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Your World Today

North Korea When the Cameras are Turned Off; Bush to al-Maliki: U.S. to Stay the Course in Iraq; Madonna's Child

Aired October 17, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A defiant North Korea celebrates its communist roots amid signs it could be preparing for another nuclear test.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Changing course. With the U.S. midterm elections just a little more than two weeks away, Republican leaders call for a new strategy in Iraq.

CHURCH: And a pop star adopts a child in Malawi, generating criticism from human rights advocates. But could the controversy help African children who need a good home?

CLANCY: Hello and welcome to our report that's broadcast all around the globe.

I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

From North Korea to Malawi, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, North Korea says it wants peace but is not afraid of war. Ominous words that come amid signs it could be planning a second nuclear test.

CLANCY: But first the central government has broken its silence over those U.N. sanctions that were imposed over the weekend. It's blaming them on a hostile U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The UNSC resolution, needless to say, cannot be construed other than a declaration of a war against the DPRK because it was based on the scenario of the U.S. being keen to destroy the socialist system of Korean style (ph) centered on the popular masses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: With North Korea under close scrutiny, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. all warn Pyongyang could be gearing up for another nuclear test. A U.S. official with access to intelligence points to activity under way at a second nuclear site. A top U.S. envoy in the region says another test would be a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HILL, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: I mean, I think we would all regard a second test as a -- as a very belligerent answer on North Korea's part to the -- to the international community. And I think the international community would have no choice but to respond very clearly to the -- to the DPRK on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Now, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her way to meet with North Korea's neighbors. Her job, trying to rally support for full and thorough implementation of the U.N. sanctions.

Amid all the talk of war, North Korea's putting on quite a show of pageantry. These celebrations in Pyongyang mark the 80th anniversary of the "down with imperialism" union. We see pictures like these from North Korea come from time to time. All very well- choreographed, all elaborate and upbeat.

But what happens when the lights go down and the cameras go away?

Dan Rivers shows us another state side of life in the reclusive state that the government tries to keep hidden away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In many ways, Kang Chol Hwan now has a perfect life -- a loving wife, a healthy baby boy and lots of friends. But this land of plenty and comfort is a world way from his own famished childhood. He spent a decade in one of North Korea's labor camps.

He reflects on how different things will be for his own 1-year- old son, Tusong (ph).

KANG CHOL HWAN, FMR. NORTH KOREAN PRISONER (through translator): If I were in North Korea, the future of my son would be miserable. I'm so glad that my offspring will have a life here. Babies cannot survive there. There were times when newborn babies were brought into the camps, but they all died.

RIVERS: Kang thinks there are up to six main camps still operating, imprisoning some 200,000 people. They're based on Soviet- style gulags, where prisoners are forced into punishing hard labor for years.

Much of Kang's childhood was devoid of the love and fun his son now enjoys.

KANG (through translator): It was total hell. It was like Auschwitz. We were forced to work, eating only corn and salt. We were starving. It was a very hard life with cold weather and regular beatings.

RIVERS: And the reason for his imprisonment? His family's alleged Japanese sympathies, guilt by association, spanning three generations.

But Kim Jong-il's government has consistently denied the camps even exist.

DAVID HAWK, HUMAN RIGHTS CONSULTANT: It's the worst of the worst.

RIVERS: Human rights expert David Hawk has collected detailed information on the camps.

HAWK: They're dumping grounds for people who are deemed to have bad -- bad ideas.

RIVERS (on camera): Kang Chol Hwan knows many defectors who come to Seoul from North Korea been. But what's remarkable about this encounter is that his friend was actually a prison guard at one of Kim Jong-il's brutal gulag camps.

AHN MYONG CHOL, FMR. NORTH KOREAN CAMP GUARD (through translator): I was put in special classes that the prisoners are very bad people and I had to control them. Now when I remember those times I feel so sorry, even though I didn't do it on purpose.

When I first joined the army, I thought they were human beings. But the more I got indoctrinated, it got more natural to kill or beat them.

RIVERS: Do you find it difficult to forgive him because he was a guard in the camps?

KANG (through translator): It's not personal. Even though he was a guard, he's kept from North Korea and opposes Kim Jong-il.

He was the first guard who told the truth about the camps. He's a hero. A person like me should appreciate him.

RIVERS (voice over): Such incredible forgiveness after years of tyranny is breathtaking. Once this former guard and prisoner were enemies in Kim Jong-il's horrific camps, now they're friends, united by their awful shared experience.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: All right. We want to turn to Iraq now. And the first two weeks of October have been particularly deadly there, even by Iraqi standards.

More than 100 people have been killed across the country in last four days alone. Car bombs killed at least 20 people in Baghdad Tuesday. One hit a funeral tent, another blew up in a market. U.S. commandos had predicted increased violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

CLANCY: There is growing talk of overhauling U.S. strategy in Iraq. Republicans in President George W. Bush's own party doing a lot of the talking about that subject.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre has that part of the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With the alarming rise and the rate of U.S. casualties in Iraq, 55 dead so far this month and almost three times that many Americans seriously wounded, and with Iraqi casualties running even higher, the calls for change are getting louder from President Bush's own party.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: We clearly need a new strategy. Obviously by any measurement, we're in a lot of trouble in Iraq.

MCINTYRE: The White House says President Bush called Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who was troubled by rumors the U.S. might be losing patient with him and could impose a timeline for bringing the violence under control.

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The prime minister also wanted to make it clear, for instance, that -- that -- that talk of, you know, giving timetables or expiration dates or whatever to the government were not only undermining the government, but also inspiring terrorists, is the term he used.

MCINTYRE: The White House says President Bush reassured Maliki he has the full support of the U.S., and in return, Maliki dismissed the notion of partition of Iraq. But many experts question whether Maliki, in office for only four months, has the political clout to unite the Sunni and Shia factions.

LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: The situation in Iraq is getting worse because the unity government -- so-called unity government -- is really not a unity government. Prime Minister Maliki has not taken the steps that he needs to do to disband the militias or to create a sense of a unified -- unified Iraq.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The White House rejects any suggestion that the Iraq Study Group is providing political cover for President Bush by putting off any admission the current strategy is flawed until after the elections. White House spokesman Tony Snow says that would cast the 10-member commission, including five Democrats, as mere stooges of the administration. Insinuating, he says, a collaboration that does not exist.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Passengers say the impact was brutal.

CHURCH: That's right. A subway crash tops our check of other stories making news around the world this hour.

The crash happened at the end of morning rush hour in central Rome when one train rammed another. At least one person is dead, some 60 others injured, five of them seriously. An Italian transportation spokesman ruled out terrorism, instead blaming either human error on mechanical failure.

CLANCY: Prosecutors have started drafting charges against Israeli president Moshe Katsav. Police say they have evidence he committed rape.

Katsav is under pressure to resign now over the scandal that involves female employees. The Israeli media reporting that the attorney general will likely decide within the next two weeks on pressing charges.

CHURCH: U.S. President George W. Bush has signed a law that sets up controversial military commissions to prosecute high-level detainees. It strips detainees of habeas corpus, one of the fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution. The law also lets the president determine what are permissible interrogation techniques.

CLANCY: All right. We're going to take a short break here.

When YOUR WORLD TODAY returns...

CHURCH: We'll look at adoptions from Africa. It's a growing trend, as we've seen, fueled by high-profile adoptions. Pop star Madonna's, of course, is just the latest, and not everyone is thrilled about it.

CLANCY: And the U.S. population reaching 300 million. We're going to take a look at how the country got to be so darned crowded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone. Welcome back. Seen live in more than 200 countries all across the globe, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

Well, the child who could be the latest addition to Madonna's family already getting a taste of the limelight and a taste of celebrity controversy, for that matter. Human rights groups say her adoption of an African boy was extraordinary, not legal by the book, and that she got special privileges. They doubt that it's in the child's best interest, they say.

We get more from Paula Hancocks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Whisked through London's Heathrow Airport the baby, who last week was just another of Africa's orphans. He's now part of Madonna's world of wealth and celebrity.

One-year-old David Banda, with a bodyguard and police protection, swaps poverty in rural Malawi for the pop star's central London mansion. Pop star Madonna and her film director husband Guy Ritchie say they've been given temporary custody of little David and plan on adopting him. But human rights groups in Malawi are taking legal action, claiming Madonna's adoption application has been illegally fast-tracked.

Malawian law prohibits adoptions by non-residents. Typically people who want to adopt must spend 18 months in the country being evaluated by child welfare workers.

But Madonna was granted custody of baby David last week due to what her lawyers called "special circumstances". Human rights organizations are furious Madonna has been allowed to take David out of Malawi.

JUSTIN DZONZI, MALAWI HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE: If David goes and then we proceed with this case, and then the court agrees with us, we'll have no alternative but to bring David back. And that is more disturbing, because the -- a new life would have begun for David.

HANCOCKS: Some charities are delighted Madonna has publicized the plight of some 900,000 orphans in Malawi.

MADONNA, SINGER: ... food and water and education.

HANCOCKS: Madonna has pledged $3 million to help Malawi's orphans, and her charity, Raising Malawi, is setting up an orphan center.

HANNAH PERRY, "HEAT" MAGAZINE: She's been setting up orphanages over there. She's been doing a lot of work over there. And she does say that she will take that baby back to understand his culture, to understand his roots. And I think you have to bear that in mind.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Adoption experts now say that Madonna and Guy Ritchie will face a tough process of checks before they're formally allowed to adopt the 1-year-old. That process could take up to two years to complete.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, understandably, this latest Madonna controversy has brought new focus to adoption in Africa. It's being described sometimes as a celebrity fad, sometimes a genuine gesture of goodwill.

Africa Correspondent Jeff Koinage talked with people on both sides of the issue and with some caught in the middle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Twelve- year-old Koketson Motshoane is just one of 48 million orphans in Africa. She has five other siblings scattered across various orphanages whom she gets to see just once a year. She's never heard of Madonna but says she would gladly jump at the chance of being adopted by anyone willing to give her a home.

KOKETSON MOTSHOANE, ORPHAN: I feel unhappy.

KOINANGE (on camera): Tell me why.

MOTSHOANE: Because I have no mother.

KOINANGE (voice over): Koketson lives in this Johannesburg orphanage, along with 58 other children between ages 12 weeks and 21 years old. It's run by Gail Johnson, a white South African who has adopted 5-year-old Tabo (ph). She found Tabo (ph) in an abandoned warehouse five years ago on Christmas morning after her first adopted child died of AIDS.

Regardless of race, she believe she's has the right to offer the best care any mother can give to children abandoned or orphaned.

GAIL JOHNSON, ADOPTIVE PARENT: It's going to freak me to give him up, but if there is a young couple who wants him or a black couple who want him, I'll hand him over. There was no one. And after him living with me for nine -- a year, in fact, there was no way I would give him up. I was not going to give him up to a child care facility.

KOINANGE: Gail says there are too many abandoned children across the African continent who are in desperate need of a good home, and she doesn't see what the big deal is about celebrities coming to Africa to adopt.

JOHNSON: Bottom line, if someone wants to, and it's sincere and it's not a publicity stunt, or whatever, why not? If you look at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, he's adopted her two little ones that she adopted prior to having her baby born in Namibia. Now that's sincerity as far as I'm concerned.

KOINANGE: But some child welfare activists are up in arms when it comes to celebrities canvassing the continent in search of abandoned and orphaned babies.

LYNNE CAWOOD, CHILD LIFE: You know, the whole issue of cultural adoption, either, you know, a white child in a black family or a black child in a white family is a very controversial one, because very often children's identities get formed within their family. And when children identify themselves as different from their biological families, that is an issue that that child has to grapple with and come to terms with, and it has to be handled very sensitively.

KOINANGE: But Gail Johnson insists the alternative is bleak because the number of children in Africa losing parents to AIDS is growing, and adoption, though a last resort, is the only viable alternative.

JOHNSON: I get quite a lump when I try and visualize a little one going to bed with nothing. And I can't. It hurts too much because it's wrong.

KOINANGE: It's something that anyone, even the critics, can agree on.

CAWOOD: We would rather have a good home overseas than no home in Africa.

KOINANGE: As AIDS continues to wreak havoc and decimate families across the continent, the number of orphans will no doubt continue to rise, giving way to more celebrities seeking more adoptions in what's becoming one of Africa's fastest-growing exports.

Jeff Koinage, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Many people around the world want children, and there's another way to find a child in the developing world. That is, pay a poor mother to have the pregnancy. A strange story that's going to be the focus of "Insight" a little bit later today.

Jonathan Mann joins us with a preview of that.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, it's not quite as mercenary as it sounds. Or maybe it is. Childless couples have been hiring surrogate mothers all around the world. Does it change things when they go all the way to India to get a bargain baby?

CNN's Satinder Bindra went to one town where it's become something of a specialty and women are eager for the opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There are now dozens of such women in this city. Women once too shy to be surrogates or afraid of being shunned by others are shedding their fears.

Twenty-seven-year-old mother of two Pushka Panya (ph) has already been a surrogate once and says she's ready to do it again. She invited us home where she showed us how she has invested the money from her last surrogacy to build a more modern kitchen and living space.

Now she dreams of using the money she'll get from carrying another baby, about $500 a month, to help send her own children to university. Panya (ph) says her husband, a painter who makes $45 a month, supports her decision.

"The joy of giving someone a child is a very different feeling," she says. It's more than money. I'll always remember that child and think how happy the real parents must be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Is it legal? Is it right? Is it safe?

We'll be talking to a medical expert in New Delhi and seeing the rest of Satinder's report coming up on "Insight." That's in about an hour and a half from now at 18:00 hours GMT.

CLANCY: All right, Jonathan. Thank you for that. We'll be watching.

CHURCH: All right.

Well, the population of the United States reaches a new milestone.

CLANCY: Just ahead right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we're going to find out how the U.S. got to the 300 million mark and why the numbers are going up faster than ever.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, everyone. I'm Tony Harris at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. But first, a check of stories making headlines in the United States.

The North Korea threat, here's what we know.

Word there may be new evidence that North Korea is preparing for a second nuclear test in defiance of international warnings. That's according to a U.S. official who has access to intelligence information.

Meanwhile, the communist nation is blaming Washington for U.N. sanctions leveled against it. Today North Korea blasted the resolution as "a declaration of war." North Korea's foreign ministry says the country wants peace but is not afraid of war.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launches a diplomatic mission. She's traveling to Asia to lobby Asian allies and Russia to enforce the U.N. punishment. Rice is aware some countries like South Korea and China are uneasy about provoking Pyongyang. She says, "We have no desire to ratchet up the conflict either."

Fighting terrorism. President Bush signs a bill that sets rules for interrogating and prosecuting terror suspects. That includes high-value al Qaeda suspects linked to 9/11. The bill would create military commissions to conduct trials. It would ban certain forms of detainee torture but allow CIA interrogators to continue to question suspected terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And this bill complies with both the spirit and the letter of our international obligations. As I've said before, the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values. By allowing the CIA program to go forward, this bill is preserving a tool that has saved American lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Trials before a military commission may be months away.

In small-town Iowa, a judge appoints a public defender for a man charged with killing his mother, father and three younger sisters. Twenty-two-year-old Shawn Bentler made a brief court appearance.

The judge is keeping bail at $2.5 million -- cash only. The prosecution says Bentler is too dangerous to be allowed out on bond. Police haven't offered a motive for the deadly shootings of the Bentler family on Saturday.

A killing in Kentucky and now an Amber Alert. Police say a 10- month-old boy is believed to be with his mother and her boyfriend.

The mother does not have custody of the baby, who is said to be developmentally disabled. Police say a social worker had taken the baby do see his mother. It's reported when the social worker didn't return to her job police were called to the home. They found the social worker dead from what they call a violent attack.

A developing story out of Pittsburgh now. Three school buses involved in a chain reaction accident on a rainy highway this morning. Police say 42 students and adults were taken to hospitals. School officials say there are no reports of serious injuries. It's not clear what caused the crash.

New warnings today in Buffalo, New York, and that region is still coping with last week's record snowstorm. And now authorities are urging people to be extremely careful using generators. Three deaths in Buffalo now linked to carbon monoxide poisoning.

More than 100,000 people still without power. And today, some community warming centers are filled to capacity. Power crews are working to get the lights back on.

Jacqui Jeras following the situation in Buffalo and in Texas, Louisiana.

Jacqui, a lot of weather out there.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is, and it's all being caused by one system, actually, right now. Not the snow that we had a few days ago in the Buffalo area, but the rain that they're going to be getting today and the cooler temperatures which have been pulling on in.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Jacqui, thank you.

Legal trouble for actor Wesley Snipes -- an eight-count indictment from a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida. He's accused of tax fraud and failing to file income tax returns. If convicted, Wesley Snipes could face a maximum 16 years in prison.

You know it's getting a bit crowd in here today. A new American milestone. The Census Bureau says the nation's population has officially hit 300 million. Of course no one really knows who pushed the U.S. over the mark or the precise moment that it happened.

According to estimates, there's a birth every seven seconds in the United States. A death every 13 seconds. And a new immigrant every 31 seconds.

"NEWSROOM" returns at the top of the hour. Former U.S. ambassador to China and South Korea James Lilley will tell us if he thinks sanctions against North Korea will work.

YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Tony Harris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CLANCY: North Korea branded U.N. sanctions opposed against it an act of war. An official statement blames what it calls hostile U.S. policy toward Pyongyang. Japan, South Korea and the U.S. all say there are signs North Korea just may be preparing for a second nuclear test.

So what evidence is there of that second nuclear test? Barbara Starr joins us the Pentagon to share some of the U.S. intelligence, at least that they're talking about, right, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Jim. You know, when it comes to North Korea, the U.S. intelligence community, the U.S. military very conservative in trying to predict anything, because no one really can say what the regime in Pyongyang might be up to in terms of their next step. But intelligence and military sources for the last several days have been saying that they do see activity at several sites in North Korea, that might possibly be sites for a second test.

Today, some additional detail on what all of that means. Pentagon sources, military sources, saying that what they are seeing, one indicator, is the placement of small fabricated shelters or buildings on two sites. That's something that is of particular interest to them. Some of that happening back at the first site where the test took place. Some of the preparations apparently happening at a second site, and they very closely mirror what was noticed right before that first test just over a week ago.

So U.S. intelligence really now 24/7 of course, keeping its eye on the North Korean peninsula on the area where they think a second test might happen.

Nobody's willing to predict it at this point. It's inconclusive, but they do see these indicators that they're watching carefully. And backing that up, they are monitoring statements, they say, that are being made by North Korean military leaders that the regime in Pyongyang indeed has the intention to conduct additional tests. Of course with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice traveling in the region, a lot of concern that the North Koreans may try and do it in the next few days -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. They're watching the statements. One of the statements was that Pyongyang, and this man, Kim Jong-Il, considered the U.N. sanctions imposed against North Korea as an act of war. How much of a real concern is there, that North Korea could actually do something?

STARR: Well, I think it's always a concern by U.S. military commanders, because of the unpredictability of the regime and the lack of direct knowledge that U.S. intelligence and the U.S. military has about North Korea.

You talk to the most senior commanders in the United States military, and they will tell you straight out, they simply don't know. U.S. intelligence committee -- community, senior analysts, senior officials, they don't know. Still, for example, a week, more than a week after that first test, the U.S. intelligence community says radioactive debris that it was an underground nuclear test, but they know very little about what really happened in that test, and they can make very few predictions now about what the North Korean nuclear program looks like now -- Jim.

Barbara Starr, thanks to you always. Reporting to us there from the Pentagon -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Well, the head of the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon says Israel is close to pulling all of its troops out of Lebanon. The only place forces remain is in the border village of Gajar (ph). Meanwhile, there appear to be increasing turmoil on the Lebanese political front.

Brent Sadler has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Postwar Lebanon. Physically and emotionally ravaged by the recent Hezbollah-Israel conflict. Now it's politics are in renewed turmoil as Syria's allies rallying behind Hezbollah's flag face off a western-backed government in a bitter war of words.

RAMI KHOURY, LEBANESE POL. ANALYST: We are seeing the return to narrower identities, but you haven't seen the next step, hopefully, which is the political reconnection to renegotiate a new national compact.

SADLER: One maverick Christian leader, General Michel Aoun, claims he is already trying to do just that, by embracing Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, rocking the political establishment here by crossing the sectarian line. A bid, claim supporters among his Free Patriotic Movement, to diffuse tension.

KAMEL YAZIGI, FREE PATRIOTIC MOVEMENT: Because if you corner any group, Hezbollah in particular, you risk trouble. So by keeping a balance, you're ultimately safeguarding the unity of the country.

SADLER: A dramatic move that seems to defy the 70-year-old general's past. Back in the late 1980s, General Aoun led a breakaway faction within the army, and launched a hopeless battle of liberation to drive Syrian troops from Lebanon. He lost, and went into exile. The former Aoun aide, now a horticulturist, retired from politics, recalls Aoun's popularity among Christians blossomed when he defied Syria.

ROGER AZZAM, FMR. AOUN ADVISER: They were looking for a leader, for a savior, if we can say. And now they are missing the savior.

SADLER: Azzam split with the general long before Aoun returned home to a heroes welcome some 18 months ago, and he pours scorn on the general's new political ties.

AZZAM: Michael Aoun is not the Michael Aoun with you, his way is against, you know, the minimum of interest stuff for Lebanon, you know?

SADLER (on camera): Still, Aoun remains one of the popular Maronite Christians in the country. With enough parliamentary clout, backed by Hezbollah, to challenge the government here.

(voice-over): It's 16 years since General Aoun surrendered the bomb-blasted presidential palace overlooking Beirut to the Syrians. Now he's hoping to become president, with the help of an old enemy and the newly influential Hezbollah.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, the war in Iraq is turning out to be a key issue in the upcoming U.S. congressional elections.

CLANCY: That's right. And add to that a possible showdown now with North Korea. Coming up, how the unpopular war in Iraq and the unpopularity of the man who started it may affect how the U.S. deals with Pyongyang and his party's fortunes at the ballot box.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, NEW MEXICO: A new dynamic has come in, and what I would suggest is direct bilateral talks, the United States, North Korea. You can't trust the North Koreans, but that's better than just letting this situation drift without any diplomacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CHURCH: Where we bring CNN's viewers around the globe up to speed on the most important international stories of the day. That was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

CLANCY: Now he's also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and he says the U.S. needs to force North Korea back to those six-party talks. He also wants the U.S. to meet face to face with him on the side of the six-party talks to try to resolve this current nuclear dispute.

CHURCH: That's right.

Well, the U.S. midterm elections are just three week as way. U.S. policy on North Korea may reflect a change in the way voters view the war in Iraq. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Leading Republicans now acknowledge that the situation in Iraq is bad.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R-VA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: It seems to me that the situation is simply drifting sideways.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: We clearly need a new strategy. Obviously, by any measurement, we're in a lot of trouble in Iraq.

SCHNEIDER: Nearly two-thirds of Americans now say they oppose the war in a new CNN poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation. That includes a majority of men and an overwhelming 70 percent of women.

Pessimism about Iraq is contributing to a continuing deterioration in President Bush's support. Sixty-one percent now disapprove of Bush's job as president, his worst rating ever.

The president's rating on Iraq is even lower. Sixty-four percent disapprove.

But Mr. Bush's ratings on North Korea are not so bad. Forty- seven to 41 percent approve.

The president's approach to North Korea has been less bellicose.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, my administration decided to take a new approach. We brought together other nations in the region, in an effort to resolve the situation through multilateral diplomacy.

SCHNEIDER: Sixty percent of Americans believe the situation with North Korea can be resolved using diplomacy and economic sanctions. More than 70 percent believed that three years ago.

Suppose diplomacy and sanctions fail. Would the public favor taking military action against North Korea? Three years ago, Americans were divided. Now a majority opposes military action.

Why? Iraq. More than 70 percent of Americans believe the war in Iraq is making it harder for the United States to deal with North Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: Republicans and Democrats here in Washington have been debating whether the Bush administration's policies or the Clinton administration's policies are more to blame for the problems with North Korea. So we asked about that -- 53 percent of Americans told us they blame the Bush administration a great deal or a moderate amount for the problems with North Korea. And the Clinton administration, 43 percent blame that administration -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Bill, the interesting thing with any of these figures, of course, is how much attention the Bush administration will be paying to them. Would it be enough to influence the way they deal with North Korea, for instance?

SCHNEIDER: How much attention who pays? I'm sorry?

CHURCH: The Bush administration, how much attention would they pay to these sorts of results, these sort of opinion polls?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, opinion polls. The president claims he doesn't pay attention to any of the polls. But of everyone in the White House look at these, we know, with great attention, and the president's own job rating, which has been slipping badly in the polls, has a tremendous impact on how his party does in a midterm election, even though Mr. Bush's name is not on the ballot.

CHURCH: Bill, were you able to assess the impact that the many scandals that surround the Republicans now, what sort of impact they're having on the possible outcome?

SCHNEIDER: A very deep impact across the country. The image of Congress has rarely been as bad as it is this year. In fact, the Last time things were so bad was back in 1994, a very significant year for American politicians because that's the last time a majority in Congress was overthrown. Then it was a Democratic majority. Now it's a Republican majority. Americans are very angry at Congress, not just because of the scandals, but because of the perception and the reality that Congress has not much done, if anything, about major problems facing the country, like immigration, and of course Iraq.

CHURCH: And, Bill, the bush administration, the Republicans, generally, have relied on Christian evangelicals, quite a lot, in fact. Are they standing by George W. Bush?

SCHNEIDER: They're getting a little shaky, Rosemary. And one of the big shocks to the Christian evangelicals was the Foley scandal, which had to do with morality and sexual affairs, and that was deeply disturbing, because the accusation was raised that Republican leaders in Congress may have been engaged in a political coverup, and that's made the support, among many other things, of the evangelical voters shakier than it has been in the past. Are they losing confidence in the Republican leadership of Congress? There is some evidence that they are, along with other Americans.

CHURCH: It's going to an interesting race to watch. Bill Schneider, thank so much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

CHURCH: Appreciate it.

CLANCY: The U.S. population scaling new heights, reaching 300 million.

CHURCH: It is. Coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we'll meet two children living on opposite sides of the tracks in Texas, one in wealth, the other in poverty.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Well, it has been a long time coming, but there, the numbers turned over. As we have been telling you, the resident population of the U.S. passing the 300 million mark. A lot of people on hand to take a picture of that.

CHURCH: It's very exciting. It's taken nearly 40 years.

CLANCY: It's taken nearly 40 years -- I thought we were going to both get to read this story. The milestone, 40 years to reach it. Bobby Woo was counted as the 200 millionth person. That was back in 1967. Of course at the time, he was a little bit too young to understand just what all the fuss was about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY WOO, 200 MILLIONTH U.S. RESIDENT: Most of this happened when I was a baby. And it was just about over by the time I hit kindergarten. And I think I first became aware of it when I was maybe four or five years old. But at the same time, I always thought of it as an honor and something that I wanted to live up to. So I think that for the most part, it certainly was something that I would consider a positive impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Woo, a one in a million guy. And his family all photographed the day he was born. It was right here in Atlanta. He was featured on the cover of "Life" magazine. What a start.

CHURCH: He has, and responded well under pressure, too. Well the U.S. population has been pushed ever higher by birth rates, increased life expectancies and a massive influx of international immigrants. But for some, the American dream seems a long way off. Jason Carroll brings us a tale of two children.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Kyle Johnson. He's 13, a seventh grader in Plano, Texas. Down the interstate, 650 miles away in El Paso, Texas, another 13-year-old also in seventh grade. His name is Bruce Nevarez. Both boys love to play basketball and soccer.

But after that, their only real connection may be that highway. It connects two very different worlds. Kyle lives here, a wealthy Dallas suburb, with large homes and streets with names like Hearst Castle.

KYLE JOHNSON, PLANO, TEXAS: Growing up here is pretty good because there's not very many bad things going on.

CARROLL: Over in El Paso, Bruce's life is full of rundown and boarded-up apartments. Bruce is one of nearly 13 million children in America, 13 million, who live in poverty. Kids like Bruce are three times more likely to drop out of high school than middle class kids.

BRUCE NEVAREZ, EL PASO, TEXAS: I wish I had, like, I go to -- where there's not a lot of gangsters. And everything, like people are decent over there.

CARROLL: El Paso straddles the border with Mexico. One out of four people live in poverty here according to latest census report. In Plano, Kyle's hometown, only about one out of 20 people live in poverty. Kyle appreciates what he has.

JOHNSON: Everybody would be so happy to have like a house or something like over their head. And like we've got all of this stuff.

CARROLL: Kyle lives this five bedroom house with two brothers and his parents.

(on camera): Show me some of the stuff you've got around here.

(voice-over): Kyle's bedroom is filled with trophies, toys and movie posters.

JOHNSON: Most of my friends they all have, like, computers and cell phones. But I know there's other kids out there who don't have all of that.

CARROLL: Kyle's father is a periodontist. His mother, a stay at home mom. It's hamburgers for lunch at Kyle's house. As for Bruce, his family rarely eats meat at home. It costs too much. His mother often serves casserole made of leftover tortillas.

(on camera): Bruce lives here with his nine siblings and his mother. They've turned every room into a bedroom. This used to be the living room, but as you can see, there are bunk beds here now. Two of the boys double up in here.

(voice-over): The children sleep in beds, but they have no sheets, clutter everywhere. Bruce's bedroom is a cramped space he shares with his brother. His walls, almost bare. Bruce has one toy, a stuffed animal, a gift he probably showed us. But Bruce became emotional when he talked about the things other children have growing up.

(on camera): Why are you crying, Bruce? NEVAREZ: I don't know.

CARROLL (voice-over): Bruce's father left the family a few months ago. His mother, an unemployed farmworker receives a little more than $500 a month in public assistance. That's just $6,000 a year for 10 people.

Kyle Johnson hopes someday to be a professional soccer player or a veterinarian.

JOHNSON: I feel like I can choose, like, anything that I wanted to.

CARROLL: At the other end of the interstate, Bruce is a top student. He wants to work and save money for college. He wants to beat the odds.

NEVAREZ: I want to be a doctor or a police officer.

CARROLL: Determined, yet unsure of his chances for success.

NEVAREZ: 50/50.

CARROLL (on camera): You think it's 50/50?

NEVAREZ: Yes.

CARROLL: Why is that?

NEVAREZ: I don't know.

CARROLL: Sure you do. You have an idea. Why do you think it might be 50/50 for someone like you?

NEVAREZ: Like no kind of money.

CARROLL: Bruce Nevarez seems realistic about his future. The other 13-year-old boy, Kyle Johnson, is also realistic. He sees no limits to what he can achieve. Two boys, same age, same hopes and dreams, and yet their futures may only be connected by a long stretch of road. Jason Carroll, CNN, El Paso, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Two pretty different lives there.

CLANCY: Very different.

CHURCH: That's it for this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN, stay with us.

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