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North Korea Talks

Aired April 24, 2003 - 10:48   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The United States, North Korea and China at the discussion talks today in Beijing. Let's check in with more on that at the State Department with our Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, our viewers will probably remember that these talks in Beijing, including a senior U.S. official, North Korean official and Chinese official were supposed to last through Friday. Now just moments ago, we heard from Secretary of State Powell that the talks have ended.

Depending upon how you look at the situation, some would say the talks broke down. Secretary Powell preferring to say that the talks have wrapped up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: The meetings are coming to a close now. The sides will return to their capitals and assess what they heard, analyze proposals that were put down by the parties, and determine were we will go next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: We do know that the three countries did meet yesterday, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly was the one who was leading the U.S. delegation. They met, they presented their views. But again, we need to remember that these were not billed as negotiations, these were billed as talks. In other words, James Kelly's instructions were to go to Beijing, to sit down with his North Korean counterpart, and lay it out there, to say that the U.S. is not looking for North Korea to freeze its nuclear program, but rather to completely dismantle it if it has any expectation of either diplomatic recognition, security assurances or economic assistance.

But as things stand right now, one source I did speak with, Daryn, said that what happened today, Thursday in Beijing, is that the North Koreans said that they did not want to have talks with China; they just wanted to sit down with the United States. They just wanted to sit down with the United States. That had been their position all along. The compromise was to have China included. James Kelly, I'm told, called back here to Washington, asked if he could go ahead and sit down privately with his North Korean counterpart, and he was told again, according to one source, no, you cannot. And so, depending on how you want to look at the situation, they've either broken down prematurely, Daryn, or they've just done what they needed to do, both sides laying out their positions -- Daryn. KAGAN: Or perhaps never even started in the first place. I thought issue who was at the table, I thought that was worked out ahead of time, that North Korea had agreed to this.

KOPPEL: They did, and we know that, in fact, they did meet yesterday. They met Wednesday in Beijing, and the North Korean official laid out very, very strongly. We even heard Secretary Powell say that just a couple of moments ago, very, very strongly what the North Korean position is, that they do not admit to having a nuclear program, and say it is for peaceful purposes for energy needs, and we also know that James Kelly laid out a very, very strong U.S. position as I just said. And the Chinese, again, laid out their position, which is that they don't want to have a nuclear Korean peninsula.

So we know all three sides have laid out their positions but talks with supposed to go through Friday. And obviously, they've wrapped up early.

KAGAN: All right, Andrea Koppel at the State Department, thank you.

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 April 24, 2003 - 10:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The United States, North Korea and China at the discussion talks today in Beijing. Let's check in with more on that at the State Department with our Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, our viewers will probably remember that these talks in Beijing, including a senior U.S. official, North Korean official and Chinese official were supposed to last through Friday. Now just moments ago, we heard from Secretary of State Powell that the talks have ended.

Depending upon how you look at the situation, some would say the talks broke down. Secretary Powell preferring to say that the talks have wrapped up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: The meetings are coming to a close now. The sides will return to their capitals and assess what they heard, analyze proposals that were put down by the parties, and determine were we will go next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: We do know that the three countries did meet yesterday, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly was the one who was leading the U.S. delegation. They met, they presented their views. But again, we need to remember that these were not billed as negotiations, these were billed as talks. In other words, James Kelly's instructions were to go to Beijing, to sit down with his North Korean counterpart, and lay it out there, to say that the U.S. is not looking for North Korea to freeze its nuclear program, but rather to completely dismantle it if it has any expectation of either diplomatic recognition, security assurances or economic assistance.

But as things stand right now, one source I did speak with, Daryn, said that what happened today, Thursday in Beijing, is that the North Koreans said that they did not want to have talks with China; they just wanted to sit down with the United States. They just wanted to sit down with the United States. That had been their position all along. The compromise was to have China included. James Kelly, I'm told, called back here to Washington, asked if he could go ahead and sit down privately with his North Korean counterpart, and he was told again, according to one source, no, you cannot. And so, depending on how you want to look at the situation, they've either broken down prematurely, Daryn, or they've just done what they needed to do, both sides laying out their positions -- Daryn. KAGAN: Or perhaps never even started in the first place. I thought issue who was at the table, I thought that was worked out ahead of time, that North Korea had agreed to this.

KOPPEL: They did, and we know that, in fact, they did meet yesterday. They met Wednesday in Beijing, and the North Korean official laid out very, very strongly. We even heard Secretary Powell say that just a couple of moments ago, very, very strongly what the North Korean position is, that they do not admit to having a nuclear program, and say it is for peaceful purposes for energy needs, and we also know that James Kelly laid out a very, very strong U.S. position as I just said. And the Chinese, again, laid out their position, which is that they don't want to have a nuclear Korean peninsula.

So we know all three sides have laid out their positions but talks with supposed to go through Friday. And obviously, they've wrapped up early.

KAGAN: All right, Andrea Koppel at the State Department, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com