By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Declaring ``the story in the Balkans is not finished,'' Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (news - web sites) urged designated successor Colin Powell (news - web sites) to stay the course there - and on the Korean peninsula, as well.

In an unusually frank and public burst of advice, Albright said Tuesday that the Clinton administration's policy of military intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo had been vindicated by the emergence of democratic trends.

Unfortunately for Powell, she said, by the time his 1995 book appeared questioning U.S. intervention in the Balkans ``the limited application of limited force in Bosnia was working.''

The timing, Albright said, ``was probably ironic.''

As for North Korea (news - web sites), Albright at a news conference said of the incoming Bush administration, ``I hope they pick up where we left off.''

Albright referred to a policy of trying to improve U.S. relations with the insular Communist regime while also freezing its nuclear weapons and urging it to halt development and proliferation of missiles.

She made a historic trip in October to Pyongyang to try to talk Chairman Kim Jong Il into curbing his missile program. President Clinton (news - web sites) considered a visit but said Dec. 28 he would not make the trip because he did not have enough time to make it successful.

Clinton also said he looked to his successor, Bush, for more progress on curbing the North's missile program before more aggressive engagement with Pyongyang.

In mid-December, South Korean (news - web sites) President Kim Dae-jung (news - web sites) and Bush agreed to meet soon to discuss cooperation in dealing with North Korea.

Kim, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his rapprochement initiative toward the communist neighbor, sent Bush a message after his election saying he wanted continued U.S. support for his ``sunshine policy'' of peaceful engagement with North Korea.

``I keep making the point with individuals, and as I speak out publicly, that foreign policy doesn't come in four-year blocks,'' Albright said with just 11 days left on the job. ``There is a continuum.''

Powell, who spent 35 years in the military, long has counseled restraint in the use of American force.

On a book tour in 1995, he said he supported the deployment of 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia as part of a NATO (news - web sites) peacekeeping force but doubted the long-term prospects for peace there.

``Is the national interest at stake?'' is the way he has summarized his cautious doctrine. ``If the answer is yes, go in, and go in to win. Otherwise, stay out.''

Powell said in October that the Bush administration would undertake an immediate review of U.S. deployments in Kosovo, Bosnia and other places once the new administration takes over.

``Our forces are stretched rather thin,'' he said, ``and there is a limit to how many of these deployments we can sustain.''

Albright has had several meetings with Powell in this period of transition. Powell told reporters on Capitol Hill, where he visited senior senators, that he would not speak about Balkans issues until his confirmation hearing next Tuesday.

At the beginning of the Clinton presidency, Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, argued against U.S. military involvement in the ethnic conflict in Bosnia.

Albright, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (news - web sites) and a strong advocate of using force to end ethnic slaughter, is said to have stared at Powell and asked: ``What's the point in having this superb military you are always talking about if we can't use it?''

In his book, Powell said of the incident: ``I thought I would have an aneurysm. American GIs were not toy soldiers to be moved around on some sort of global gameboard.''

More than 9,000 American troops are stationed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, part of peacekeeping missions negotiated by the Clinton administration following the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in 1991.

President-elect Bush in his second debate with Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites), said he would ``very much like to get our troops out'' of the Balkans and would work with the European allies ``to convince them to put troops on the ground.''

Supporters of the peacekeeping mission see the presence of U.S. troops as a guarantee that the United States would use its diplomatic, economic and political weight to ensure the region did not explode again into armed conflict.

Albright, at Tuesday's news conference, said ``there needs to be a policy where diplomacy and force work together, and the limited application of limited force in various area is useful.''

And, she said, ``I believe that the story in the Balkans is not finished, and that the next administration needs to keep in mind that our presence there is very important.''

However, she pointed out, most of the peacekeeping force and economic assistance to promote democracy ``is coming from the Europeans, as it should be.''

On other subjects Tuesday, Albright said:

- ``It is only frustrating at this point that, with so few days left, that we've not been able'' to conclude a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

American mediator Dennis B. Ross is to leave Wednesday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (news - web sites) and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites). ``We are going to work as long as possible,'' Albright said.

- She was sorry the Clinton administration had ``the issue of Saddam Hussein'' to pass on to the next administration. But, she said, the Iraqi president is weaker and has been contained.