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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: North Korea Standoff
Aired January 14, 2003 - 06:33 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: Now back to the nuclear standoff with North Korea. The White House says it will not negotiate with the communist state, but it sure sounds like the Bush administration wants to make a deal.
So, let's wake somebody up and get to the bottom of it. Our State Department producer, Elise Labott, joins us on this morning's Wake-Up Call.
Elise -- good morning.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, James Kelly is on the way to China this morning. Will his next stop be North Korea?
LABOTT: Well, it doesn't look like that yet, Carol. The Bush administration prefers to call this "talking," not negotiating. Officials at the White House and the State Department say, consistent with the U.S. position, they've been willing to talk all along to North Korea. But those comments yesterday from Assistant Secretary Kelly offering to North Korea the possibility of aid for its energy sector, better relations with the U.S. down the road, are certainly aimed at opening the door to Pyongyang a little further, giving them more of an incentive to back down.
And this morning, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave an interview to "The Wall Street Journal," saying the U.S. could find a way to satisfy the north's desire for some sort of nonaggression agreement, maybe not a formal treaty, but it all comes with the caveat that the north must dismantle their weapons program.
And now, the U.S. is waiting for the north to get in touch in response to this overture.
COSTELLO: You know, even though the United States seems to be negotiating with North Korea, every time it throws out a little carrot, North Korea increases their rhetoric.
LABOTT: Well, that certainly is consistent with their negotiating position in the past, and everybody that's ever dealt with the north says this is what they do. They gamble on the U.S. caving, coming to the negotiating table and holding talks. But if no talks take place, officials say North Korea will develop a formidable nuclear weapons program. And imagine if they were making all of these demands of the international community with an arsenal of nuclear weapons at their disposal, they'd have to be reckoned with.
So, this is why Secretary Powell, other former officials who have dealt with Pyongyang in the past, say, let's not provoke them any further, let's pick up the phone and end this, step back from the brink before it spirals out of control.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens next. Elise Labott, thank you very much for waking up early with DAYBREAK.
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 14, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to the nuclear standoff with North Korea. The White House says it will not negotiate with the communist state, but it sure sounds like the Bush administration wants to make a deal.
So, let's wake somebody up and get to the bottom of it. Our State Department producer, Elise Labott, joins us on this morning's Wake-Up Call.
Elise -- good morning.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, James Kelly is on the way to China this morning. Will his next stop be North Korea?
LABOTT: Well, it doesn't look like that yet, Carol. The Bush administration prefers to call this "talking," not negotiating. Officials at the White House and the State Department say, consistent with the U.S. position, they've been willing to talk all along to North Korea. But those comments yesterday from Assistant Secretary Kelly offering to North Korea the possibility of aid for its energy sector, better relations with the U.S. down the road, are certainly aimed at opening the door to Pyongyang a little further, giving them more of an incentive to back down.
And this morning, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave an interview to "The Wall Street Journal," saying the U.S. could find a way to satisfy the north's desire for some sort of nonaggression agreement, maybe not a formal treaty, but it all comes with the caveat that the north must dismantle their weapons program.
And now, the U.S. is waiting for the north to get in touch in response to this overture.
COSTELLO: You know, even though the United States seems to be negotiating with North Korea, every time it throws out a little carrot, North Korea increases their rhetoric.
LABOTT: Well, that certainly is consistent with their negotiating position in the past, and everybody that's ever dealt with the north says this is what they do. They gamble on the U.S. caving, coming to the negotiating table and holding talks. But if no talks take place, officials say North Korea will develop a formidable nuclear weapons program. And imagine if they were making all of these demands of the international community with an arsenal of nuclear weapons at their disposal, they'd have to be reckoned with.
So, this is why Secretary Powell, other former officials who have dealt with Pyongyang in the past, say, let's not provoke them any further, let's pick up the phone and end this, step back from the brink before it spirals out of control.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens next. Elise Labott, thank you very much for waking up early with DAYBREAK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
