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CNN Live At Daybreak
North Korea Blames U.S. for Standoff Over Its Nuclear Program
Aired January 03, 2003 - 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to North Korea's nuclear program, in a news conference that ended about two hours ago, North Korea's ambassador to China blames the U.S. for a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
CNN's Lisa Weaver joins us live from Beijing with the very latest -- Lisa.
LISA WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, it was a very rare news conference given by the North Korean ambassador to China, but essentially what he said wasn't terribly new. He was reading from a statement by the North Korean foreign ministry out of Pyongyang dated a few days ago now, and it laid out two main things that North Korea wants from the United States. It wants for the U.S. to initiate a dialogue with Pyongyang. It also wants a non-aggression pact from the United States; so in other words what the ambassador referred to as sort of a security measure.
Now, the tone of this press conference was very much that the danger posed to the Korean peninsula by the nuclear threat results from the United States; that it's up to the U.S. to make the next move in terms of details.
He referred repeatedly to the 1994 agreed framework and alleged U.S. violations of it. Under that framework, North Korea was to have stopped any nuclear development that could have a weapons application in exchange for fuel oil from the United States and help with power generation for civilization use. North Korea says, for instance, the fact that the U.S. stopped those fuel shipments constitutes a violation of that agreement.
Now, the ambassador also reacted to what could be described as a somewhat softer line on North Korea coming out of Washington. In the past couple of days, President Bush saying that this crisis can be resolved through diplomacy, that military confrontation is not necessary, but the ambassador expressed disbelief in U.S. intentions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHOE JIN SU, N. KOREAN AMB. TO CHINA (through translator): As for the U.S. claim of no intention to invade our country and its willingness to solve the crisis through diplomatic channels, we don't believe these words. If the U.S. were sincere, they should respond to our request for dialogue. They should sit down with us to conclude the talks on the non-aggression treaty proposed by us. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WEAVER: And finally, the ambassador reiterated Pyongyang's view that this is not an international issue; this is simply between the United States and North Korea -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Lisa Weaver from Beijing, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Program>
Aired January 3, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to North Korea's nuclear program, in a news conference that ended about two hours ago, North Korea's ambassador to China blames the U.S. for a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
CNN's Lisa Weaver joins us live from Beijing with the very latest -- Lisa.
LISA WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, it was a very rare news conference given by the North Korean ambassador to China, but essentially what he said wasn't terribly new. He was reading from a statement by the North Korean foreign ministry out of Pyongyang dated a few days ago now, and it laid out two main things that North Korea wants from the United States. It wants for the U.S. to initiate a dialogue with Pyongyang. It also wants a non-aggression pact from the United States; so in other words what the ambassador referred to as sort of a security measure.
Now, the tone of this press conference was very much that the danger posed to the Korean peninsula by the nuclear threat results from the United States; that it's up to the U.S. to make the next move in terms of details.
He referred repeatedly to the 1994 agreed framework and alleged U.S. violations of it. Under that framework, North Korea was to have stopped any nuclear development that could have a weapons application in exchange for fuel oil from the United States and help with power generation for civilization use. North Korea says, for instance, the fact that the U.S. stopped those fuel shipments constitutes a violation of that agreement.
Now, the ambassador also reacted to what could be described as a somewhat softer line on North Korea coming out of Washington. In the past couple of days, President Bush saying that this crisis can be resolved through diplomacy, that military confrontation is not necessary, but the ambassador expressed disbelief in U.S. intentions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHOE JIN SU, N. KOREAN AMB. TO CHINA (through translator): As for the U.S. claim of no intention to invade our country and its willingness to solve the crisis through diplomatic channels, we don't believe these words. If the U.S. were sincere, they should respond to our request for dialogue. They should sit down with us to conclude the talks on the non-aggression treaty proposed by us. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WEAVER: And finally, the ambassador reiterated Pyongyang's view that this is not an international issue; this is simply between the United States and North Korea -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Lisa Weaver from Beijing, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Program>
