iran, Iraq and North Korea share certain characteristics.

"They are repressive regimes that are opaque -- that are difficult to know what they are doing," she said. "They are regimes that have been very, very harsh on their people. They're also regimes that are aggressively seeking weapons of mass destruction."

Powell said that both "good things" and "not-so-good things" have been happening in Iran.

"So I think the president's characterization was an accurate one, and perhaps some of the condemnatory language you've been hearing should be directed toward these nations rather than toward the president's very powerful and clear and honest statement," he said.

He added that Europeans doing business with Iran should be concerned that the country is developing nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them.

Powell was in the Far East on a six-day, three-nation trip with the president. The U.S. contingent arrived Sunday in Japan and is scheduled to fly Tuesday to South Korea and then Wednesday on to China.

"Our policy with respect to North Korea remains one of hoping they will engage," Powell said. "We haven't taken that off the table. We've asked North Korea, 'Come, let's talk. Anytime, any place, without any preconditions. We're waiting.' "

But the "evil" label still fits, he said.

"It is evil -- not the people of North Korea, but the regime itself and the way it has conducted its business for the last 50 years," he said.

Rice agreed.

"The president has an obligation to warn the American people, our allies and our friends, the world that we have a real problem in North Korea," she told ABC.

Responding to international backlash against the ongoing sanctions imposed on Iraq, Powell told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must let weapons inspectors re-enter his country without constraints. "The inspectors should be allowed to return or the sanctions have to remain in place," Powell said.

The secretary of state then reiterated a sentiment increasingly voiced by Bush administration officials in recent days.

"Until that regime is changed, [Hussein's] neighbors have much to fear, and quite frankly we have much to fear. We would like to see a regime come in that represents all the people of Iraq," he said.