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CNN Live At Daybreak
Koreas Agree to Meet Next Week
Aired January 24, 2003 - 06:36 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: To South Korea now where delegates from both sides of the divided peninsula have been trying to resolve the nuclear crisis. A special South Korean envoy will head to Pyongyang to keep the dialogue going.
CNN's senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy joins us from Seoul now -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, it's not only on Iraq where there are some discordant notes coming from key U.S. allies. Here in South Korea, a long time alliance partner and host of 37,000 U.S. troops, some blunt talk from the incoming president, Roh Moo-hyun. I spoke with him earlier in the day, and he called on the Bush administration to engage in direct negotiations with North Korea in order to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program.
South Korea is sending an envoy to North Korea next week to try and put some additional momentum behind this diplomatic effort.
And the president-elect told me that he is prepared to have a summit meeting with North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, once he takes office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROH MOO-HYUN, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT-ELECT (through translator): I will propose to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Il, even if I lose face in the eyes of my people, because I value dialogue and I think dialogue is the key.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: President-elect Roh also said that he was skeptical of the value of bringing this issue before the United Nations. Nonetheless, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced it will hold an emergency session on February 3 to discuss the North Korea crisis. That could set the stage for the issue being to the U.N. and pave the way for sanctions. That's a step North Korea has warned it would consider an act of war -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, Mike, that information just coming in, but do we know any kind of details as to what would take place during that emergency meeting, and who the parties would be involved?
CHINOY: Well, it would be the board of the IAEA, and the issue, of course, is the North Korean decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restart its nuclear reactors, which have been frozen since the mid-1990s under an earlier U.S.-North Korea nuclear deal.
The concern is with the north withdrawing from the NPT and starting up those reactors that within a matter of months, North Korea could have enough plutonium to make, experts say, as many as a half- dozen bombs. And so, the IAEA is likely to consider this issue, and the United States wants to see it brought before the U.N. Security Council.
The Russians for their part say they don't want that move to be taken, and neither do the South Koreans. So, the U.S. again at odds with key other players in the international arena -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Mike Chinoy from Seoul, South Korea -- 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 24, 2003 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: To South Korea now where delegates from both sides of the divided peninsula have been trying to resolve the nuclear crisis. A special South Korean envoy will head to Pyongyang to keep the dialogue going.
CNN's senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy joins us from Seoul now -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, it's not only on Iraq where there are some discordant notes coming from key U.S. allies. Here in South Korea, a long time alliance partner and host of 37,000 U.S. troops, some blunt talk from the incoming president, Roh Moo-hyun. I spoke with him earlier in the day, and he called on the Bush administration to engage in direct negotiations with North Korea in order to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program.
South Korea is sending an envoy to North Korea next week to try and put some additional momentum behind this diplomatic effort.
And the president-elect told me that he is prepared to have a summit meeting with North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, once he takes office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROH MOO-HYUN, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT-ELECT (through translator): I will propose to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Il, even if I lose face in the eyes of my people, because I value dialogue and I think dialogue is the key.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: President-elect Roh also said that he was skeptical of the value of bringing this issue before the United Nations. Nonetheless, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced it will hold an emergency session on February 3 to discuss the North Korea crisis. That could set the stage for the issue being to the U.N. and pave the way for sanctions. That's a step North Korea has warned it would consider an act of war -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, Mike, that information just coming in, but do we know any kind of details as to what would take place during that emergency meeting, and who the parties would be involved?
CHINOY: Well, it would be the board of the IAEA, and the issue, of course, is the North Korean decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restart its nuclear reactors, which have been frozen since the mid-1990s under an earlier U.S.-North Korea nuclear deal.
The concern is with the north withdrawing from the NPT and starting up those reactors that within a matter of months, North Korea could have enough plutonium to make, experts say, as many as a half- dozen bombs. And so, the IAEA is likely to consider this issue, and the United States wants to see it brought before the U.N. Security Council.
The Russians for their part say they don't want that move to be taken, and neither do the South Koreans. So, the U.S. again at odds with key other players in the international arena -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Mike Chinoy from Seoul, South Korea -- 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.
