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North Korea Admits It Has Secret Nuclear Weapons Program

Aired October 17, 2002 - 05:02   ET

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


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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Even as President Bush considers going to war with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction, there is a new threat from another member of Mr. Bush's so-called axis of evil. North Korea now admits that it has a secret nuclear weapons program. But unlike the drumbeat of war with Iraq, the Bush administration says it prefers to use diplomacy to diffuse the North Korean threat.
We have more now on North Korea's nuclear admission.

CNN Seoul bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae is on the phone right now -- good morning, Jia-Ae.

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: How did this come to light?

JIE-AE: Well, South -- the U.S. assistant secretary of state, James Kelly, made a visit to North Korea earlier in the month. And during, it was during this visit that he met with top North Korean leaders. One of them was Kung Juk-chu (ph). Apparently, the North Korean official Kung made this comment to Mr. Kelly during his visit, taking Mr. Kelly by surprise. And Kelly, Mr. Kelly then came back to Washington and reported his findings.

It has been, it has come to light just today.

COSTELLO: And I understand that the Korean official looked at the American official and said, "Your president called us a member of the axis of evil. Your troops are deployed on the Korean Peninsula, of course we have a nuclear program."

JIE-AE: Yes.

COSTELLO: So North Korea is sort of blaming the United States.

JIE-AE: Yes, that's what many people here in South Korea, analysts believe, that it is sort of an admission, a sort of outburst of now North Korea, a sign that they were very unhappy with the way that President Bush has dealt with the North Korean government since it came to office. President Bush not only condemning North Korea as one of the countries forming the axis of evil, it has said it is a regime that cannot be trusted and it has continued a very hard-line stance towards North Korea.

Many analysts here believe this is sort of a tit for tat from North Korea towards the Bush administration.

COSTELLO: So how far along do you think they are in North Korea with developing a weapon of mass destruction?

JIE-AE: Well, that's very hard to tell and that may be the question that many people are asking themselves at the moment. Before the 1994 agreement in which North Korea agreed with Washington and other neighboring countries, such as Japan and South Korea, that it would freeze its nuclear power program, it was believed they had enough plutonium reprocessing capabilities to make two nuclear bombs. We're not sure at this point whether it has gone beyond that capability -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So would you say that North Korea is farther along in developing a nuclear weapon than is Iraq?

JIE-AE: Well, that is, again, very hard to tell. It may be. But at this point, North Korea, because it is surrounded by countries like South Korea and Japan, which it actually wants to develop relations with, may be at this present time less of a threat in terms that it is looking, many analysts believe, to use the nuclear card as a negotiating card more than anything else -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Thank you very much.

Sohn Jie-Ae reporting live this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 17, 2002 - 05:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Even as President Bush considers going to war with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction, there is a new threat from another member of Mr. Bush's so-called axis of evil. North Korea now admits that it has a secret nuclear weapons program. But unlike the drumbeat of war with Iraq, the Bush administration says it prefers to use diplomacy to diffuse the North Korean threat.
We have more now on North Korea's nuclear admission.

CNN Seoul bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae is on the phone right now -- good morning, Jia-Ae.

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: How did this come to light?

JIE-AE: Well, South -- the U.S. assistant secretary of state, James Kelly, made a visit to North Korea earlier in the month. And during, it was during this visit that he met with top North Korean leaders. One of them was Kung Juk-chu (ph). Apparently, the North Korean official Kung made this comment to Mr. Kelly during his visit, taking Mr. Kelly by surprise. And Kelly, Mr. Kelly then came back to Washington and reported his findings.

It has been, it has come to light just today.

COSTELLO: And I understand that the Korean official looked at the American official and said, "Your president called us a member of the axis of evil. Your troops are deployed on the Korean Peninsula, of course we have a nuclear program."

JIE-AE: Yes.

COSTELLO: So North Korea is sort of blaming the United States.

JIE-AE: Yes, that's what many people here in South Korea, analysts believe, that it is sort of an admission, a sort of outburst of now North Korea, a sign that they were very unhappy with the way that President Bush has dealt with the North Korean government since it came to office. President Bush not only condemning North Korea as one of the countries forming the axis of evil, it has said it is a regime that cannot be trusted and it has continued a very hard-line stance towards North Korea.

Many analysts here believe this is sort of a tit for tat from North Korea towards the Bush administration.

COSTELLO: So how far along do you think they are in North Korea with developing a weapon of mass destruction?

JIE-AE: Well, that's very hard to tell and that may be the question that many people are asking themselves at the moment. Before the 1994 agreement in which North Korea agreed with Washington and other neighboring countries, such as Japan and South Korea, that it would freeze its nuclear power program, it was believed they had enough plutonium reprocessing capabilities to make two nuclear bombs. We're not sure at this point whether it has gone beyond that capability -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So would you say that North Korea is farther along in developing a nuclear weapon than is Iraq?

JIE-AE: Well, that is, again, very hard to tell. It may be. But at this point, North Korea, because it is surrounded by countries like South Korea and Japan, which it actually wants to develop relations with, may be at this present time less of a threat in terms that it is looking, many analysts believe, to use the nuclear card as a negotiating card more than anything else -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Thank you very much.

Sohn Jie-Ae reporting live this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com