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CNN Sunday Morning
Bush Administration Focuses on Diplomacy With North Korea
Aired January 12, 2003 - 11:04 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, the Bush administration remains focused on diplomacy as it tries to cool the tensions.
That is part of the story -- we'll get that part of the story from CNN senior White House correspondent John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the question is: what form does the diplomacy take?
Obviously, Assistant Secretary of State Kelly, excuse me, is in Seoul for consultations with the key U.S. ally. The big question on the table, though, is will the United States sit down directly with North Korea?
Now, there were conversations over the weekend with a former Clinton administration diplomat. Bill Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico, met with two North Korean diplomats. Those talks spanned almost three days.
Governor Richardson says he is encouraged and that North Korea gave a commitment to him that it has no plans to build more nuclear weapons.
Governor Richardson says, in his view, the best thing now would be for direct talks between the Bush administration and North Korea. But the two sides, North Korea and Washington, are at loggerheads over what those talks should be.
What the White House says is yes, it will sit down with North Korea, but only to discuss a commitment from North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea says that is unacceptable, and it wants assurances from the United States that it is going to negotiate a pact of non- aggression, willing, perhaps, to discuss fuel aid and economic aid down the road.
So the Bush administration says it will talk to North Korea but no talks on the horizon just yet, in part because the two governments cannot agree exactly what should be discussed -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, John, trust or lack of trust is really at issue here.
Is the Bush administration indicating whether they are more apt to believe those North Koreans overseas or the North Korean diplomats who are visiting the U.S., or have been visiting the U.S.?
KING: Well, certainly one of the threshold issues for the Bush administration is it says it sees all this confrontational and sometimes conflicting rhetoric coming out of the North Korean government and the diplomats from North Korea here in the United States.
A threshold question that the Bush administration says it cannot even answer definitively is whether all of this is bluster, this talk of walking away from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, this talk now from Pyongyang about resuming missile testing, the talk about perhaps developing more nuclear weapons.
Is it all bluster to get negotiations with the United States or has North Korea made a fundamental decision to join the community of nuclear nations and put itself on a path to not just have, perhaps, one or two nuclear missiles, as the United States thinks now, but is it on a path to develop six or seven or eight or even more nuclear weapons over the next 10 to 12 years?
The Bush administration says it thinks this is confrontational rhetoric and a bluff, if you will, to try to get negotiations, but the Bush administration says it does know that for sure -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, John King from Washington, thank you very much.
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 12, 2003 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, the Bush administration remains focused on diplomacy as it tries to cool the tensions.
That is part of the story -- we'll get that part of the story from CNN senior White House correspondent John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the question is: what form does the diplomacy take?
Obviously, Assistant Secretary of State Kelly, excuse me, is in Seoul for consultations with the key U.S. ally. The big question on the table, though, is will the United States sit down directly with North Korea?
Now, there were conversations over the weekend with a former Clinton administration diplomat. Bill Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico, met with two North Korean diplomats. Those talks spanned almost three days.
Governor Richardson says he is encouraged and that North Korea gave a commitment to him that it has no plans to build more nuclear weapons.
Governor Richardson says, in his view, the best thing now would be for direct talks between the Bush administration and North Korea. But the two sides, North Korea and Washington, are at loggerheads over what those talks should be.
What the White House says is yes, it will sit down with North Korea, but only to discuss a commitment from North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea says that is unacceptable, and it wants assurances from the United States that it is going to negotiate a pact of non- aggression, willing, perhaps, to discuss fuel aid and economic aid down the road.
So the Bush administration says it will talk to North Korea but no talks on the horizon just yet, in part because the two governments cannot agree exactly what should be discussed -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, John, trust or lack of trust is really at issue here.
Is the Bush administration indicating whether they are more apt to believe those North Koreans overseas or the North Korean diplomats who are visiting the U.S., or have been visiting the U.S.?
KING: Well, certainly one of the threshold issues for the Bush administration is it says it sees all this confrontational and sometimes conflicting rhetoric coming out of the North Korean government and the diplomats from North Korea here in the United States.
A threshold question that the Bush administration says it cannot even answer definitively is whether all of this is bluster, this talk of walking away from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, this talk now from Pyongyang about resuming missile testing, the talk about perhaps developing more nuclear weapons.
Is it all bluster to get negotiations with the United States or has North Korea made a fundamental decision to join the community of nuclear nations and put itself on a path to not just have, perhaps, one or two nuclear missiles, as the United States thinks now, but is it on a path to develop six or seven or eight or even more nuclear weapons over the next 10 to 12 years?
The Bush administration says it thinks this is confrontational rhetoric and a bluff, if you will, to try to get negotiations, but the Bush administration says it does know that for sure -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, John King from Washington, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
