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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: North Korea Standoff
Aired January 15, 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 want to get back to the diplomatic efforts to get North Korea not to resume operations at that nuclear facility.
President Bush says he believes the matter will be resolved peacefully, but he adds this caveat:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People say, well, are you willing to talk to North Korea? Of course we are. But what this nation won't do is be blackmailed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This standoff over North Korea's nuclear program is our "Wake-Up Call" segment this morning. We want to talk with our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel. She joins us live by telephone from Washington.
Good morning -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Hey, the president's tough talk, is it just a stick, or is there a carrot attached to it, too?
KOPPEL: Oh, no, there is a carrot, too. In fact, it's not just the president, but Secretary of State Powell in an interview yesterday with "The Wall Street Journal," as well as Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in Seoul, they're all talking about the fact that there was supposed to be this bold initiative that the president had put forward back in the fall, offering the north both food aid and energy if only it were to freeze that nuclear program. Of course, they frame it in the sense of, they have to freeze that program first.
COSTELLO: Understand. This just seems to be such a total 180 from President Bush's original thoughts about how to deal with North Korea.
KOPPEL: Well, I mean, a 180 from when? From when he was talking just a couple of days ago, or from when he was talking a few weeks ago?
COSTELLO: You know, when he said there would be no negotiations, there would be no blackmail from North Korea? KOPPEL: Oh, sure. Well, you know, this isn't negotiating. This is just saying what would happen if the north were to do what the U.S. wants it to do. Of course, there is always that the tough talk that follows in a situation like this. But in point of fact, the north has been saying as well that it wants to talk, but it wants to know ahead of time what the U.S. would do in exchange.
So, this is really what they're doing actually, is they're negotiating in public, so by the time that they sit down, they both know what the other's position is. So, you're absolutely right.
COSTELLO: OK, it's just so confusing sometimes, isn't it, the way the spin machine works in Washington? This just isn't a U.S.- North Korea issue though, is it?
KOPPEL: Well, certainly that's the way the north wants to frame it, but the way that the U.S. is trying to frame it, and they actually feel that this was the mistake the Clinton administration made, is that it really was just a bilateral thing. But right now what you have is you have a high-level U.N. delegation going to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, you have a high-level Australian delegation going to the North Korean capital, and you have both the Russians, the Chinese and the South Koreans involved.
So, the U.S. is hoping very much that between North Korea's neighbors and the United Nations, there will be some sort of common ground that they'll be able to reach to get the north to come to the table. And all of them, Carol, are delivering this message from the U.S. to the North Koreans.
COSTELLO: All right, Andrea Koppel, thanks very much for the insight. We appreciate it.
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 15, 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 want to get back to the diplomatic efforts to get North Korea not to resume operations at that nuclear facility.
President Bush says he believes the matter will be resolved peacefully, but he adds this caveat:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People say, well, are you willing to talk to North Korea? Of course we are. But what this nation won't do is be blackmailed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This standoff over North Korea's nuclear program is our "Wake-Up Call" segment this morning. We want to talk with our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel. She joins us live by telephone from Washington.
Good morning -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Hey, the president's tough talk, is it just a stick, or is there a carrot attached to it, too?
KOPPEL: Oh, no, there is a carrot, too. In fact, it's not just the president, but Secretary of State Powell in an interview yesterday with "The Wall Street Journal," as well as Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in Seoul, they're all talking about the fact that there was supposed to be this bold initiative that the president had put forward back in the fall, offering the north both food aid and energy if only it were to freeze that nuclear program. Of course, they frame it in the sense of, they have to freeze that program first.
COSTELLO: Understand. This just seems to be such a total 180 from President Bush's original thoughts about how to deal with North Korea.
KOPPEL: Well, I mean, a 180 from when? From when he was talking just a couple of days ago, or from when he was talking a few weeks ago?
COSTELLO: You know, when he said there would be no negotiations, there would be no blackmail from North Korea? KOPPEL: Oh, sure. Well, you know, this isn't negotiating. This is just saying what would happen if the north were to do what the U.S. wants it to do. Of course, there is always that the tough talk that follows in a situation like this. But in point of fact, the north has been saying as well that it wants to talk, but it wants to know ahead of time what the U.S. would do in exchange.
So, this is really what they're doing actually, is they're negotiating in public, so by the time that they sit down, they both know what the other's position is. So, you're absolutely right.
COSTELLO: OK, it's just so confusing sometimes, isn't it, the way the spin machine works in Washington? This just isn't a U.S.- North Korea issue though, is it?
KOPPEL: Well, certainly that's the way the north wants to frame it, but the way that the U.S. is trying to frame it, and they actually feel that this was the mistake the Clinton administration made, is that it really was just a bilateral thing. But right now what you have is you have a high-level U.N. delegation going to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, you have a high-level Australian delegation going to the North Korean capital, and you have both the Russians, the Chinese and the South Koreans involved.
So, the U.S. is hoping very much that between North Korea's neighbors and the United Nations, there will be some sort of common ground that they'll be able to reach to get the north to come to the table. And all of them, Carol, are delivering this message from the U.S. to the North Koreans.
COSTELLO: All right, Andrea Koppel, thanks very much for the insight. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
