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CNN Live At Daybreak

Global Minute: Five Years Since Princess Diana's Death

Aired August 30, 2002 - 05:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Eli Flournoy, our senior international editor, joins us now to talk more about what we're covering internationally throughout the day. And I guess we have to start with Princess Diana. It's been five years since her death.
ELI FLOURNOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, it's hard to believe. It doesn't seem like it's been that long ago. And I'll never forget, I was here when the news first broke that Diana's car had crashed in Paris. And then the coverage just started from there.

And, indeed, tomorrow is the five year anniversary of Princess Diana's death and the death of Dodi al-Fayed, her companion at that time. And we are going to be doing some coverage later today. We're going to be up at Althorpe in Northampton where she is buried, a family estate. And we'll have Richard Quest live from up there throughout the day and we'll be doing some coverage here tomorrow, also.

There's a little bit of controversy over the anniversary and marking her death each year in Paris. They made a memorial to her death but they moved it away from the site. The site of her death was in a tunnel. It was on, you know, obviously in the midst of traffic.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

FLOURNOY: But people wanted to mark it, still want to put the flowers there and gather there. They want to go to the actual site and not to the official site, which is a few blocks away. So there's a little bit of controversy there, but people still are remembering the legacy of Princess Diana and we certainly will never forget how that happened here.

COSTELLO: Oh, I know. It was just, you know, it was just so surprising to find out just how popular she really was after her death, because I don't think anybody really realized how beloved she was.

FLOURNOY: Right. No, that's absolutely true. It just, it just went worldwide.

COSTELLO: It was astounding.

FLOURNOY: Yes, it was incredible.

COSTELLO: I was in Washington at the time and at the British embarrass. Americans came by the dozens and put flowers and notes and candles. It was just an amazing sight. FLOURNOY: Yes, the outpouring of grief was incredible.

COSTELLO: Yes. What else do you have on the agenda?

FLOURNOY: Well, we've got a couple areas of progress with regard to North Korea and talks that are going on now between North and South Korea and also with Japan. And we just had announcements earlier today that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, is going to go to South Korea for the first time for a visit next month. And also next month, there's a plan for Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi to go to North Korea. And both those are very significant.

COSTELLO: Wow. Yes.

FLOURNOY: And we'll be watching out for those and be planning major coverage of those visits. Interesting to note that Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi called President Bush before agreeing to this visit to ask essentially for his blessing and permission for what is meant to be a one day visit. And President Bush has given the, his OK on that despite the axis of evil, North Korea being part of George Bush's axis of evil with Iraq and Iran.

COSTELLO: North Korea, right.

FLOURNOY: So that will be very interesting to see those talks and see whether there's any more progress with regard to U.S. and North Korea talks in the future.

COSTELLO: Hopefully there will be.

Eli Flournoy, thank you very much.

We'll let you get back to work and we'll check back with you guys on Monday.

FLOURNOY: OK.

COSTELLO: OK.

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