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CNN Live At Daybreak
South Korea's President Says North Korea Making Matters Worse
Aired January 10, 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: South Korea's president says North Korea is making matters worse by backing out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Its national security council is in emergency session. That ended just a few minutes ago.
Our Rebecca MacKinnon is following this controversy from Seoul -- Rebecca, what happened in that meeting?
REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, South Korea is calling on North Korea to reverse its decision to withdraw from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, calling it a grave threat to peace and stability in the world. Now, what this withdrawal means is that North Korea is rejecting the jurisdiction of the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying in a statement today, "North Korea in withdrawing is totally free from the binding force of the safeguard accord with the IAEA." It continued on to say, "the withdrawal of the NPT is a legitimate self-defensive measure taken against the U.S. moves to stifle the DPRK and the unreasonable behavior of the IAEA."
Now, despite this current ratcheting up of tensions, the president of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung, says he's still hoping for a diplomatic solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. KIM DAE-JUNG, SOUTH KOREA: The whole world is opposed to North Korea holding nuclear weapons. Therefore we must resolve this issue through diplomatic efforts and dialogue between the two Koreas in order to prohibit war on the Korean peninsula. Also, we should do our best to make sure this issue does not create tension which will badly affect our economic development or security for our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACKINNON: Condemnation has been coming out throughout the region. Japan and Russia both issuing strong statements urging North Korea to reconsider and Australia, which has diplomatic relations with North Korea, is planning to send a delegation there next week in hopes of convincing the regime to reverse its course -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rebecca, does it make South Korea feel any better that North Korean officials want to talk to Bill Richardson?
MACKINNON: Well, that's certainly considered an interesting development. North Korea is known for unorthodox approaches to diplomacy and it is very interesting that they've chosen to talk to a former Clinton official. It appears that they might be hoping to have another situation the way we had in 1994, where former President Jimmy Carter went to North Korea and brokered a solution. They may be hoping to use Bill Richardson in that kind of way.
However, whether Bill Richardson is willing to do that and whether the Bush administration would go along with such a plan is really hard to say -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It'll be interesting.
Rebecca MacKinnon reporting live from Seoul, South Korea this morning.
Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Worse>
Aired January 10, 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: South Korea's president says North Korea is making matters worse by backing out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Its national security council is in emergency session. That ended just a few minutes ago.
Our Rebecca MacKinnon is following this controversy from Seoul -- Rebecca, what happened in that meeting?
REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, South Korea is calling on North Korea to reverse its decision to withdraw from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, calling it a grave threat to peace and stability in the world. Now, what this withdrawal means is that North Korea is rejecting the jurisdiction of the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying in a statement today, "North Korea in withdrawing is totally free from the binding force of the safeguard accord with the IAEA." It continued on to say, "the withdrawal of the NPT is a legitimate self-defensive measure taken against the U.S. moves to stifle the DPRK and the unreasonable behavior of the IAEA."
Now, despite this current ratcheting up of tensions, the president of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung, says he's still hoping for a diplomatic solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. KIM DAE-JUNG, SOUTH KOREA: The whole world is opposed to North Korea holding nuclear weapons. Therefore we must resolve this issue through diplomatic efforts and dialogue between the two Koreas in order to prohibit war on the Korean peninsula. Also, we should do our best to make sure this issue does not create tension which will badly affect our economic development or security for our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACKINNON: Condemnation has been coming out throughout the region. Japan and Russia both issuing strong statements urging North Korea to reconsider and Australia, which has diplomatic relations with North Korea, is planning to send a delegation there next week in hopes of convincing the regime to reverse its course -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rebecca, does it make South Korea feel any better that North Korean officials want to talk to Bill Richardson?
MACKINNON: Well, that's certainly considered an interesting development. North Korea is known for unorthodox approaches to diplomacy and it is very interesting that they've chosen to talk to a former Clinton official. It appears that they might be hoping to have another situation the way we had in 1994, where former President Jimmy Carter went to North Korea and brokered a solution. They may be hoping to use Bill Richardson in that kind of way.
However, whether Bill Richardson is willing to do that and whether the Bush administration would go along with such a plan is really hard to say -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It'll be interesting.
Rebecca MacKinnon reporting live from Seoul, South Korea this morning.
Thanks.
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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