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CNN Live Today
Japanese, South Korean, U.S. Officials Meeting Today
Aired January 06, 2003 - 10:08 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN HOST: We turn now to the increasing nuclear tensions with North Korea. The United Nations nuclear watchdog group, the IAEA, is holding an emergency meeting today in Vienna in hopes of defusing a crisis.
The agency is expected to give North Korea a chance to abandon its recently reactivated nuclear program. If it refuses, the IAEA is expected to pass the matter over to the U.N. Security Council, which could further isolate North Korea from the international community.
The North Korean crisis is also at the center of talks in Washington today. South Korean diplomats will unveil proposals to a meeting of U.S. and Japanese officials.
The Bush Administration has said it will not talk to North Korea until it abides by earlier agreements to end its nuclear weapons program.
CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel sets the stage for those talks.
Andrea, good morning.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Well, don't expect any breakthroughs over the next couple of days. Meetings here at the State Department between the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Those meetings set to get underway here at the State Department at 1 p.m. There will be a couple of bilateral meetings between the United States and South Korea, and then separately the United States and Japan.
As you mentioned, the South Korean presidential envoy is expected to be carrying a compromised proposal in which the offer is for the United States to, in exchange for putting forward a non-aggression pact for North Korea, the North would then agree again to freeze its nuclear weapons program.
That is a non-starter for the Bush Administration, U.S. officials saying "been there, done that." That's exactly what the agreement was in 1994, and the North broke that agreement.
So you have two different agendas during the next couple of days.
The U.S. has a somewhat more modest agenda. It hopes to convince the South Koreans and the Japanese, in the words of one senior administration official, to get back on the reservation, as far as the message is concerned. To remember why it is the situation is where it is today.
And that is not, in U.S. eyes, because it decided to stop heavy fuel oil shipments. It's because the North had a secret nuclear weapons program.
And so what you have right now, Daryn, is the U.S. playing hardball, saying it expects the North to blink first. But you have some very nervous allies and that's why they're here today talking with U.S. officials -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, and Andrea, I think that it's hard for a lot of Americans to understand why countries like Japan and South Korea are not more on board with this hard line tactic. After all, this is taking place in their back yard.
KOPPEL: Well, I think that's a very good point. And that's probably among the reasons why they are a little antsy right now and hoping to try to get negotiations going between the United States and North Korea. Because it is happening, literally, in their back yard.
The Japanese, in 1998, had a North Korean missile fly over the island of Japan, at Takkedon Wan (ph). South Korea is literally within miles of North Korean soldiers, just across the demilitarized zone.
You also have political reasons behind this, Daryn. There's just been a presidential election in South Korea, and the new president, as the old president did, wants to have engagement with the North.
So there are all kinds of things that are factoring into the anxiousness by the Japanese and the South Koreans to try to resolve this diplomatically, as quickly as possible, which is what U.S. officials would say, what they want as well.
KAGAN: And you'll be tracking it for us. Andrea Koppel at the State Department. 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
Aired January 6, 2003 - 10:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN HOST: We turn now to the increasing nuclear tensions with North Korea. The United Nations nuclear watchdog group, the IAEA, is holding an emergency meeting today in Vienna in hopes of defusing a crisis.
The agency is expected to give North Korea a chance to abandon its recently reactivated nuclear program. If it refuses, the IAEA is expected to pass the matter over to the U.N. Security Council, which could further isolate North Korea from the international community.
The North Korean crisis is also at the center of talks in Washington today. South Korean diplomats will unveil proposals to a meeting of U.S. and Japanese officials.
The Bush Administration has said it will not talk to North Korea until it abides by earlier agreements to end its nuclear weapons program.
CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel sets the stage for those talks.
Andrea, good morning.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Well, don't expect any breakthroughs over the next couple of days. Meetings here at the State Department between the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Those meetings set to get underway here at the State Department at 1 p.m. There will be a couple of bilateral meetings between the United States and South Korea, and then separately the United States and Japan.
As you mentioned, the South Korean presidential envoy is expected to be carrying a compromised proposal in which the offer is for the United States to, in exchange for putting forward a non-aggression pact for North Korea, the North would then agree again to freeze its nuclear weapons program.
That is a non-starter for the Bush Administration, U.S. officials saying "been there, done that." That's exactly what the agreement was in 1994, and the North broke that agreement.
So you have two different agendas during the next couple of days.
The U.S. has a somewhat more modest agenda. It hopes to convince the South Koreans and the Japanese, in the words of one senior administration official, to get back on the reservation, as far as the message is concerned. To remember why it is the situation is where it is today.
And that is not, in U.S. eyes, because it decided to stop heavy fuel oil shipments. It's because the North had a secret nuclear weapons program.
And so what you have right now, Daryn, is the U.S. playing hardball, saying it expects the North to blink first. But you have some very nervous allies and that's why they're here today talking with U.S. officials -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, and Andrea, I think that it's hard for a lot of Americans to understand why countries like Japan and South Korea are not more on board with this hard line tactic. After all, this is taking place in their back yard.
KOPPEL: Well, I think that's a very good point. And that's probably among the reasons why they are a little antsy right now and hoping to try to get negotiations going between the United States and North Korea. Because it is happening, literally, in their back yard.
The Japanese, in 1998, had a North Korean missile fly over the island of Japan, at Takkedon Wan (ph). South Korea is literally within miles of North Korean soldiers, just across the demilitarized zone.
You also have political reasons behind this, Daryn. There's just been a presidential election in South Korea, and the new president, as the old president did, wants to have engagement with the North.
So there are all kinds of things that are factoring into the anxiousness by the Japanese and the South Koreans to try to resolve this diplomatically, as quickly as possible, which is what U.S. officials would say, what they want as well.
KAGAN: And you'll be tracking it for us. Andrea Koppel at the State Department. 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