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North Korea Nuclear Test; Hundreds of Iraqi Police Officers Fall Ill After Evening Meal; Foley Fallout

Aired October 09, 2006 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody, from Atlanta.
I'm Heidi Collins.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris.

Spend a second hour in the NEWSROOM this morning and stay informed.

COLLINS: Some brand him a madman, and today North Korea's Kim Jong-il claims to be a nuclear power as well. President Bush, though, responds.

HARRIS: More on the Foley e-mails. A former Capitol aide under oath this week, and a newspaper reveals more about who knew and when.

COLLINS: New risks on the produce aisle. A company recalls its lettuce. New fears of E. coli this Monday, October 9th.

You are in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: President Bush calls it a provocative act that deserves an immediate response. Here's what we know right now about the North Korea nuclear issue.

The communist nation announced it has conducted what it calls a successful nuclear test. The claim has drawn international criticism, but North Korea says it should be congratulated.

The issue is front and center at the U.N. Security Council meeting. The U.S. has been talking to allies around the world and is calling on the U.N. to take immediate action.

Even Pyongyang's closest ally, China, says it strongly opposes the move. Negotiators want North Korea to return to six-party talks on the nuclear issue. Pyongyang has refused to attend the discussions for about a year now.

And if you're just joining us, last hour President Bush made some remarks about the claims from North Korea that it tested a nuclear device last night. Here's what the president had to say last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last night, the government of North Korea proclaimed to the world that it had conducted a nuclear test. We're working to confirm North Korea's claim. Nonetheless, such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

The United States condemns this provocative act. Once again, North Korea has deified the will of the international community, and the international community will respond.

This was confirmed this morning in conversations I had with leaders of China and South Korea, Russia and Japan. We reaffirmed our commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and all of us agree that the proclaimed actions taken by North Korea are unacceptable and deserve an immediate response by the United Nations Security Council.

The North Korean regime remains one of the world's leading proliferator of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria. The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to States or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States, and we would hold North Korea fully accountable to consequences of such action.

The United States remains committed to diplomacy, and we will continue to protect ourselves and our interests. I reaffirmed to our allies in the region, including South Korea and Japan...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Want to go straight to the United Nations. And here is U.S. Ambassador John Bolton.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: ... in response to the unprovoked launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea. And, in fact, the North Korean test comes after a very strongly-worded presidential statement by the Security Council on Friday, calling on them precisely not to test.

You'll remember when the Security Council adopted Resolution 1695, the North Korean ambassador in the council chamber rejected 1695 and got up and walked out. Now, in effect, by testing after the council called on North Korea not to test, they've -- they've deified the council again.

So I would have to say in the discussion we had this morning, it was really quite remarkable. I laid out the number of elements that the United States was asking for council members to consider in a sanctions resolution that would be under Chapter 7. These elements obviously go beyond 1695, because 1695 was a pre-nuclear test. And the entire discussion in which all 15 council members participated took only 30 minutes, and that's remarkable in the Security Council, as some of you may know, to have a unanimous condemnation of the North Korean test.

No one defended it. No one even came close to defending it. Most of the members who spoke said they were prepared to work on the basis of the elements of a draft resolution that I had proposed, agreed immediately to an experts' meeting today at 3:00 at which we can consider these elements. And I was very impressed by the unanimity of the council -- admittedly, these are preliminary responses -- but the unanimity of the council on the need for a strong and swift answer to what everyone agreed amounted to a threat to international peace and security.

So, obviously, we will have some discussions on the elements. We had presented these elements in the capitals of Security Council members at the end of last week or today in order to give capitals the possibility of considering what their position would be. But I was very strongly encouraged by the mood of the council, by the swiftness with which we went through this issue, and by the strength of the feelings expressed.

Now, we'll see how the negotiations go, but I think we're off to an important start here so that the message to North Korea and, more important even than the message, the strong steps we feel the council should take can be swiftly adopted.

QUESTION: Ambassador, last week you said that North Korea's friends on the council were going to have to make a decision on how to react if they did test. They have. Presumably you were talking about China and Russia, though I won't speak for you.

BOLTON: Thank you.

QUESTION: Can you give us some indication whether -- you know, what it is that the Russians and the Chinese said that made you think that they might be able to consider Chapter 7? They were quite cautious out here about their (INAUDIBLE), and said only that the -- that the North Koreans would face a serious attitude. Not sure what that means. And the Chinese pressed for prudent action.

So it doesn't sound like very tough language.

BOLTON: I didn't see any protectors of North Korea in that room this morning.

Any other questions then? OK. See you later then.

Thank you very much.

COLLINS: All right. There he was, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, saying that there was a 30-minute-long meeting at the Security Council, which is very, very short, in his words. Usually things take a little bit longer there. Unanimous condemnations of the actions of North Korea overnight.

We want to get to our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth, now with the latest from the U.N.

So, what about that, Richard? Just 30 minutes, pretty quick.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but no surprise, because they knew it could be coming over the weekend. And they were ready for this reaction. But now comes the harder part, just what are the terms of a Security Council resolution on sanctions?

The president of the council before Ambassador Bolton came out said that the full council condemns what North Korea has done, and the ambassador from Japan also said that they warned North Korea against future acts like this. And again, a call to the six-party nation talks that have really broken down once again.

So they're going to work an a resolution now. Diplomats telling us that this resolution might be an extension of what the U.S. has already done against North Korea, a sanctions resolution regarding financial transactions that the U.S. has accused North Korea of counterfeiting activities and drug trafficking, and would turn the U.S. terms, really, into a global type of sanctions resolution, more banning of materials, technology, nuclear know-how, things that could go into any type of weapons of mass destruction program.

So, so-called legal experts will work on this resolution. No idea yet on timing, though the U.S. certainly wants to make sure that everyone keeps the momentum going and wants -- and did note that nobody spoke out against -- in protection of North Korea. Even last week China said, if North Korea tests, we're not going to protect them this time -- Heidi.

COLLINS: And also, Richard, last week it was U.S. Ambassador John Bolton who said that the world would be a completely different place if, in fact, North Korea went through with a nuclear weapons test. How different is the world, then, today, maybe just in light of this strongest yet condemnation of North Korea?

ROTH: Well, I would have liked to have been down there to ask that because I knew you were going to ask me. But you saw Bolton kind of walk off quickly there after being questioned on how strong the support from Russia and China is.

It brings a rogue nation, you might say, into the nuclear club, if indeed a test took place. And it's a highly unpredictable nation and one that walked away from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. And it's not something -- not a country where there's a lot of dialogue with and discussions. So it's a very -- it's a wildcard.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement a short time ago, again criticized what North Korea has done and says, it violates international terms of disarmament and aggravates regional tensions, because this puts into play whether other countries in Asia will also go nuclear. As one U.S. official said the other night, this is not India and Pakistan, and there are always concerns about those countries.

So, has the world changed? I mean, we're still alive, we're still breathing. But it's certainly -- for the future, who knows? Many have speculated North Korea will be ready to test other weapons.

COLLINS: All right. Richard Roth, live from the U.N. today.

Richard, thanks for that. HARRIS: This just in to CNN. Just a week after the schoolhouse shooting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, this out of Joplin, Missouri. School officials there say no one was injured today when a 13-year-old student wearing some kind of a mask walked into Joplin middle school and fired an AK-47 assault rifle in the school.

Now, the school's superintendent said the boy pointed the weapon at two students. And two school administrators saying, "Not to make me do this." Then he fired a shot into the ceiling, breaking a water pipe.

No reports here of any injuries. This coming to us from the Associated Press.

But once again, just a week -- just a week after the schoolhouse shooting in Lancaster County, five young girls killed there, we get this news out of Joplin, Missouri, of a 13-year-old walking into a school there and opening fire with an AK-48 assault rifle. At this point no reports of any injuries.

We'll continue to follow developments on this story and bring you the very latest.

Well, over the last few years -- back to North Korea now -- no luck on the diplomatic front, that's for sure, in trying to convince North Korea to back away from its nuclear plans. Talks stalled last November.

The negotiations aimed at getting the North Koreans to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees went nowhere. The six-nation talks have been on again and off again since 2003. The host, China, North Korea's closest ally and biggest supplier of food and energy. Other countries involved the U.S., Russia, which shares a border with North Korea, Japan, and South Korea, a country who's had an uneasy truce with the north for more than half a century.

North Korea walked out of the talks nearly a year ago in protest over U.S. sanctions on its alleged illicit financial activities.

COLLINS: The leader of North Korea, he's been called something of an international man of mystery.

Our Fredricka Whitfield has a closer look at Kim Jong-il in this CNN "Fact Check".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Brutal dictator, recluse, enigmatic cult leader, just a few of the words Western analysts use to describe North Korean Kim Jong-il. In North Korea, Kim is officially referred to as "Dear Leader" or "Great Successor," a title bestowed after the death of his father Kim Il-sung in 1994.

Some regard him as a dangerous madman. But not veteran Asia journalist Jasper Becker. In his view, Kim is a skilled tyrant whose each move is calculated to gain North Korea the international respect he believes it deserves.

Diplomats who have served in North Korea report Kim is vain and paranoid, a man known to drink comrades under the table, and who has an entourage of sex slaves. Kim also is said to wear platform shoes and favors a bouffant hairstyle in order to appear taller than his 5'3 inches.

Western analysts say Kim was born in Siberia in 1941 when his father was an exile in the former Soviet Union. According to North Korean accounts, Kim was born in a log cabin in his father's guerrilla base in North Korea's highest mountain in 1942. Western analysts say Kim played a major role in two of the north's most infamous international acts, the 1983 bombing in Rangoon Burma that killed several South Korean members, and the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: A country shrouded in secrecy now in the glare of an international spotlight. A rare look inside North Korea, that's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly to Joplin, Missouri. Want to update you on a story we told you about just a few moments ago.

Apparently, according to The Associated Press, a 13-year-old student who was wearing a mask walked into a middle school there and started firing an AK-47. No one was hurt.

Again, according to Associated Press, he fired a shot into the ceiling and then one of the school administrators talked the boy into walking out of the building. Police took him immediately into custody.

Always scary to hear these stories, especially in light of everything that we've been reporting to you over the past week and a half or so. About six different incidents, some of them very -- much more tragic than others.

But the president of the United States will be meeting this week with several educational leaders at the White House to discuss this very issue of school safety. So I'm sure we'll have information on that as soon as it happens.

HARRIS: In Iraq, hundreds of officers get sick after eating dinner. Questions about exactly what happened.

More from CNN's Arwa Damon in Baghdad.

And Arwa, was this the first meal after the Ramadan fast?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony. Now, this is what we know, is that these soldiers -- or actually, Iraqi army police -- Iraqi police officers fell ill after eating their evening meal on Sunday. That is the meal with which they would be breaking their daily Ramadan fast. Apparently, according to one Iraqi police officer, they immediately felt ill within minutes and were trying to help one another, but they just kept collapsing.

Now, according to him and according to hospital officials, at least 700 police officers have fallen ill and seven of them have actually died from this food poisoning. However, Iraq's Ministry of Defense is denying any deaths, saying that only 350 to 400 police officers fell ill.

The incident, though, is under investigation. It is rather bizarre, and should this be a case of deliberate food poisoning, it would be a new tactic used by the insurgency here. Right now what we do know from the Ministry of Defense is that the chief of the mess hall has been detained for questioning, along with a number of other individuals, and the food and water are being tested -- Tony.

HARRIS: Arwa, the number of U.S. casualties this month, I have to ask you, it's beginning to feel more and more like a civil war, regardless of what we're calling it. What are the rules of engagement here for U.S. forces there in Iraq and Baghdad? Are they standing in the middle of a battle between Sunnis and Shia?

DAMON: You know, Tony, I think for many of the soldiers here they would actually say that that is the case. For example, especially troops that operate in mixed parts of -- if we take the capital of Baghdad, for example, those that are operating in mixed Sunni and Shia neighborhoods oftentimes find themselves out on the streets trying to make the peace, if you will, between the two communities, trying to really get a handle on the sectarian violence.

They are often called in when gunfire erupts between different militias. And they will say to you that they feel that their job is more policing the streets and trying to prevent a civil war from happening. But they're not just playing policemen. I mean, these streets are still incredibly dangerous for U.S. troops.

So far just this month we have 26 U.S. troops killed. And we're only 10 days into October. The cycle of violence really is increasing, be it the sectarian violence, or targeted attacks against Iraqi government officials.

For example, today we had the assassination of the brother of Iraq's Sunni vice president. His name is Tariq al-Hashimi. His brother was actually an advisor to Iraq's Ministry of Defense. He was killed when gunmen stormed into his home and opened fire. And he is the third number of Tariq al-Hashimi, the third member of Iraq's Sunni vice president's family, to have been killed in the last seven months. So it really is an incredibly dangerous environment for everyone involved here -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad.

Arwa, thank you.

COLLINS: The political battle in the Bible Belt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE SCOZZAFAVA, NORFOLK REPUBLICAN: When I find a Democrat or liberal within this area, it just blows me away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The Republican incumbent facing a tough battle for reelection. Is Mark Foley a factor? We'll have that story in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And hey, are you pumped up by falling gas prices? Experts say the feeling won't last. Well, can we enjoy it while it does?

That story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Developments surrounding former congressman -- Florida congressman Mark Foley. Today's "Washington Post" reports Congressman Jim Kolbe new about Foley's inappropriate Internet messages back in 2000. "The Post" says a former page showed Kolbe the messages and Kolbe personally confronted Foley.

Also, a former Foley aide is expected to go before the House Ethics Committee. That will happen this week. An attorney for Kirk Fordham says Fordham expects to tell the panel this: that House Speaker Dennis Hastert's chief of staff knew of Foley's conduct in 2003. That aide, Scott Palmer, has denied Fordham's account.

HARRIS: The Foley fallout, could it be a factor in key congressional races?

CNN's Mary Snow went to one Virginia district to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here are Norfolk, Virginia, Christian conservatives are eager to offer their prayers for political leaders, but it's their votes that Republicans really need, and there are questions about whether or not the GOP will get them.

(voice over): Just how conservative is this northern tip of the Bible Belt?

SCOZZAFAVA: When I find a Democrat or liberal within this area, it just blows me away.

SNOW: So it may come as quite a shock that incumbent Republican congresswoman Thelma Drake is in a tough reelection battle against Democrat challenger Phil Kellam. And that was before the Mark Foley scandal. Last week, Kellam's campaign began re-airing these ads about protecting kids from sexual content on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a father of two, Phil Kellam knows protecting our children is more difficult than ever.

SNOW: Drake says she doesn't think the fallout over Foley will affect her.

REP. THELMA DRAKE (R), VIRGINIA: Certainly because Mark Foley did something wrong doesn't mean that Thelma Drake had anything to do with that. I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.

SNOW: Her Democratic challenger disagrees, saying Foley symbolizes what's wrong with Washington.

PHIL KELLAM (D), VIRGINIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: And certainly people that I talk to at work, in church, around the community are concerned about this. They're concerned about this culture of corruption in Washington.

SNOW: But Kellam also might receive help from the most unlikely of places, dissatisfied Christian conservatives here, those like Pat Diffley, who's retired from the Marine Corps.

PAT DIFFLEY, U.S. MARINE CORPS. (RET.): I mean, the current administration in the White House and some of the things that Congress has done has not necessarily forward the conservative values.

SNOW: While Diffley says he'll still vote Republican, there are others among this conservative community who aren't so sure.

SUSIA POTTER, NORFOLK RESIDENT: I probably will end up voting Republican as long as I don't see anything else come up.

SNOW (on camera): And it's the undecided Christian conservative voters that Republicans worry about. Republican strategists say the fear is that this voting bloc which is crucial to Republicans will send a message by not voting at all.

Mary Snow, CNN, Norfolk, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And Mary Snow is part of the best political team on television.

COLLINS: Whoa. We like this story just for that graphic.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: Hey, gas prices are dropping, but have they hit the bottom? Analysts suggest they may have. First, the numbers from AAA.

Today's national average for a gallon of regular gas, $2.27. That's nearly 40 cents a gallon cheaper than just one month ago, and it compares to $2.90 a gallon this time last year.

So experts say excess summer stocks are being used up. Oil imports will decline, and some refining capacity is shifting from gasoline to home heating oil. All pointing to, yes, unfortunately, higher pump prices.

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

HARRIS: Outrage around the world after North Korea claims to carry out a nuclear test. Here's what we know right now.

The reclusive communist country may have made good on a threat. North Korea says it conducted an underground nuclear test just hours ago. That claim immediately met with criticism from around the world.

The United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain among the countries weighing in. They're all condemning North Korea. President Bush says a nuclear test by the communist country would be unacceptable and the international community would respond. The issue a major concern for the United Nations Security Council as it meets today.

President Bush talking tough this morning after North Korea claims it conducted that underground nuclear test.

To the White House now and our Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen, good morning.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

It was a very short statement by President Bush in the White House this morning. It lasted less than three minutes, but the president did not mince words.

As you said, he called North Korea's apparent nuclear test unacceptable and a threat to international peace and security. The president did stress the fact that the United States and the rest of the world is still trying to confirm that a successful nuclear test actually did occur. And the president expressed deep concern that if indeed that was actually the case, that someday North Korea could pass on its nuclear technology to rogue states or to terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The North Korean regime remains one of the world's leading proliferator of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria. The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to state or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States. And we would hold North Korea fully accountable, the consequences of such action.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM: President Bush said this morning he spoke with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Russia and China. That all of them are re-affirmed their belief that there must be a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula and that swift action must be taken, right now, by the United Nations Security Council and the U.S. plan there, this afternoon, certainly is to push for sanctions against North Korea, Heidi -- Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Kathleen, when did the White House learn of what was going on in North Korea? Give us a sense of the tick-tock here, who called whom, and when?

KOCH: The U.S. did get a brief cursory advance notice of this test. But that notice only went, really, initially to the U.S. embassy in Beijing. What happened was that North Korea did reach out to China, right around 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, last night. Said it was going to conduct such a test. China immediately notified the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

And then it was at 9:35 p.m. Eastern Standard Time that the U.S. Geological Survey, with monitoring instruments around the world, did note a seismic event in North Korea. Then at 9:45, the U.S. embassy in Beijing reached out to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She then contacted the National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

It was he who finally then contacted President Bush and informed him of what had occurred. Clearly, a not of consternation here at the White House, Tony, about this apparent test.

HARRIS: Kathleen Koch at the White House. Thank you.

HIEDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Isolated, secretive and repressive, North Korea keeps a very tight grip on what goes on inside its borders. And certainly the information that gets out.

HARRIS: But you're about to get a rare inside look at the Communist nation from a "CNN Presents" documentary "Undercover in the Secret State". An excerpt now from Special Correspondent Frank Sesno.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN PRESENTS (voice over): North Korea, March 2005. A crowd has been ordered to gather in an open field. A party official makes an announcement. Children have been brought to watch. The sentence is about to be passed. Three men are about to die.

These people have committed the crime most damaging to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Il. They made contact with the outside world. Three policemen step forward and raise their rifles. On the left, a prisoner is tied to a pole.

(COMMAND GIVEN, GUNSHOTS)

This video was passed from person to person, along a secret underground network, powerful evidence of public executions under the regime of Kim Jong-Il.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: As North Korea faces world condemnation for its reported nuclear test, we're going to give you a rare look at life inside the Communist nation.

COLLINS: "CNN Presents: Undercover In The Secret State", tonight at 11:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

HARRIS: A country stuck in a time warp. But is it now a modern- day nuclear power?

COLLINS: Concerns about North Korea ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Outrage around the world after North Korea claims to carry out a nuclear test.

Here's what we know, the reclusive Communist country may have made good on a threat. North Korea says it conducted an underground nuclear test just hours ago. That claim immediately met with criticism from around the world.

The United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain, among the countries weighing in, all condemning North Korea. President Bush says a nuclear test by the Communist country would be unacceptable and the international community would respond. The issue, a major concern for the United Nations Security Council, as it meets tonight.

COLLINS: North Korea and the nuclear issue, a key concern for Russia, the two countries share a border. Russian President Vladimir Putin in Dresden, Germany, for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. North Korea expected to be on the agenda.

CNN's Matthew Chance has reaction now, from the Russian capital.

Matthew, Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly delivered strong condemnation of this possible North Korean nuclear test. Where does Russia fall exactly in the North Korea problem?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM Well, traditionally Russia has been quite adopting a soft line when it comes to North Korea. It's pretty much stood by China as part of the six- party talks. Russia is one of the few countries in the world that has diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has visited Pyongyang on one occasion, one of the only world leaders to do that and Kim Jong- Il, the North Korea leader, has visited Russia twice. They have relatively strong diplomatic relations.

Having said that, Russian diplomacy was geared towards trying to prevent a nuclear arms Korean Peninsula. In that sense, the diplomatic effort seems to have less eggs on the faces of Kremlin officials. That's why we've had stern words from the Russian President Vladimir Putin, earlier today, about his North Korean neighbor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Russia definitely denounces the test conducted by North Korea. This is not just a question of North Korea, itself, it's a question of the enormous damage done to the process of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Earlier today, President Putin had a telephone conversation with President Bush. They discussed, apparently according to the Kremlin, North Korea was the main issue of that conversation. And they agreed that what was needed here, was a coordinated effort. What the Kremlin wants to avoid is individual countries taking strong action against North Korea -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So, Putin says that much anyway, to President Bush. But is there any indication that Russia would go so far as to change its policy toward North Korea?

CHANCE: Well, certainly what the Kremlin has indicated so far is that it sees the answer to the Korean nuclear problem as one that should be dealt with by the six-party talks. They've broken up recently, of course, with North Korea refusing to attend.

Russia is calling on all of the countries engaged in those talks, China, United States, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, as well, to get back together again, urgently, to try and find a diplomatic way out of this. Russia wants to avoid, it says, at all costs, any kind of confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

COLLINS: Matthew Chance, live from Moscow. Matthew, thank you.

HARRIS: The North Korean nuclear issue, high stakes, are there low expectations for a resolution?

COLLINS: The world reacts. Details, right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Outrage around the world, after North Korea claims to carry out a nuclear test. Here is what we know right now. The reclusive Communist country may have made good on that threat. North Korea says it conducted an underground nuclear test just hours ago.

That claim immediately met with criticism from around the world. The United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain, among the countries weighing in. They are all condemning North Korea.

President Bush says the nuclear test by the Communist country would be unacceptable and the international community would respond. The issue, a major concern for the United Nations Security Council as it meets today.

HARRIS: Now to Washington and Jim Sasser, former senator and U.S. ambassador to China, in the '90s.

Jim, good to talk to you. Thanks for your time.

JIM SASSER, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: My pleasure. Glad to be here.

HARRIS: Do you believe -- let me get you on the record on this -- do you believe North Korea tested a nuclear device?

SASSER: I really don't know. From all appearances, yes, they did. The explosions were picked up on Richter scales as far away as the United States. It would appear they did conduct a nuclear test.

HARRIS: I sort of want to break this next question up: Assuming they did, what's the significance of the test for, let's see, North Korea, China and the United States?

SASSER: Well, the significance of the test, really for the whole world community, is you have a paranoid, isolated, dangerous state now on the verge of possessing nuclear weapons. Probably the threat is most intense, first, for Japan, and the South Korea. And the Chinese, of course, are very concerned about this themselves.

The Chinese call this a brazen act on the part of the North Koreans. That's something that's very unusual for the Chinese to use diplomatic language that strong.

HARRIS: Jim, we're trying to frame this up. Is North Korea selling missile technology to Syria, Iran?

SASSER: Our intelligence community, I think, has made those accusations that they're selling missile technology to Syria and Iran. The truth is, the North Koreans are so desperate for cash, around the world, they'll sell anything they've got, which is not very much.

That's one of the dangers of them developing a nuclear capability. Because they could very easily sell that to other states that we characterize as rogue states, or even to international terrorists, if these terrorists have the cash to buy the nuclear weapons. Now, i want to emphasize North Korea, even if they exploded a nuclear device, is still probably a long way from developing a deliverable nuclear weapon.

HARRIS: We got you.

Jim, I have to ask you, what has happened here? We elect people like you when you were in the Senate, presidents and Congress people to work on these issues and get us to resolution. What happened here? What failed?

SASSER: Well, I think there were two or three things that failed here. One, I think it was a failure on the part of this administration to work closely with the Chinese in trying to emasculate this threat. In other words, the Chinese have been telling us for a long time, privately, that we can influence North Korea -- the Chinese say this -- but we can't control them. We need some help from the U.S. and what the North Koreans really want, the Chinese are telling us, is number one, a promise from the United States we will not attack them militarily. Number two, we'll move in the direction of diplomatic recognition with them. And number three, give North Korea access to multilateral lending banks, and that sort of things. We've not been forthcoming with that.

HARRIS: Well, Jim, can I stop you right there. Let me just sort flash forward. Do you think a nonaggression treaty would get us to the point where North Korea would denuclearize, if that's a word?

SASSER: I think we'd make progress, but we're not talking about a nonaggression treaty. What we're talking about is a private commitment, even, that this administration would not attack North Korea militarily. The North Koreans know that they've been included in the axis of evil with Iraq and Iran. They saw what happened to Iraq. And they know that the previous Clinton administration had plans to take out certain, what they perceive, what the Clinton administration perceived to be, nuclear facilities in North Korea, militarily. So this paranoid regime wants some assurances from the world's largest super power, we're not going to attack them.

HARRIS: Jim, James Baker is one of the smartest guys around Washington. You know that. Here's what he has to say about the prospect of perhaps sitting down and talking with that regime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BAKER, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: I believe in talking to your enemies. I don't think you restrict your conversations to your friends. At the same time, it's got to be hard-nosed. It's got to be determined. You don't give away anything. But in my view, it's not appeasement to talk to your enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Jim, what do you think about that?

SASSER: I think Jim Baker is exactly right on this subject. I think that we could engage in bilateral talks with the North Koreans. This would, of course, enhance the North Korean status and prestige around the world, and might diminish ours somewhat. But I don't think so.

I think most of the other nations of the world, particularly those in the six-power talks with the North Koreans, would breathe a sigh of relief and be much stronger in, if we have to go to sanctions and supporting sanctions in the United Nations.

HARRIS: Jim Sasser with us now, former senator and ambassador to China during the Clinton years.

Jim, good to see you. Thank you.

SASSER: Thank you. Glad to be with you. COLLINS: North Korea shocks the world with claims of a nuclear test. What will happen next? Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: So, a lot of information we're hearing about North Korea and this possible nuclear test they may have done overnight. It is certain to be an international story as well. Rosemary Church standing by with "Your World Today."

HARRIS: Lady Church!

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INT'L. ANCHOR, "YOUR WORLD TODAY": Hello, to you both, Tony and Heidi.

Of course, North Korea, the top story today. Political shockwaves right across the globe with the announcement from North Korea that it's conducted that nuclear test. We'll gauge world reaction and bring that to you.

Another story we're keeping an eye on, of course, is that top investigative reporter in Russia, murdered in her own home. And this, after she published a number of critical articles on Russian policies. We'll take a look at that story and the ramifications.

And British soldiers in southern Afghanistan come face to face with a tougher enemy than they ever realized. The Taliban five years on.

We'll have those stories and much, much more, of course, here on "Your World Today," coming up at the top of the hour. Back to you both, Tony and Heidi.

COLLINS: Great.

HARRIS: Rosemary, thank you. See you at the top of the hour.

Korea's DMZ, dividing north and south, for half a century.

COLLINS: That border in focus after a different line was crossed. Here's CNN's Dan Rivers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM: Where you join me, about as close as can you get to the border of North Korea. I'm standing, literally, just on the edge of the Demilitarized Zone.

If we pan the camera across, this area here is strewn with mines and has been like this, a Demilitarized Zone since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

North Korea lies two kilometers up this way, just out there, in the mist and the haze. Now, this has become a massive international fault line after the news that North Korea has successfully tested this nuclear weapon.

We understand from Russian confirmation that the test was carried out underground. The Chinese are saying that it was the equivalent of about 550 tons of TNT. Now, to put that in perspective, the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War was 15,000 tons of TNT equivalent. A fairly small blast, conducted deep underground.

It's thought it was going to be conducted at the bottom of a coal mine, right up in the northeast of North Korea. But now, clearly, this is ratcheted up tensions here on the Korean Peninsula, especially for the government of South Korea, a government which has long gone for policy of engagement with the North Koreans. Now, that policy some would say, has come slightly unstuck, because the North Koreans have developed this nuclear bomb. They've said they were going to test it, and now they have tested it.

A lot of condemnation has come in as one would expect from the Chinese, from the United States, from Japan.

But everyone now is concerned about what this means for this region. What does this mean for the six-party talks? Effectively, they are left in tatters. And perhaps, more importantly, what does this mean for the region? Does this now mean this part of Asia will be engaged in an arms race. Already, the South Korean army has been put on a state of higher alert after this bomb. What does this mean now for the rest of the region? Does it mean now that South Korea and possibly Japan will also seek to get a nuclear deterrent?

What message does this send to countries like Iran, who have been trying to develop nuclear weapons? Their critics say. Does this give them a green light to go ahead and test that? Dan Rivers, CNN, in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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