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CNN Live At Daybreak
North Korea's Nukes
Aired December 24, 2002 - 06:02 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea is topping our news today. The communist nation is apparently ignoring all warnings from Washington. It is moving ahead with its nuclear program.
Our Seoul bureau chief, Sohn Jie-Ae, has the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): According to a South Korean government official, North Korea started removing UN monitoring equipment from a plant producing nuclear fuel logs (ph), following their removal from a deactivated nuclear power plant.
South Korea's outgoing president, Kim Dae-jung, condemned such action and told his cabinet that the North Korean nuclear problem was growing more serious by the day.
PRES. KIM DAE-JUNG, SOUTH KOREA (through translator): We have said it repeatedly, and sometimes we presented it on documents, that we can never go along with North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, including missiles or nuclear weapons, and that this is the absolute condition for talks.
JIE-AE: Observers say North Korea already has enough materials to make as many as six nuclear weapons, and the fear is that more are on the way. Over the weekend, the north started removing the safety seals and blocked surveillance cameras placed by international monitoring agencies at facilities in Yongbyong.
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, IAEA: It's a rapidly deteriorating situation, not only that they have taken the cameras and surveillance verification monitoring equipment from the power reactor where they supposedly want to produce electricity, but yesterday and today, continued to take all of the equipment from the spent fuel and the repossessing plant which would enable them if they restart the program to make plutonium in pretty few months. And that's a pretty disturbing intent (ph).
JIE-AE: North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in 1994 in exchange for new reactors and shipments of alternative fuel oil. North Korean officials say they have been forced to restart the program, because a U.S.-led consortium decided to stop the alternative shipments after Pyongyang disclosed it had another active nuclear weapons program.
But there's also a political component. U.S. officials say North Korea's Kim Jong Il, is trying to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea's new president-elect, Roh Moo-Hyun. Amid a wave of anti- Americanism, Moo said during the campaign he would review South Korea's alliance with the United States.
(on camera): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Washington is talking tough with the north, South Korea and its new president aren't ready to cut out communications with its northern neighbor. Now, the nuclear crisis may be forcing the new president to make an early choice as to just how independent from Washington he can afford to be.
Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 December 24, 2002 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea is topping our news today. The communist nation is apparently ignoring all warnings from Washington. It is moving ahead with its nuclear program.
Our Seoul bureau chief, Sohn Jie-Ae, has the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): According to a South Korean government official, North Korea started removing UN monitoring equipment from a plant producing nuclear fuel logs (ph), following their removal from a deactivated nuclear power plant.
South Korea's outgoing president, Kim Dae-jung, condemned such action and told his cabinet that the North Korean nuclear problem was growing more serious by the day.
PRES. KIM DAE-JUNG, SOUTH KOREA (through translator): We have said it repeatedly, and sometimes we presented it on documents, that we can never go along with North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, including missiles or nuclear weapons, and that this is the absolute condition for talks.
JIE-AE: Observers say North Korea already has enough materials to make as many as six nuclear weapons, and the fear is that more are on the way. Over the weekend, the north started removing the safety seals and blocked surveillance cameras placed by international monitoring agencies at facilities in Yongbyong.
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, IAEA: It's a rapidly deteriorating situation, not only that they have taken the cameras and surveillance verification monitoring equipment from the power reactor where they supposedly want to produce electricity, but yesterday and today, continued to take all of the equipment from the spent fuel and the repossessing plant which would enable them if they restart the program to make plutonium in pretty few months. And that's a pretty disturbing intent (ph).
JIE-AE: North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in 1994 in exchange for new reactors and shipments of alternative fuel oil. North Korean officials say they have been forced to restart the program, because a U.S.-led consortium decided to stop the alternative shipments after Pyongyang disclosed it had another active nuclear weapons program.
But there's also a political component. U.S. officials say North Korea's Kim Jong Il, is trying to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea's new president-elect, Roh Moo-Hyun. Amid a wave of anti- Americanism, Moo said during the campaign he would review South Korea's alliance with the United States.
(on camera): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Washington is talking tough with the north, South Korea and its new president aren't ready to cut out communications with its northern neighbor. Now, the nuclear crisis may be forcing the new president to make an early choice as to just how independent from Washington he can afford to be.
Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
