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North Korea Off Terror List; Dead Soldier Mystery; Growing International Outrage over Zimbabwe's Election Crisis

Aired June 26, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

See events come into the NEWSROOM live this Thursday, June 26th. Here's what on the rundown.

North Korea hands over nuclear secrets. As promised, President Bush announces rewards for the regime.

HARRIS: One hour from now the Supreme Court expected to rule on your individual right to own a gun, live coverage.

COLLINS: Issue number one, new numbers just in on the overall condition of the economy. Call it pokey. In the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And breaking news. North Korea turns over secrets about its nuclear program. The communist nation submitting its long-awaited nuclear declaration to China just hours ago. China led six-nation talks. The U.S. is looking for details on North Korea's plutonium stockpile in that report.

North Korea has also promised to blow up a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor tomorrow. In return the reclusive Asian nation is to be removed from a U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism and some sanctions against Pyongyang are to be lifted.

President Bush wrapping up some remarks on this breaking story just about an hour ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang. We remain deeply concerned about North Korea's human rights abuses, uranium enrichment activities, nuclear testing and proliferation, ballistic missile programs, and the threat it continues to pose to South Korea and its neighbors.

Yet we welcome today's development as one step in the multi-step process laid out by the six-party talks between North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Just a few western journalists are in North Korea for tomorrow's implosion at the Yongbyon reactor.

CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): A giant step in the right direction according to all involved in this. When we landed in Pyongyang we were told that the declaration was just being handed over in Beijing, as you heard from John Vause.

And now you've heard President Bush do the reciprocal measures that were required under these complicated negotiations that have been going on for months and indeed years.

Notifying Congress that he's going to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism -- that will take some 45 days to enact -- and also to remove North Korea from some of the sanctions that are being imposed under the trading with the enemy act.

In return, in about 24 hours from now -- just under 24 hours from now, North Korea is going to show its commitment and its intent and goodwill by blowing up the cooling tower at the Yongbyon facility.

Now we visited the Yongbyon facility, had unprecedented access back in February and we saw there that there has been a systematic dismantling of that facility ever since the summer. The reactor is shut down, the production of plutonium is shut down, and the reprocessing plant is shut down, which means they cannot extract the potent plutonium they would need for nuclear weapons.

Now they have produced enough for several nuclear devices and they have, in fact, test-fired a nuclear device back in October of 2006. But in the conversations that I had exclusively with North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator in February, he says that the North Koreans are intent to move out of this phase.

They want to continue this disarmament phase and as long as the United States and the six parties involved meet their obligations under the negotiations, then North Korea will as well. There is a long way to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And we expect to speak with Christiane Amanpour next hour.

And just another reminder for you. Christiane Amanpour will actually witness tomorrow's implosion at the Yongbyon reactor.

COLLINS: So what happens next? Let's turn to State Department correspondent Zain Verjee in Washington for us morning. Hi there, Zain. We heard Christiane talk a little bit about when North Korea will actually get off this list, if you will, of states that sponsor terrorism.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly.

Now -- what's going to happen now is a very critical phase. The key thing about the documents is plutonium. The reason we care about plutonium is because you need plutonium to make a nuclear bomb. And what's going to be important is, as one of the North Koreans is saying how much plutonium they have.

What's going to happen is that we're going to look at the number. The administration is going to look at it and so are the other regional leaders and they're going to say we need to get inspectors on the ground, sampling the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, sampling the nuclear waste and the plutonium itself.

Because what that does it, it kind of gives you a big picture on how long this plutonium has actually been around in the world. One analyst said it was like going through someone's garbage to try and put a picture together so in that way the United States is going to know whether North Korea is telling the truth on this declaration or is lying.

COLLINS: There are some major shortfalls, though, in the declaration, some things that the United States at least has been waiting to see.

VERJEE: Yes, there are, absolutely, and critics are immediately pointing to this.

Look, on the one hand, this is a major milestone in the process. This is North Korea. It took a long -- it was a long road to get here and a lot of hard work by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who traveled to the region and really made this happen.

But there are significant things missing. North Korea's not saying how many weapons it has, where the weapons sites are. They've not come clean or said anything at all about the suspected uranium enrichment program except to acknowledge U.S. concerns. And the key thing here, and a key national security issue for the United States, is the issue of proliferation.

We know that North Korea has had some sort of nuclear involvement with the Syrians, trying to help them build a reactor, but there are no details about that in this declaration, there's no details about who North Korea has been dealing with, how much -- who else they've been dealing with, how much -- how long this has been going on, and how much information is out there.

So there are a lot of unanswered questions here and critics say that this is just not good enough.

COLLINS: Yes, obviously, that's why the president had mentioned this 45-day period or so and how important that will be. What does it mean for North Korea to get off the terrorism list?

VERJEE: In practical terms, it means that North Korea can get some pretty desperate loans that it needs. You know, they can get low interest loans from the World Bank and other international financial institutions.

COLLINS: Yes, we were talking about sanctions?

VERJEE: Well, about the sanctions and -- well, the sanctions themselves, in practical terms, the administration is saying it really doesn't need anything, because there are sanctions under other areas of U.S. law that mean that North Korea is still going to have a major problem.

They still are under sanction and from the United Nations as well. So more than anything on the terrorism list count and on the sanctions count it seems more symbolic.

COLLINS: So appreciate it. Nice to see you. Thanks so much, Zain Verjee, our State Department correspondent on Washington, D.C. this morning.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice weighing in on the North Korea deal. She wrote an op-ed piece for this morning's "Wall Street Journal." She trumpets the deal as a major step forward while addressing suspicions, as you just heard from Zain, held by many in the international committee.

Rice writes this, "What if North Korea cheats? The answer is simple: we will hold North Korea accountable. We will reimpose any applicable sanctions that we have waived, plus add new ones."

"And because North Korea would be violating an agreement not only with us, but also with all of its neighbors, those countries would take appropriate measures as well."

Much more on North Korea this morning coming up in the newscast. We're going to be talking with Jim Walsh. He's an expert in international security at MIT about what all of this means. That's coming up in less than 30 minutes.

HARRIS: And firefighters are facing another tough day of battling wildfires in the western United States. In California hundreds of fires are still burning, after last weekend's lightning strikes. One wildfire is closing in on Big Sir and burned several homes.

In all, about 2,000 homes are threatened across the state and wildfires are eating up thousands of acres across Arizona and New Mexico as well. Firefighters say they're hoping to hold on until cooler temperatures and higher humidity roll in.

COLLINS: A group of missing hikers has turned up safe. Two adult guides and nine teenagers were on an outward bound hiking trip in a rugged area at Fresno County, California. When they failed to show up for a rendezvous with a third guide on Sunday, he alerted authorities and set up a search. The group walked into a remote camp store outside the search area yesterday. They are all in good shape.

HARRIS: And more misery in the Midwest. Can it get any worse? That is the question. Today rain again today in northern Missouri. Just what they don't need.

The rain puts more pressure on an already fragile levee in the community of Winfield. The latest deluge could cause the second round to crests along that swollen river in northern Missouri. Twenty-two Missouri counties have been declared major disaster areas by the president. The storms could also cause the river to crest in higher than expected levels in the coming days in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.

COLLINS: Wow, just goes on and on.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: Reynolds Wolf standing by now to talk a little bit more about this, the new river crests along the Mississippi because of all of the heavy rains.

Hey there, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. You know you were just showing video moments ago from Winfield, Missouri where you were talking about the issues they have with the levee, the last levee in Winfield that remains.

The problem that they have there is that thing is so weak and so mushy at this point that if you were just to get a two -- say, a two- inch wake that happen to move through that area that could actually push that levee over and then you're going to have the water just have its way in that part of the world. I mean, you guys know this, you get a coin and a quarter can make a two inch wake. So it would not take much at all.

You're noticing a little bit like it appears to be a white stripe from high above from this aerial footage. Those are actually some of the sandbags that people near Winfield High School put together. And there you see their efforts. Now all they can do is watch and wait and hope.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Reynolds, appreciate it. Thank you.

The pulse of the economy and what it means to you an important new measure out this morning. Allan Chernoff will break it down for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: She was taking on new assignments as a soldier and a mom. Now her death has shocked two communities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: And National Security adviser Stephen Hadley to make some comments in just a few moments on North Korea submitting its long awaited nuclear program declaration of China and maybe we will hear some additional thoughts on the president's decision to remove North Korea from a U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. When that briefing begins, we will take you to that room live right here in the NEWSROOM.

Barack Obama starting off a pretty big day. This hour he is courting votes in Pittsburgh. Later he heads to Washington in search of money. Former rival, Hillary Clinton, will introduce him to her top fundraisers.

COLLINS: "Your money," the nation's economy.

CNN's senior correspondent Allan Chernoff with important new numbers released just last hour.

So, Allan, give us the skinny. What are the numbers and what do they tell us?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, the economy grew at an annual rate of 1 percent during the first quarter, so that's not great but it is a drop better than the prior estimate. Previously, the government had said the economy grew by nine-tenths of 1 percent.

So the economy is limping long here. And keep in mind, this is actually an improvement from the fourth quarter when we grew by only six-tenths of 1 percent.

Well, does it mean that we're in a recession or not? I spoke to Bruce Kasman at JPMorgan Chase, and he says the jury is still out. We really don't know yet and we probably won't know for quite some time. It takes a while for the National Bureau of Economic Research to make a determination as to whether or not we're in a recession. But odds are we're going to have to see slower growth if it is determined ultimately that we're in a recession.

What helped us during the first quarter? Let's have a quick look at our graphic and you'll see, first of all, exports really helped out. The dollar was weak, that boosted our exports. Federal spending also helped out, mainly on defense, and also consumer spending on items that people need no matter how the economy is doing. That's medical care, education, and during the first quarter, tax service preparations as well -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Well what does it mean for the Fed's plan in the future regarding interest rates? Are we going to see any changes next time around?

CHERNOFF: Well, this means that the Fed still has to be very concerned about the economy growing very, very slowly. The Fed does not want to have the economy contract, fall into any type of severe recession, certainly, but at the same time, the Fed continues to be worried about inflation. In fact, in yesterday's statement when the Fed made its decision to leave short-term rates unchanged, it did say, "The upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations have increased."

In fact, the price index in the GDP was up 3.6 percent, that's a pick-up in inflation. CPR, right now, is running better than 4 percent, so because the Fed is worried about inflation, the odds are that later this year, the Fed will raise short-term interest rates.

COLLINS: Yes. All right, well, we appreciate you breaking it all down for us. Thanks so much, CNN's Allan Chernoff from New York this morning.

HARRIS: A prominent developer found dead in Winter Park, Florida. Police investigating the death of Steve Walsh. His body found in his home yesterday afternoon.

Our affiliate WFTV reports that that portion of the house had been ransacked. Investigators brought out a long barreled gun found in the home but wouldn't say whether it belonged to Walsh or if it was used to kill him.

A pregnant soldier found dead in a motel. Her death labeled suspicious.

CNN's Randi Kaye has the latest from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A dedicated and decorated soldier, preparing for another volunteer assignment with the army, dead inside a North Carolina hotel room.

How Meghan Touma died is a mystery.

(On camera): Touma's body was found over the weekend after someone reported a strong odor coming from room 143. The 23-year-old dental specialist was seven months pregnant when she died. She had just arrived here a couple of weeks ago to be based at Ft. Bragg.

(Voice over): The army says Touma had been serving in Germany for three years. She was last seen at Ft. Bragg June 12th. She had the option of staying on base while her paperwork was processed or pay for a hotel. She chose the hotel.

MAJ. ANGELA FUNARO, U.S. ARMY: We don't have any knowledge of any guests that she had with her, if she had any guests at all.

KAYE: The hotel wouldn't say if Touma had visitors. Police are calling her death suspicious. They're waiting on the autopsy to know how she died.

Touma's ex-husband says she told him she was going to name her son after him, even though he wasn't the father.

El Sayed Touma says they were married three years. This would have been her first child.

EL SAYED TOUMA, VICTIM'S EX-HUSBAND: We had a great relationship and, you know, we remained good friends and we e-mailed each other and, I mean, I still love her. I mean, I am married now and I have, you know, I have a wife and I have a baby on the way, but, I mean, I still love Megan. I still do and I would never stop.

KAYE: Touma's aunt told CNN she currently had a boyfriend. She met him, a fellow soldier, while serving in Germany, and had to move to North Carolina to join him at Ft. Bragg. The aunt did not know if Touma's boyfriend fathered her unborn child.

A soldier who served with Touma in Germany told CNN via e-mail, "She was very happy to be expecting her baby. She also showed me her ring and told me that she was getting married."

FUNARO: Here's a beautiful young woman. She's seven months pregnant. It's just -- it's sad and deeply troubling.

KAYE: Ft. Bragg is providing witnesses in helping police establish a timeline.

Grief doesn't wait for answers.

On her brother's MySpace page a picture of them, his mood crushed. He writes, "RIP, rest in piece, big sis. We love you and you are in our hearts forever."

In her hometown of Cold Spring, Kentucky, shock.

CONNIE NELSON, FAMILY FRIEND: Megan Honey was a sweet girl, come skipping down the road with her little long hair, just sweet as she can be, was a cheerleader, did well in school.

KAYE: Her success carried over to her military career. Among Touma's awards, the Global War on Terrorism medal. She'd also completed a Combat Life Saver course, an advanced course to help her save a fellow soldier's life in the field.

Not enough, it appears, to save her own.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Quickly we want to take to you one of the live events that we have been looking for this morning. Senator Barack Obama there at the podium, talking the economy, in Pittsburgh.

We want to go ahead and listen in for just a moment.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: An agenda that I believed has failed to keep pace with the challenges of the 21st century, I'm convinced that we must move in a new direction. If we have the courage to commit to change, the American people cannot just seize but shape the opportunities of the global economy. Together we can author our own stories. Together we can pursue a 21st century leadership agenda that's focused on five areas -- energy, education, health care, infrastructure, and innovation.

Success will not come from Washington alone. It must come from the dynamism and determination and ingenuity of the American people, with partnerships with states and cities, with the public and the private sector, and through the active involvement of the American people.

But we also know that, for our country to succeed, Washington has to change. Because in moments of great economic transformation, government must serve as the catalyst for change to leverage all sectors of American society that are represented here today.

This could be the moment when we make a truly national effort to end our addiction to oil. Just as Roosevelt invested in an arsenal of democracy and Kennedy took us to the moon, we could be the generation that achieves energy security, grows our economy, and saves our planet.

American presidents have been calling for this kind of effort since Nixon, but now is the time to act. We could have made that choice in 2000, but instead we got secret task forces and greater energy dependence. And we've watched these countries like Brazil and Germany created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the energy sector.

We failed to act and we've fallen behind. And that's why I've proposed investing $150 billion in a green energy sector to create 5 million new jobs -- good jobs that can't be outsourced. But this must merely be a spark for American industry and innovators to develop alternatives to oil and gas and to create a new energy economy.

If we do this, the great assembly line manufacturers of the 20th century can turn out cars that run on renewable energy. The dictators who -- who hold our security hostage will see their leverage disappear along with their revenue.

The oceans will no longer rise, our planet will be preserved, and that's what we must do as a centerpiece of our competitive strategy as a nation. This can also...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: This could also be a moment when we make an historic commitment to education, because we can't be satisfied until every child in America -- and I mean every child -- has the same chance to get a world-class education that we want for our children.

We need to commit $10 billion to give every child access to early quality childhood education. But we also need...

COLLINS: All right, quickly, we want to wrap this up with Senator Barack Obama talking on the economy today there in Pittsburgh. We're going to be hearing from Senator McCain, as well, a little bit later on around noon or so.

HARRIS: And National Security adviser Stephen Hadley now making comments on North Korea's nuclear program declaration.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: September of '05, a follow on in more refinement in February of '07 and then again in October of '07. And in the first and second phase of the process outlined in that, those documents, North Korea was to disable its nuclear facilities, beginning with the plutonium facilities of Yongbyon, and that process is -- coming along pretty well and pretty far along.

That process has been overseen by representatives of the six- party talks. The United States has been very much involved with support as we go forward with the IAEA. And that process continues.

The second thing that North Korea was to do in the so-called second phase was to declare its nuclear activity, and what provoked, of course, the president's statement this morning, was that the North Koreans did provide to the Chinese, who have been the convenor, if you will, of this six-party effort, their declaration.

This will describe their nuclear activity. It is a good first step in getting the kind of disclosure and transparency into North Korea's nuclear activities as part of any step toward their disablement, dismantlement and determination of those activities.

The North Koreans, as part of the process, is -- have indicated that the six-party representatives will have access to their facilities, including the reactor core, including waste sites.

They will make available documents, records, operating manuals and the like. They have already made available over 19,000 pages of documents, and that the six parties will have access to personnel involved in their nuclear programs.

This is important, because it is, part of this process, to be able to verify the declaration that the North Koreans have filed.

And I want to emphasize this is not something that's being imposed on the North Koreans. They have agreed to this process and they've agreed to make available the things that I've described.

And we are looking for, in the next days ahead, to the six parties agreeing on verification of principles, a verification in protocol, and to the monitoring mechanism that will oversee this process. And we expect these things to be in place in the next 45 days.

Now the premise of these documents I described in this six-party process has been, as the president said, action for action, and in these prior agreements, the six parties committed that if North Korea would take these steps in phase two, then the United States would take two actions.

One, there would -- and these are the actions that the president announced this morning. One is a proclamation that lifts the trading with the enemy act as it applies to North Korea -- and I want to come back to that and describe a little bit what that means -- and secondly, the president was committed and did today notify the Congress of his intent to lift North Korea's status as a state sponsor of terror within the next 45 days.

In addition, part of this phase two has also been the delivery of fuel oil or the economic equivalent. That is something that was committed to fuel oil to North Korea, and that obligation is being carried out.

In terms of the lifting of the status of North Korea as under the trading with the enemies act, it has the following consequences. There are certain really three categories of sanctions that are in place, in part, because of this legislation that will be lifted.

They involve some requirements of licensing for Americans who want to import goods from North Korea into the United States. There are some provisions that affect U.S. persons participating in the shipments of third countries to North Korea, and finally, there are some prohibitions with respect to certain financial transfers by the North Korean government.

These will expire...

HARRIS: OK, National Security adviser Stephen Hadley comments on North Korea submitting, finally, its long-awaited nuclear program declaration to China. And the outset of those comments there just sort of detailing the timeline that brings us to this day, and then looking forward to next steps, including the verification process, the protocols being put into place to verify the document over the course of the next 45 days.

And the next big step, taking place tomorrow, the implosion of the cooling tower at the Yongbyon reactor. That is happening tomorrow. Stephen Hadley saying this is a good first step and that the end is for the termination of the program. That is, in fact, the end game.

The road ahead, paved with some potholes? Well, an international security expert shares his thoughts. That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's get to New York now, the New York Stock Exchange. And let's get the business day started. The Dow starts the day at 11,811 after a flat day yesterday. The Federal Reserve left interest rates alone amid growing concerns over inflation.

The Fed actually indicating rates could move up. But what is going on here? Right out of the gates, as you can see, the Dow down triple digits. What in the world has spooked the market so early right out of the gates as we start the business day? Down 114 points, and believe it or not, that is a little off the earliest lows. We were down over 120 points just a couple minutes ago. I feel a market check coming with Susan Lisovicz right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Growing international outrage over Zimbabwe's election crisis. Now, leaders of other Southern African nations are urging Zimbabwe to postpone tomorrow's runoff vote.

CNN's David McKenzie is in neighboring Johannesburg, South Africa with more on this. Any possibility, David, that the pressure from these other countries will actually make a difference?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, it won't make a difference for tomorrow. The government saying it's just going to go ahead with that vote tomorrow, though one party is not involved in the vote. You know, the increasing condemnation has come even from Africa's eldest statesman Nelson Mandela at his 90th birthday party in London saying he's deeply disappointed with the situation in Zimbabwe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELSON MANDELA, FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: We have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans, in our own country, and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Despite those calls, President Mugabe saying he's going to run in the election. He's been campaigning all week throughout Zimbabwe. Little bit easier for him to campaign given the fact that the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai is sitting in the Dutch embassy afraid for his life -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes. We're also hearing that the opposition's second in command has been released from jail now. Do you have any more details on that, David?

MCKENZIE: That's right. Tendai Biti, the Secretary-General of the opposition, has been released on bail. He had been arrested for treason charges, which is punishable by the death penalty. The lawyer of that case telling CNN that the judge said this was a weak case by the government.

So, they're still a sign of some independence in the courts in Zimbabwe but the election commission saying that vote is going to go ahead tomorrow. Millions of Zimbabweans are disappointed with that.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's David McKenzie for us live there from Johannesburg, South Africa, following that story. Thank you, David.

HARRIS: North Korea has a nuclear stalemate been defused? Just hours ago, the communist nation announced that it has handed over long-awaited details of its nuclear program. That is a critical step toward dismantling it and easing the international concerns that have been building for years. Now, President Bush says he will call for the lifting of sanctions against the nation he once called part. Remember this, the axis of evil. He will also move to take it off the U.S. terror list. But he added, North Korea will have to end its nuclear activities in a verifiable way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: This could be a moment of opportunity for North Korea. If North Korea continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with the international community, much as Libya has done over the past few years. If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and our partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So how did we get here and how difficult is the road ahead? Jim Walsh, one of our favorite guests here in the NEWSROOM, is an international security analyst. He is also an associate researcher at MIT's security studies program. He joins us from Newton, Massachusetts.

Jim, as always great to see you.

JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, help us sort this out, if you would, Jim. A national security adviser, I know you didn't have an opportunity to hear the comments. But Stephen Hadley just a couple of moments ago said that the verification protocols will be worked out over the next 45 days.

Now that's a little disappointing because I want to know what's in the declaration. How long will it take before we publicly know what's in the document?

WALSH: Well, there are two tracks here. One is the leakers.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Thank you.

WALSH: You know, when you have six parties, and each party has its own staff, something gets leaked. So I expect we're going to have some leakage. We'll see some parts of some of the declaration.

The whole thing might not come for awhile. But regardless of what's in the declaration, and believe me, this is going to be a slow process and people are going to argue over this. That aside, this is a big development, Tony. This is a big milestone today.

HARRIS: All right. Help us understand it. You know, I'm trying to get through my floodwaters in Iowa and I'm hearing all of this buzz on CNN, about this declaration from North Korea. Why is this a big deal?

WALSH: It's a big deal because arguably one of the most dangerous places on the planet has been the Korean peninsula. And we know that North Korea has nuclear weapons. And this has been a focus for years now.

We are now at a point where North Korea is shutting down its reactor. If its reactor shut down, it can't produce plutonium. If it can't produce plutonium, it cannot make nuclear weapons. And the U.S. for its part, because each side has obligations in this agreement, the U.S. is finally and I underline the word finally taking the steps that it promised by taking North Korea off the list of states sponsors of terror and these other sanctions list.

So both sides are moving forward. This is not the end of the game, but as of today we are safer today than we were a year ago.

HARRIS: OK. That's an important point as we look at -- you're watching video of Christiane Amanpour at the Yongbyon reactor. How significant is this imploding of this cooling tower tomorrow? It feels like a photo op. Is it more significant than that?

WALSH: It is a photo op, but you know, there's no symbol more iconic for a nuclear reactor than its cooling tower. And so it blows it up, it will be great pictures. I'm sure my friends in the North Korea expert community all going to have house parties and watch the blowing up sort of thing.

But really it's what happen inside that's more important. And that's (INAUDIBLE). And it's politically, that's what's really important are the political steps.

HARRIS: Will we learn from this declaration how many nuclear weapons North Korea has right now?

WALSH: I think we will be able to estimate fairly closely what they are. I mean, it's going to be very hard to say because there are lots of uncertainties here. It's going to be hard to say this exact amount .0001. But I think we will get a sense of what the band of uncertainty is, you know, from X to Y, and the most important thing is that having identified that they have nuclear weapons, being on a path where they get dismantled.

So we will learn more. There will be disagreements. We'll say they have more, they'll say they have less. But at the end of the day, we are moving towards dismantlement and that's the most important thing.

HARRIS: I think you're absolutely right. That's why we have you on because you're so smart. Jim Walsh for us this morning. Jim, as always, great to see you. Thanks for your time.

WALSH: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: Move over, Niagara Falls, tourists won't have to leave Manhattan to see a spectacular waterfall. Look at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: U.S. beef heading back to South Korea. Seoul officially lifting its ban today. That's despite daily protests by Koreans worried about the safety of the meat. South Korea banned U.S. beef imports in 2003. A case of mad cow disease was discovered in the U.S. that year.

Under the deal, the U.S. will only ship beef from younger cattle considered at less risk. Before the ban, South Korea was the third biggest market for American beef.

It is being called the world's first building in motion. Listen to this. An Italian architect says he is ready to start construction on an 80-storey tower with revolving floors. Follow the animation. The planned skyscraper would rise in Dubai. Now, some of the units are designed to spin on command using a voice activated computer.

COLLINS: Kind of makes you sick.

HARRIS: Boy, other futuristic features include giant wind turbines between floors to generate electricity and lift. The residents can park cars at the penthouse level.

Man, just think about this. The designer admits he's never built a skyscraper before and hasn't practiced architecture in decades.

COLLINS: What does that have to do with anything?

HARRIS: So much for a vetting process but he is determined to go ahead with the project.

COLLINS: And I wonder, will the moon look like that every day with that?

HARRIS: And who is going to fund this?

COLLINS: I don't know.

HARRIS: Test it. Hasn't practiced in years? Hello!

COLLINS: I think we should follow that story.

I want to tell you about this architecture, if you will, too, of waterfalls. Beautiful, in fact, breath-taking. Look at that. Wonder of nature, except, wait a minute, these waterfalls aren't actually nature's handy work.

CNN's Rob Marciano near the Brooklyn Bridge for us this morning, where it looks like it's either raining or you're under the waterfall -- Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, hey, have you ever been at Niagara Falls. You know that mist, it's almost like a pouring rain when you get close to that fall. And that's just how -- no, no, it's actually raining now.

COLLINS: OK. MARCIANO: But you can see behind me, check it out. I mean, how cool is that?

COLLINS: Gorgeous.

MARCIANO: That is just one of four man-made waterfalls. And they just got cranking today here on the lower east side of Manhattan. Scaffolding much like you'd see in any construction site here around Manhattan. Very ubiquitous as far as seeing them on a block by block basis.

And Olafur Eliasson, a famous artist, brought this to Manhattan. He's really known for taking nature and environmental things, weather in some cases, and doing it in a grand scale of art. So, you know, I'm not a huge art buff. When it comes to stuff like this, I'm into it.

So this is one. We can see another one, actually, if you take camera two. You'll see one just down river. That's on the Brooklyn pier. That one I'm told almost as high, if not, higher than the Statue of Liberty. Some of these are as high as 120 feet and they're pumping a combination of 35,000 gallons of water out of the east river per minute, up and over the top, and then cascading back down.

So it's quite a sight to see. It will be going on all summer long here. Environmentally friendly as well. They're being cool to the fishes.

COLLINS: Good. Good.

MARCIANO: Except the power used to pump up -- am I still here?

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: Yes. We were just reacting to the fish.

MARCIANO: Oh, OK. You made me a little bit nervous here, because I'm right in the middle of the best part of my speech.

COLLINS: I'm sorry. Please, please continue.

MARCIANO: It happens right through October 13th. This is the largest public arts project in the city of Manhattan and it's quite a sight. We're here to witness it firsthand with a little bit of a passing shower as well. So check it out.

COLLINS: Really? I mean, they're regarding this as even bigger than all of the flags, remember, that were in Central Park and we did all of those beautiful shots?

MARCIANO: Yes, yes. It was more like 7,000 of those gates a couple years ago.

COLLINS: That's right.

MARCIANO: This one even more grand, even more picturesque. 15 million bucks it cost, but that's all privately donated stuff. Mayor says, you know, we may make as much as $50 million in tourism.

You know, a lot of Europeans over here because the dollar is so weak. You can't go down the street without hearing a foreign language. And they're out here pouring money into the Big Apple, and this is one more way for, if not the city, the circle line.

You get on a boat here, you get an up close look. And what I find to be really cool is that in the last couple of hours, the winds have picked up and as the water cascades down off that scaffolding, underneath the bridge that's 125 years old, by the way.

I don't think the designers had this in mind. You can see how the water kind of gets pushed with the wind. Right now, we have a southwest wind so the water as it falls down, it's getting pushed to one side. And that's actually one of the things that the artist had in mind when he designed it.

COLLINS: It's amazing.

MARCIANO: As he wanted to see how art would react with nature.

COLLINS: Yes. There's always a meteorological element to this things, even art. And I'm glad that you find that for us every time. Rob Marciano standing underneath the Brooklyn Bridge pretty much there in New York. Beautiful, Rob, thanks so much.

MARCIANO: Yes. All right.

COLLINS: Your constitutional right to own a gun. The Supreme Court may finally settle the long debate over the Second Amendment. That ruling expected next hour in the NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: The daily dose of health news now. Aiming to get every adult in the Bronx tested for HIV. Part of an ambitious plan being announced today by the new York City Health Department. Tests will be offered on a voluntary basis over three years.

They will be given at designated sites including emergency rooms, clinics and community centers. Health officials say the Bronx has the highest rate of AIDS-related deaths among New York's five burroughs.

HARRIS: All right, men out there. A couple of questions for you this morning. Should you go to the doctor for regular checkups? An equally important, do you?

CNN's Judy Fortin on men's health problems as they age and how an appointment can help save lives.

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JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detective Paul Ciepiela has been with the Baltimore County police department for 24 years. As a gang specialist with a youth division, he's seen his share of dangerous situations. So why in his younger years was he afraid to go to the doctor?

DET. PAUL CIEPIELA, CANCER SURVIVOR: I think there's a level of embarrassment, that's associated to that.

FORTIN: But in his early 40s, Paul began to have problems with his prostate. Reluctant to see a specialist, his wife urged him to go to a urologist who ordered a biopsy. It came back as cancerous.

CIEPIELA: At 43, I thought I was going to die. Very emotional time when you hear that word "cancer."

FORTIN: Treated at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Paul choose prostate seeding in order to keep his prostate intact. Today, he is in remission.

CIEPIELA: Five years later, things are looking great.

FORTIN: Doctors say it's not unusual for men to put off seeing a doctor until they get older. That's because, unlike women, yearly checkups are not very common.

DR. MICHAEL NASLUND, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MEDICAL SCHOOL: Men usually don't see a doctor until they get into their 40s or 50s so it's not engrained in their yearly life as much, and I think it's just difficult for them to want to come in.

FORTIN: In a man's 30s, testicular cancer is more common. Traditionally known as a young man's disease, testicular cancer is treatable, but can be fatal if it goes undetected.

NASLUND: The hallmark of it is a man will just notice at one testicle feels fuller or heavier or just feels different than the other one. And if you sees that, he should go see a doctor for that.

FORTIN: In a man's 40s and 50s, having prostate checkup is important. Although the risk of prostate cancer increases as a man gets older, African-American men and men with prostate cancer in their family are more susceptible to the disease and should be tested in their 40s.

NASLUND: There's a subset of prostate cancer that is inherited, yes. It's probably 13 percent to 15 percent of the cases.

FORTIN: In their 50s, all other men should have a prostate- specific antigen test known as a PSA, every year, along with a rectal exam. And as many men get older, erectile dysfunction or ED becomes an issue because of weak valves and vascular disease.

Men with diabetes can also suffer from ED unless a man's on nitroglycerin for his heart, ED medications can help.

NASLUND: There's a lot of other side effects from those medicines like dizziness, headaches, flushing, a little nausea, and they're relatively short-lived.

FORTIN: Men in their 50s also should schedule a colonoscopy to prevent the spread of colon cancer. Detective Ciepiela says deciding to go to the doctor saved his life. Now, cancer-free, he talks to fellow officers about the importance of having checkups, so they, too, can stay healthy and strong for their families, as well as their livelihoods.

Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Quickly we want to remind you, we are waiting on that major decision from the Supreme Court concerning your constitutional right to own a gun. The Supreme Court may finally settle a long debate over the Second Amendment. That ruling expected in the next few minutes. We're going to have it for you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: Good morning to you, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. You'll stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

North Korea spells out details of its nuclear program today. Quick reaction from Seoul, Beijing and Washington.

COLLINS: A key ruling on individual gun rights expected this hour at the U.S. Supreme Court. We cover the decision and bring you now with this.

HARRIS: And one man's home-made levee system. Did it keep his home dry? We will ask him, live, today, Thursday, June 26th. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: As we mentioned, awaiting big news from the Supreme Court on your constitutional right to own a gun. The Supreme Court may finally settle the long debate over the Second Amendment. That ruling expected any time now.

Our Kelli Arena and Jeanne Meserve both there covering the story for us. We're going to have that decision for you just as soon as we get it.

First, a little background to share with you. It's a case with huge legal, political and personal implications.