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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: North Korea's Nukes
Aired December 26, 2002 - 06:07 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: We want to find out what Washington is saying about North Korea's plans for that nuclear reactor. For that, we turn to our State Department producer, Elise Labott, joining us this morning for this morning's "Wake-Up Call."
Good morning.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you noted, that brinkmanship continues from North Korea. First, it was threats, and now they are making good on those threats, moving that fuel into one of their nuclear reactors. And as we heard from Mohamed Elbaradei, that site could be up and running in about a month.
And today, South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung voicing deep concern about steps by the north, and frantically working with the U.S., Japan, as well as Russia and China who have close ties with Pyongyang, to try and find a diplomatic way out.
But U.S. officials, other diplomats we've spoken to, are just convinced that this is just bravado by the north, that Pyongyang was trying to draw the U.S. into talks on normalizing ties, and they say that North Korea is trying to leverage the fact that the Bush administration is preoccupied with the crisis in Iraq right now.
COSTELLO: So, why don't U.S. officials just sit down and talk to North Korea?
LABOTT: Well, you know, they say they're not giving in, that they're not going to reward bad behavior and not giving into blackmail. And the U.S. is a little worried right now that they're losing somewhat of a PR battle here, Carol. Officials keep having to point out this all started because North Korea declared it had a nuclear weapons program in October. This violated international agreements that the two signed, and that the U.S. had no choice but to suspend fuel shipments under that agreement.
COSTELLO: So, United States officials are really quite surprised that it's been escalating this quickly.
LABOTT: Absolutely, Carol. Well, we heard from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld the other day saying rather forcefully, North Korea has no use for so much plutonium, that their electricity power grid couldn't even withstand so much nuclear power. So, not surprisingly, officials are saying that North Korea's argument just doesn't wash, and you know, it could be a miscalculation here. But they really don't -- they really think the north is just trying to push them, trying to goad them and up the ante, say, hey, pay attention to us. We're just as important as Iraq -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Elise Labott, thanks very much for the "Wake-Up Call" and for your insight 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 December 26, 2002 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to find out what Washington is saying about North Korea's plans for that nuclear reactor. For that, we turn to our State Department producer, Elise Labott, joining us this morning for this morning's "Wake-Up Call."
Good morning.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you noted, that brinkmanship continues from North Korea. First, it was threats, and now they are making good on those threats, moving that fuel into one of their nuclear reactors. And as we heard from Mohamed Elbaradei, that site could be up and running in about a month.
And today, South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung voicing deep concern about steps by the north, and frantically working with the U.S., Japan, as well as Russia and China who have close ties with Pyongyang, to try and find a diplomatic way out.
But U.S. officials, other diplomats we've spoken to, are just convinced that this is just bravado by the north, that Pyongyang was trying to draw the U.S. into talks on normalizing ties, and they say that North Korea is trying to leverage the fact that the Bush administration is preoccupied with the crisis in Iraq right now.
COSTELLO: So, why don't U.S. officials just sit down and talk to North Korea?
LABOTT: Well, you know, they say they're not giving in, that they're not going to reward bad behavior and not giving into blackmail. And the U.S. is a little worried right now that they're losing somewhat of a PR battle here, Carol. Officials keep having to point out this all started because North Korea declared it had a nuclear weapons program in October. This violated international agreements that the two signed, and that the U.S. had no choice but to suspend fuel shipments under that agreement.
COSTELLO: So, United States officials are really quite surprised that it's been escalating this quickly.
LABOTT: Absolutely, Carol. Well, we heard from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld the other day saying rather forcefully, North Korea has no use for so much plutonium, that their electricity power grid couldn't even withstand so much nuclear power. So, not surprisingly, officials are saying that North Korea's argument just doesn't wash, and you know, it could be a miscalculation here. But they really don't -- they really think the north is just trying to push them, trying to goad them and up the ante, say, hey, pay attention to us. We're just as important as Iraq -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Elise Labott, thanks very much for the "Wake-Up Call" and for your insight 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.
