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International Wrap: North Korea Warns U.S. Sanctions Mean War

Aired January 07, 2003 - 06:35   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 have to talk about North Korea, because that's kind of first...
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... on the agenda this morning.

CLINCH: Yes, that's a big story at the moment.

COSTELLO: Because North Korea has come out and said, sanctions mean war.

Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here to elaborate (ph).

CLINCH: Right. Good morning again.

Yes, Iraq and North Korea, still the stories we're concentrating on. And a man who's in the middle on both of those stories, Mohammed Elbaradei, the head of the IAEA, will be a guest on AMERICAN MORNING in the next hour or two. And we'll be asking him -- we've talked about Iraq and no smoking gun, we'll be asking him about that.

But North Korea, as you said -- and, I mean, we're not the only people asking this question, both "TIME" and "Newsweek" this week: Is North Korea a greater threat? And you know, the honest answer is, I don't know and we don't know. And I think sometimes we have to be honest about that. We really -- anybody who says they know what Kim Jong Il is up to is probably a liar.

But we certainly have very, very good information about what's going on right now. You said, quite rightly, that North Korea -- yesterday, the IAEA warned North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons or possibly face the issue being brought to the UN Security Council. Well...

COSTELLO: Well, what does North Korea do?

CLINCH: They came today and said, well, if that were to happen and then sanctions were to take place, that could mean war. We don't know how seriously to take that, I suppose, because that kind of rhetoric is out there all the time. I mean, we've been doing this for years. Looking at the Web site of the North Koreans news agency, the word "war" with the U.S. is there every day. So, we're not sure, but it certainly is not them saying they're going to give up their nuclear weapons plan, so the story is still there and remains a very serious one. The other aspect of the story though, of course, is talk, and we have the South Koreans coming, the Japanese here already, to talk to the United States. And interestingly, the senior South Korean official coming here to the U.S. was saying they're trying to find a common denominator on these talks, not between North Korea and the United States, but between South Korea and the United States. They both want a peaceful, obviously, way out of this situation crisis, if you want to call it that.

But the common denominator that's lacking is that the U.S. has a certain mandate that it wants. It will not sit down and give in to nuclear blackmail. South Korea interested in its sunshine policy, interested in dealing with the North Koreans, interested in creating a dialogue...

COSTELLO: Because it's made some progress in that area.

CLINCH: Absolutely. But you know, ironically though, if the U.S. were to sit down with the South -- North Koreans -- I beg your pardon -- and come to an agreement that the North Koreans wanted, it would actually be a terrible nuisance for South Korea's sunshine policy in the long run, because if it recognized North Korea, recognized their right to exist and left them with nuclear weapons, that might in the long run destroy their sunshine policy. So, it's tremendously complicated.

And again, just because all of these allies are talking does not mean they're all speaking the same language. So...

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: OK, no time for Iraq...

(CROSSTALK)

CLINCH: Absolutely, no problem. We'll be back tomorrow.

VAUSE: Tomorrow. Thanks, David.

CLINCH: See 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.




War>


Aired January 7, 2003 - 06:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We have to talk about North Korea, because that's kind of first...
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... on the agenda this morning.

CLINCH: Yes, that's a big story at the moment.

COSTELLO: Because North Korea has come out and said, sanctions mean war.

Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here to elaborate (ph).

CLINCH: Right. Good morning again.

Yes, Iraq and North Korea, still the stories we're concentrating on. And a man who's in the middle on both of those stories, Mohammed Elbaradei, the head of the IAEA, will be a guest on AMERICAN MORNING in the next hour or two. And we'll be asking him -- we've talked about Iraq and no smoking gun, we'll be asking him about that.

But North Korea, as you said -- and, I mean, we're not the only people asking this question, both "TIME" and "Newsweek" this week: Is North Korea a greater threat? And you know, the honest answer is, I don't know and we don't know. And I think sometimes we have to be honest about that. We really -- anybody who says they know what Kim Jong Il is up to is probably a liar.

But we certainly have very, very good information about what's going on right now. You said, quite rightly, that North Korea -- yesterday, the IAEA warned North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons or possibly face the issue being brought to the UN Security Council. Well...

COSTELLO: Well, what does North Korea do?

CLINCH: They came today and said, well, if that were to happen and then sanctions were to take place, that could mean war. We don't know how seriously to take that, I suppose, because that kind of rhetoric is out there all the time. I mean, we've been doing this for years. Looking at the Web site of the North Koreans news agency, the word "war" with the U.S. is there every day. So, we're not sure, but it certainly is not them saying they're going to give up their nuclear weapons plan, so the story is still there and remains a very serious one. The other aspect of the story though, of course, is talk, and we have the South Koreans coming, the Japanese here already, to talk to the United States. And interestingly, the senior South Korean official coming here to the U.S. was saying they're trying to find a common denominator on these talks, not between North Korea and the United States, but between South Korea and the United States. They both want a peaceful, obviously, way out of this situation crisis, if you want to call it that.

But the common denominator that's lacking is that the U.S. has a certain mandate that it wants. It will not sit down and give in to nuclear blackmail. South Korea interested in its sunshine policy, interested in dealing with the North Koreans, interested in creating a dialogue...

COSTELLO: Because it's made some progress in that area.

CLINCH: Absolutely. But you know, ironically though, if the U.S. were to sit down with the South -- North Koreans -- I beg your pardon -- and come to an agreement that the North Koreans wanted, it would actually be a terrible nuisance for South Korea's sunshine policy in the long run, because if it recognized North Korea, recognized their right to exist and left them with nuclear weapons, that might in the long run destroy their sunshine policy. So, it's tremendously complicated.

And again, just because all of these allies are talking does not mean they're all speaking the same language. So...

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: OK, no time for Iraq...

(CROSSTALK)

CLINCH: Absolutely, no problem. We'll be back tomorrow.

VAUSE: Tomorrow. Thanks, David.

CLINCH: See 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.




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