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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: North Korea Nukes
Aired January 08, 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.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Some frightening words from a nation President Bush says is a member of the axis of evil. North Korea is now saying nuclear war is possible, and Washington is to blame.
A statement from Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency says, I'm quoting here: "There is an increasing danger of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula due to the U.S. criminal policy towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The U.S. is deliberately spreading a false rumor about the DPRK's nuclear issue."
Washington's ambassador to South Korea talked about the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS C. HUBBARD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: The U.S. is not prepared to negotiate, we're not prepared to provide quid pro quos for North Korea, once again, complying with obligations that they have had for some time. But we certainly would be willing to talk to North Korea and that is as it stands now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, let's get some more on this now from CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. She's on the phone with us for this morning's "Wake-Up Call."
Good morning -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
VAUSE: What can we take from this? Is this a serious threat?
KOPPEL: Well, the North Koreans -- this is standard, you know, operating procedure for the North Koreans. They're the big saber rattlers, they're the big threateners, but I mean, to call it a false rumor, they're the ones who admitted they had this secret nuclear weapons program to the United States.
But you know, let's go back to what the U.S. did yesterday, because I was talking to officials on Sunday night, and they said to me flat out, we are not going to talk to the North Koreans anytime, anyplace under any condition until they freeze their nuclear weapons program.
Now, all of a sudden yesterday, they're saying, yes, we'll talk, but we won't negotiate, and they're extending an olive branch.
So, you know, we don't know where we're going with this yet, John. We don't know where the talks would happen. We don't know who would be the U.S. official to sit down with the North Koreans, or even if this is going to happen, because the North Koreans have not indicated a willingness that they want to give up their nuclear program.
VAUSE: Yes, I read somewhere that there are basically no good options in all of this. So, tell us, how is this crisis affecting the U.S.-South Korea relationship?
KOPPEL: That is something that really hasn't been getting a lot of play here in the U.S., but, boy, is it the headlines over in South Korea. There is rising anti-American sentiment. In fact, that's how the new president was elected, on a wave of anti-American sentiment. There's a tremendous degree of mistrust between the South Koreans and the U.S. The South Koreans feel that the U.S. -- the Bush administration threw them a curve ball last year when they put North Korea in the axis of evil.
They feel that the Bush administration also pulled a fast one when they didn't pick up where the Clinton administration left off, and then months later said, oh, yes, we'll do that. And that really put a major kink in the South Korean president's plans for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with North Korea.
But you ain't seen nothing yet, because one of the elements of any deal with the North Koreans has to do with this energy supply, and the U.S. is now telling South Korea that the deal that they had back in 1994 to build two light water reactors is off the table. The South Koreans are furious, John, because they've already pumped $5 billion into it.
VAUSE: OK, Andrea Koppel, thanks for joining us on our "Wake-Up Call" (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Thanks for that, Andrea.
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 8, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Some frightening words from a nation President Bush says is a member of the axis of evil. North Korea is now saying nuclear war is possible, and Washington is to blame.
A statement from Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency says, I'm quoting here: "There is an increasing danger of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula due to the U.S. criminal policy towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The U.S. is deliberately spreading a false rumor about the DPRK's nuclear issue."
Washington's ambassador to South Korea talked about the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS C. HUBBARD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: The U.S. is not prepared to negotiate, we're not prepared to provide quid pro quos for North Korea, once again, complying with obligations that they have had for some time. But we certainly would be willing to talk to North Korea and that is as it stands now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, let's get some more on this now from CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. She's on the phone with us for this morning's "Wake-Up Call."
Good morning -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
VAUSE: What can we take from this? Is this a serious threat?
KOPPEL: Well, the North Koreans -- this is standard, you know, operating procedure for the North Koreans. They're the big saber rattlers, they're the big threateners, but I mean, to call it a false rumor, they're the ones who admitted they had this secret nuclear weapons program to the United States.
But you know, let's go back to what the U.S. did yesterday, because I was talking to officials on Sunday night, and they said to me flat out, we are not going to talk to the North Koreans anytime, anyplace under any condition until they freeze their nuclear weapons program.
Now, all of a sudden yesterday, they're saying, yes, we'll talk, but we won't negotiate, and they're extending an olive branch.
So, you know, we don't know where we're going with this yet, John. We don't know where the talks would happen. We don't know who would be the U.S. official to sit down with the North Koreans, or even if this is going to happen, because the North Koreans have not indicated a willingness that they want to give up their nuclear program.
VAUSE: Yes, I read somewhere that there are basically no good options in all of this. So, tell us, how is this crisis affecting the U.S.-South Korea relationship?
KOPPEL: That is something that really hasn't been getting a lot of play here in the U.S., but, boy, is it the headlines over in South Korea. There is rising anti-American sentiment. In fact, that's how the new president was elected, on a wave of anti-American sentiment. There's a tremendous degree of mistrust between the South Koreans and the U.S. The South Koreans feel that the U.S. -- the Bush administration threw them a curve ball last year when they put North Korea in the axis of evil.
They feel that the Bush administration also pulled a fast one when they didn't pick up where the Clinton administration left off, and then months later said, oh, yes, we'll do that. And that really put a major kink in the South Korean president's plans for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with North Korea.
But you ain't seen nothing yet, because one of the elements of any deal with the North Koreans has to do with this energy supply, and the U.S. is now telling South Korea that the deal that they had back in 1994 to build two light water reactors is off the table. The South Koreans are furious, John, because they've already pumped $5 billion into it.
VAUSE: OK, Andrea Koppel, thanks for joining us on our "Wake-Up Call" (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Thanks for that, Andrea.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
