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CNN Live At Daybreak
North Korea Has Just Upped Rhetoric
Aired January 07, 2003 - 05:04 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: Another topic of huge interest, the North Korean nuclear crisis. The communist nation has just upped the rhetoric, saying economic sanctions against it are an invitation to war.
We want to get more on this from our Seoul, South Korean bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae.
It just seems to get worse.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does, Carol.
North Korea has again racked up the rhetoric, war on the Korean Peninsula, by denouncing the United States for what it calls attempts to try to isolate North Korea. Now, in the North Korea's official news agency today, it said "Sanctions mean a war and war knows no mercy. The U.S. should offer dialogue with the DPRK" -- North Korea -- "not war, clearly aware that it will have to pay a very high price for such reckless acts."
Now, many here in South Korea consider this very characteristic of North Korea and what it calls saber rattling tactics, as North Korea again attempts to get the United States to come to the negotiating table.
Now, restarting dialogue between North Korea and the United States is pretty much, very much high on the agenda for a top South Korean envoy that is heading to Washington, South Korea's national security adviser, Yim Sung-joon is heading to Washington to meet with White House officials like Condoleezza Rice. They are expected to talk about ways to resolve the North Korean crisis. The talk here in Seoul is that he will carry with him a proposal, a comprehensive plan that will entail the United States promising some sort of system, regime, a secure regime for North Korea in exchange for North Korea saying that it will keep its nuclear promises.
But since Washington has said so far that it is not prepared to negotiate unless North Korea keeps its promise first, many here believe that Yim's mission to the United States will be a very hard sell -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, Jia-Ae, if you just look at it on the surface, the United States' tactics with North Korea don't seem to be working very well. Are there undercurrents here that we're not understanding?
JIE-AE: Well, the people here are saying that, you know, North Korea is keep -- has not lost its faith in its belief that if it continues to pressure the United States, the United States will cave in and will blink first then come to the negotiating table and that North Korea's neighboring countries in this part of the world wanting peace, not confrontation, will convince Washington to do so.
So until North Korea feels that it is not, this is not coming true, North Korea will keep its current policy -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sohn Jie-Ae reporting live from South Korea this morning.
We'll wake up our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel at the top of the next hour to talk with her about the North Korean nuclear crisis.
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 7, 2003 - 05:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Another topic of huge interest, the North Korean nuclear crisis. The communist nation has just upped the rhetoric, saying economic sanctions against it are an invitation to war.
We want to get more on this from our Seoul, South Korean bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae.
It just seems to get worse.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does, Carol.
North Korea has again racked up the rhetoric, war on the Korean Peninsula, by denouncing the United States for what it calls attempts to try to isolate North Korea. Now, in the North Korea's official news agency today, it said "Sanctions mean a war and war knows no mercy. The U.S. should offer dialogue with the DPRK" -- North Korea -- "not war, clearly aware that it will have to pay a very high price for such reckless acts."
Now, many here in South Korea consider this very characteristic of North Korea and what it calls saber rattling tactics, as North Korea again attempts to get the United States to come to the negotiating table.
Now, restarting dialogue between North Korea and the United States is pretty much, very much high on the agenda for a top South Korean envoy that is heading to Washington, South Korea's national security adviser, Yim Sung-joon is heading to Washington to meet with White House officials like Condoleezza Rice. They are expected to talk about ways to resolve the North Korean crisis. The talk here in Seoul is that he will carry with him a proposal, a comprehensive plan that will entail the United States promising some sort of system, regime, a secure regime for North Korea in exchange for North Korea saying that it will keep its nuclear promises.
But since Washington has said so far that it is not prepared to negotiate unless North Korea keeps its promise first, many here believe that Yim's mission to the United States will be a very hard sell -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, Jia-Ae, if you just look at it on the surface, the United States' tactics with North Korea don't seem to be working very well. Are there undercurrents here that we're not understanding?
JIE-AE: Well, the people here are saying that, you know, North Korea is keep -- has not lost its faith in its belief that if it continues to pressure the United States, the United States will cave in and will blink first then come to the negotiating table and that North Korea's neighboring countries in this part of the world wanting peace, not confrontation, will convince Washington to do so.
So until North Korea feels that it is not, this is not coming true, North Korea will keep its current policy -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sohn Jie-Ae reporting live from South Korea this morning.
We'll wake up our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel at the top of the next hour to talk with her about the North Korean nuclear crisis.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
