Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Officials Say Missiles Were Heading to Yemen from North Korea

Aired December 11, 2002 - 05:01   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: Let's get right back to our top story now, those missiles U.S. officials say were heading to Yemen from North Korea. They were found on a Spanish frigate, acting on information from U.S. authorities, ordered the ship, So San, to stop. The ship refused until warning shots were fired across its bow. This took place on Monday several hundred miles off the coast of Yemen in the Indian Ocean. But who wanted those missiles?
Let's talk about them for a second. The SCUD has a range of 185 miles. It can carry a single warhead up to 2,200 pounds. It was developed by the Soviets in the 1950s and it's not very accurate.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is likely to be talking about those missiles today. He's visiting South Korea and he had this to say late last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: This was suspected by American authorities for some time and I think it is what it is, North Korea, as Dr. Rice, our national security adviser, has said time and again, is one of the major proliferators and it appears that she was busy proliferating again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we want to see if we can get more on this story.

Al Goodman is our correspondent in Madrid, Spain, and he joins us live on the phone from there -- good morning, Al.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

One of the big questions right now is where is this ship with the SCUDs right now? A senior aide to Spain's defense minister, who will give a news briefing in about an hour, has told CNN this morning that the ship is heading under armed escort to a major naval base in the area where U.S. troops are stationed. This aide would not disclose the country where that base is.

Now, the same aide several hours ago overnight told us he thought it was going to Bahrain. He corrected that this morning and said he didn't know exactly which base it was going to.

We are told by American authorities that American weapons experts are aboard that ship. We're not sure who else besides the 21 North Korean crew members are aboard the ship. It would be a Spanish frigate that is escorting the ship and it was a Spanish frigate that, of course, did the armed intervention on the ship on Monday. And since then they have discovered apparently 12 intact SCUD missiles and a Spanish official telling CNN there were parts to make about eight more. So about 20 SCUDs or parts on this ship -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Al, I have two questions for you. One, why did Spanish ships intercept this North Korean vessel? And who ordered it to do so? Who gave it the information?

GOODMAN: Carol, a Spanish frigate, Navarra, has been in those waters as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which is basically meant to choke off the escape of al Qaeda members from Afghanistan. That's been in operation for a while. The frigate happens to be the ship in command of a multinational fleet in that section and that's why it intervened, acting on intelligence reports from the United States.

Now, one quick...

COSTELLO: Well, there you go, intelligence from the United States. The other question, in light of that is why was the ship stopped so far from Yemen if the United States intelligence sources thought it was going there?

GOODMAN: Well, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in his comments earlier this day seemed to indicate that what the United States is going to try to do is blame the North Koreans for this. He said the North Koreans apparently have been caught, meaning selling or proliferating these ballistic missiles, and what they're probably not going to try to do is blame Yemen. And that's why they did not wait for the ship right to get into a port in Yemen, because then Yemen could not deny that that was the best nation.

By taking it several hundred miles off the coast, Yemen can say we didn't know anything and Spanish media, Carol, is reporting that Yemen, the government of Yemen has an official no comment on this for now.

COSTELLO: Al Goodman, thanks.

And just a note to you, our viewers, Yemen has been a very good friend to the United States in its war on terror. You connect the dots there.

Could those missiles, though, have been intended for use in Yemen? We want to get a quick snapshot look at the nation on the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen, a land of coastal and upland plains with mountains and a desert interior has 18.7 million people. The majority of its people are Muslim, but there are small numbers of Jews, Christians and Hindus. The per capita income is $820 U.S. And to complicate things, as I said, it has been a very good friend of the United States in the war on terror. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, we'll talk about all of this with CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd. He's at the U.S. war games in Qatar right now.

And did you know the SCUD missile was developed by the Soviets using blueprints from the German V-2? Just one of the facts you can find on our Web site. It's all there, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.

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




North Korea>


Aired December 11, 2002 - 05:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right back to our top story now, those missiles U.S. officials say were heading to Yemen from North Korea. They were found on a Spanish frigate, acting on information from U.S. authorities, ordered the ship, So San, to stop. The ship refused until warning shots were fired across its bow. This took place on Monday several hundred miles off the coast of Yemen in the Indian Ocean. But who wanted those missiles?
Let's talk about them for a second. The SCUD has a range of 185 miles. It can carry a single warhead up to 2,200 pounds. It was developed by the Soviets in the 1950s and it's not very accurate.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is likely to be talking about those missiles today. He's visiting South Korea and he had this to say late last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: This was suspected by American authorities for some time and I think it is what it is, North Korea, as Dr. Rice, our national security adviser, has said time and again, is one of the major proliferators and it appears that she was busy proliferating again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we want to see if we can get more on this story.

Al Goodman is our correspondent in Madrid, Spain, and he joins us live on the phone from there -- good morning, Al.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

One of the big questions right now is where is this ship with the SCUDs right now? A senior aide to Spain's defense minister, who will give a news briefing in about an hour, has told CNN this morning that the ship is heading under armed escort to a major naval base in the area where U.S. troops are stationed. This aide would not disclose the country where that base is.

Now, the same aide several hours ago overnight told us he thought it was going to Bahrain. He corrected that this morning and said he didn't know exactly which base it was going to.

We are told by American authorities that American weapons experts are aboard that ship. We're not sure who else besides the 21 North Korean crew members are aboard the ship. It would be a Spanish frigate that is escorting the ship and it was a Spanish frigate that, of course, did the armed intervention on the ship on Monday. And since then they have discovered apparently 12 intact SCUD missiles and a Spanish official telling CNN there were parts to make about eight more. So about 20 SCUDs or parts on this ship -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Al, I have two questions for you. One, why did Spanish ships intercept this North Korean vessel? And who ordered it to do so? Who gave it the information?

GOODMAN: Carol, a Spanish frigate, Navarra, has been in those waters as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which is basically meant to choke off the escape of al Qaeda members from Afghanistan. That's been in operation for a while. The frigate happens to be the ship in command of a multinational fleet in that section and that's why it intervened, acting on intelligence reports from the United States.

Now, one quick...

COSTELLO: Well, there you go, intelligence from the United States. The other question, in light of that is why was the ship stopped so far from Yemen if the United States intelligence sources thought it was going there?

GOODMAN: Well, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in his comments earlier this day seemed to indicate that what the United States is going to try to do is blame the North Koreans for this. He said the North Koreans apparently have been caught, meaning selling or proliferating these ballistic missiles, and what they're probably not going to try to do is blame Yemen. And that's why they did not wait for the ship right to get into a port in Yemen, because then Yemen could not deny that that was the best nation.

By taking it several hundred miles off the coast, Yemen can say we didn't know anything and Spanish media, Carol, is reporting that Yemen, the government of Yemen has an official no comment on this for now.

COSTELLO: Al Goodman, thanks.

And just a note to you, our viewers, Yemen has been a very good friend to the United States in its war on terror. You connect the dots there.

Could those missiles, though, have been intended for use in Yemen? We want to get a quick snapshot look at the nation on the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen, a land of coastal and upland plains with mountains and a desert interior has 18.7 million people. The majority of its people are Muslim, but there are small numbers of Jews, Christians and Hindus. The per capita income is $820 U.S. And to complicate things, as I said, it has been a very good friend of the United States in the war on terror. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, we'll talk about all of this with CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd. He's at the U.S. war games in Qatar right now.

And did you know the SCUD missile was developed by the Soviets using blueprints from the German V-2? Just one of the facts you can find on our Web site. It's all there, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.

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




North Korea>