Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Fears Swirl After Longtime Ruler Kim Jong-il Dies; Pentagon 'Vigilant' on North Korea; Payroll Tax Cut at Risk; FAMU Won't Suspend University President; Violence Explodes In Cairo; GOP Race Tied At The Top

Aired December 19, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Happy Monday to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

As always, we top the hour with "Rapid Fire," things making news, happening now.

Unfolding, this sudden change of power in one of the world's most mysterious countries. A third generation of Kims stands poised today to take control of North Korea. I'm talking about Kim Jong-un -- following confirmation that his father, long-time ruler, Kim Jong-il, died over this past weekend. The news of Kim's death quickly spread around the world. And reaction was most profound on the divided Korean Peninsula.

We'll take you live to the South Korean capital as we get in touch with CNN's Anna Coren, live for us tonight in Seoul.

And, Anna, set the scene for me there in the southern part of the peninsula. Is there concern? Is there celebration?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, I have to say there's a great deal of concern here, and understandably so. This is one of the most heavily armed regions in the world.

Just to the north of us, an hour and a half drive's north, is the DMZ, the demilitarized zone. That is the border between North and South Korea.

Now, North Korea has nuclear weapons. That is why there's so much attention on this story and the death of Kim Jong-il.

His son Kim Jong-un will be his successor. He's in his late 20s. And that is where the uncertainty lies.

They just do not know. The people here do not know what he will bring. He's inexperienced, he's obviously very young, and he doesn't have the credibility.

Now, one thing, Brooke, that I do want to mention you is that South Korean officials here, while they have got the military on high alert, and the president, Lee Myung-bak, has chaired a national security council meeting, getting all his staff prepared for whatever may happen, there is criticism that the South Koreans did not know of Kim Jong-il's death until it was announced to the public at midday Monday local time.

So, certainly the South Korean officials are copping a lot of criticism for not having accurate information as to what was happening to the North.

BALDWIN: And quickly, Anna, what more do we know about this youngest son, Kim Jong-un, other than the fact that we think he's late 20s, 27, 28, possible, Western-educated in Switzerland, and he likes American basketball? What else do we know?

COREN: Well, this his just the thing, Brooke. We don't know a lot about him.

I mean, we've obviously seen those pictures, we've obviously seen him with his father when he made those public appearances. But other than that, it's very limited as to the knowledge of who actually Kim Jong- un actually is.

We do know, however, that he has not had the same sort of preparation of what his father did. His father had some 14 years in preparing to become president of his country. That was not the case for Kim Jong- un. He had some few years after his father suffered that stroke back in 2008. So it will be interesting to see the succession and how smoothly it runs in the coming days -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: A lot of variables as we move forward.

Anna Coren for us in Seoul tonight.

Anna, thank you.

And we have every angle covered for you on this unfolding story, including what life is really life inside North Korea. Who is in charge of the nuclear weapons now? And how the U.S. reacts if the new leader decides to perhaps flex his muscle.

Don't miss this special coverage, the only way CNN can bring it to you.

But first, in other news, parts of the southwestern United States and the plains getting ready to get hammered by a major snowstorm that could affect folks from Arizona to Kansas, and it could be life- threatening for those traveling along the roads. Some places, we're told, could see up to two feet of snow and winds up to 40 miles per hour. In fact, police might have to close interstates if driving conditions just get too dangerous.

More than 900 people are dead after a tropical storm lashed the southern Philippines. This is according to the country's disaster agency.

As much as eight inches of rain fell within a 24-hour period, fueled with flash floods, mudslides there. Some 167,000 people have been affected by the powerful storm. The Philippines Red Cross says hundreds of people are missing after entire villages swept away. The defense begins its case for the man accused of giving up U.S. secrets. A computer expert testifying today that it's nearly impossible to figure out whether thousands of military documents came from Bradley Manning's computer. But a military investigator has said documents found on Manning's computers were later seen on WikiLeaks, which, as you know, posted them online. The Army private faces 22 charges, including helping the enemy.

And Iranian officials say they have captured a U.S. spy and secured a confession on camera. A semi-official Iran news agency aired the alleged confession just yesterday. The man in the video says he joined the U.S. military back in 2001 and received special training before he was then sent on to Iran. CNN has not been able to independently confirm that report.

And he still can't walk yet, but the San Francisco Giants fan who was brutally beaten at Dodgers Stadium is now speaking out on camera for the very first time. I want to play this for you. This is just part of the interview Brian Stow did with NBC's Rock Center.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi I'm Nancy.

BRYAN STOW, BEATEN GIANTS FAN: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Nancy.

How are you?

STOW: Fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've heard so much about you.

STOW: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm doing very well, thank you.

STOW: That's good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're just as handsome as your are sister said you are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: According to the show's Web site, Stow is in a rehabilitation center in San Jose, California. He proudly wore his Giants 2010 World Series championship T-shirt during that interview. The two men arrested in Stow's beating have a preliminary hearing this upcoming January 17th.

And mark your calendars for three days near the end of March. The Supreme Court will hear President Obama's health care reform law. One of the controversial parts, forcing everyone to buy health insurance. The justices expected to make a ruling next June.

And a Saudi billionaire making a $300 million investment in Twitter. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment firm announcing the news today, calling it a "strategic stake" in the microblogging service. It is unclear how much control his investment will provide. Prince Alwaleed has a reported net worth of $21 billion.

And we have a lot more for you coming up in the next two hours. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: It's a country with nuclear weapons, has a history of starving its own people, and now someone new is calling the shots in North Korea.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Two weeks to go, one nomination, as the Republican presidential candidates race toward Iowa. Just in to CNN, new polls showing where each of them stands.

As Florida A&M deals with a hazing scandal, more than 200 miles away a high school district is suspending its marching bands over suspicions the bad behavior began there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hazing, which is a national problem --

BALDWIN: I'll speak live with one parent who says innocent kids are being punished.

Plus, if Congress can't agree soon, everyone's taxes will go up in 13 days. The Senate passes the payroll tax cut deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only things that get 90 percent support in the United States Senate these days are mom, apple pie and chocolate ice cream.

BALDWIN: But Republicans in the House said, not so fast.

And horrific images out of Egypt as blood spills and violence breaks out, including video of a woman being dragged, undressed, and beaten. We'll take you live to the middle of it all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Did you know the U.S. military has nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea, precisely because of the instability that's been generated by Kim Jong-il and before him, his father? Joint U.S. and South Korean army bases dot the DMZ, the demilitarized zone. Massive air bases are capable of putting fighters and bombers over North Korea in a matter of minutes. And the U.S. 7th Fleet patrols the seas around Japan and the Korean Peninsula. American commanders are certainly paying very close attention to North Korea's next move.

And more on that. I want to go to the Pentagon, to CNN's Chris Lawrence.

And Chris, let's talk more about the military's stance on now a North Korea without, as they refer to them, their "Dear Leader."

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, I think the important thing, Brooke, is that so far, U.S. military officials tell us they haven't seen any indication from North Korea in terms of military movement -- no troop movements, no repositioning that would be cause for alarm.

Obviously, they're keeping a close eye on the situation, but some of the signals would be moving of troops, or a lot of equipment or machines being moved, and they just haven't seen that yet. So military officials are taking that as a good sign so far.

BALDWIN: What about the chairman of the Joint Chiefs today, General Dempsey? I know he spoke with CNN. What did he tell us?

LAWRENCE: Yes. He talked about the late-night phone call, the meetings overnight to try to assess what was going on. We also know that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was on the phone this morning with his counterpart in South Korea.

All of them basically urging that everyone be prudent. You know, trying to mitigate any sort of misunderstandings and like that. And General Dempsey also talked about what the U.S. would be looking for in terms of signs that something was going on in North Korea.

BALDWIN: With the timing of Kim Jong-il's death, we've also learned that North Korea test-fired at least one short-range missile today. Is there any connection between the two?

LAWRENCE: U.S. officials tell us no. They say this looks like it was something that was planned. They have tested these short-and-medium- range missiles before, that it had no direct connection to Kim Jong- il's death it.

The bigger question is their development of the long-range missile, missiles that can fly upwards of 4,000 miles, and of course their ongoing nuclear program. There's two ways to do a nuclear bomb, through uranium and plutonium. It appears the North Koreans are going both routes.

And interestingly enough, we were talking to some defense officials in that region just about six weeks ago, and they said the North Koreans had indicated to them that when they looked at what happened in Libya, the North Koreans felt that Moammar Gadhafi's regime was ousted in Libya, in part because Libya abandoned its weapons of mass destruction program. So he said that sort of takes you aback when you're negotiating about how serious they are about really trying to downsize their nuclear ambition.

BALDWIN: Well, that's one variable. Multiple variables at play as we look ahead to the next chapter of North Korea.

And just go with me, because one possible worst-case scenario is you have stability that could totally break down between the two Koreas. My question is -- we mentioned there's 28,000 U.S. troops there -- what role would the U.S. military play? Who takes the lead in that situation?

LAWRENCE: Well, that would be -- obviously South Korea would take the lead in that situation. You know, there's sort of a misconception that the U.S. is there to sort of save South Korea. You look at South Korea's military, they are capable of defending themselves against North Korea.

Now, any sort of widespread conflict is going to cause catastrophic damage on both sides, but South Korea is a very capable force, with very modernized military equipment. The thing that really jumps out at you, and when you talk to people, is not so much the worry the North is going to use these weapons in some sort of first strike, the worry is about proliferation, because a lot of folks I've talked to have said they believe North Korea will sell to just about anyone.

So, it's not so much that they're developing these weapons and they're going to take a first strike against South Korea, it's more about, where will these weapons end up? Where does this technology go when North Korea develops it and sells it?

BALDWIN: It's a question, and certainly would be a concern.

Chris Lawrence, at the Pentagon.

Also want to just remind everyone, all this reporting can be found on our security clearance blog. Just go to CNN.com/securityclearance.

And as we've been outlining, tensions -- they were already mounting on the Korean Peninsula, really this time last year, with South Korea accusing North Korea of an attack. Remember that attack that killed four South Koreans?

Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson went to Pyongyang on an unofficial visit to try to reduce tensions. And Wolf Blitzer went along. He was the only TV journalist on that trip.

He joins me now from Washington.

Wolf, I remember when you were gone. It was, what, six days in Pyongyang last December. And just in terms of color, because certainly I've never been in North Korea, I mean, when you even just land there, don't they take away your passport and your cell phone and your BlackBerry?

Is that right?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. And I didn't even bring my BlackBerry or my cell phone. I was in Beijing. I left it all in Beijing.

I was afraid to even take it with me to Pyongyang, because I knew they would confiscate it. Not just your passport, confiscate your cell phone or your BlackBerry or your laptop. And they would hold it. And if I was going to be there for six days, I didn't know what they were going to do with it for six days, try to open it up and copy it, or whatever. So I just left it in Beijing. I didn't even bring it along because I knew it could potentially be compromised if I gave it to North Korean authorities. So the smarter thing was just to leave it back some place a little bit safer.

But, you know, you're right. You get to Pyongyang, you get to the airport there, and this is the capital of North Korea. This is a country of about 24 million, 25 million people.

You know how many flights a day they have from Pyongyang, out of Pyongyang or into Pyongyang? You think about a capital city with a few million people. Guess how many?

BALDWIN: Three. Just a guess.

BLITZER: You're about right. They have a flight maybe every other day or so to Beijing, maybe once in a while they might have one to someplace in Russia. But that's about it.

BALDWIN: So isolated.

BLITZER: They don't fly around internally. You look up on the board to see where the flights are going, and you see two or three or four flights, and that's about it. It's totally isolated, that country, very poor, and it becomes obvious.

Now, we spent most of the time inside Pyongyang, in the capital. We saw what they wanted us to see, although they did let us one day get outside the capital, go into the countryside, and see what was going on a little bit. But they're very restrictive in what they let foreign journalists see, and I guess that's, from their perspective, understandable.

BALDWIN: And do you agree -- it seems like there are a myriad of concerns as we go forward. One, it's sort of this variable, Kim Jong- un, what sort of leader will he be, who is he? And two, as Chris Lawrence was just explaining, it's not just the fact that they have this active nuclear program, it's not them using the nukes, it's the proliferation, it's where they'll sell the nukes to.

BLITZER: Well, you'll remember they were providing nuclear material to Syria a few years ago, and the Israelis got wind of that and went ahead and bombed that nuclear facility in Syria. That was material that was being provided to the Syrians by North Korea.

The North Koreans, earlier, had a relationship with A.Q. Khan, the father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, if you will. So they've worked with Libya, under Gadhafi. And Chris is right, they want to make money. And one of the ways they could make money is to sell their military or nuclear capability. And they need it.

This is a country that spends most of their money, whatever limited money they have, on the military. A million North Korean troops north of the DMZ facing nearly a million South Korean troops south of the DMZ, and about 28,000 or 30,000 American troops with the South Koreans just in between, if you will.

It's a very, very dangerous point. Bill Richardson always says it's a tinderbox. And presumably, right now one miscalculation, Brooke, by the South Koreans or the U.S. doing something which the North Koreans would regard as provocative, endangering them, would trigger the North Koreans to do something. And before you know it, it could get very, very hot on the Korean Peninsula.

So there's a lot at stake right now. Everyone has got to calm down, take a deep breath, and roll with it, if you will. And I'm sure that's what everybody is trying to do.

BALDWIN: Yes. A tinderbox. It's the perfect way to put it.

Wolf Blitzer, thank you. We'll talk next hour as well.

I want to move on now to the alleged hazing beatings involving marching band members at Florida A&M University. So there was a call to kick out the president of the university, and we've now learned his fate. Those details coming up this hour.

Plus, we're all waiting to hear about this payroll tax cut legislation. The Senate passed that two-month extension, but now it looks like the House will reject it.

We're going to take you live to Capitol Hill for that, straight ahead.

Also, first lady Michelle Obama gets a surprising request for -- a date? What's even more surprising, though, is how she responded.

That story and much more coming up after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The House is expected to vote today on a bill that could have an immediate impact on how much money you take home. And unless Congress takes action, a payroll tax cut will expire in 13 days.

Now, the Senate has already passed this two-month extension -- "two months" being the key there -- but the House now is balking. Republicans want the cut extended now for the entire year.

So I want you to just take a look at this just to put this in perspective for all of us.

So, if this payroll tax cut expires, you're going to feel it right away. So, for example, if you make, say, $35,000 a year, your taxes will increase by $700 next year. If you make $110,000, let's say, your taxes go up by more than $2,300.

I want to bring in CNN Congressional Correspondent Kate Bolduan, who has been watching this back-and-forth and back-and-forth.

And Kate, now we have heard from Speaker John Boehner, who says the House vote will fail. So he is none too pleased about this two-month deal. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's not. And he says that House Republicans are opposed to the two-month deal because they are against these short-term fixes, short-term gimmicks, as he calls them. They don't think it gives the level of certainty that Americans need when you're dealing with tax policy.

And to be quite honest, there are many House Republicans, specifically conservative members, who, all along, have been really lukewarm on the question of extending the payroll tax cut at all, Brooke. There are many Republicans in the House who don't think it's good economic policy. They don't think it's helped the economy to this point. And so that, of course, kind of goes to this issue of, why are they opposed?

Listen here to House Speaker John Boehner from just earlier today, where he talks about why they're opposed to a two-month extension.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: The idea that a tax policy can be done two months at a time is the kind of activity that we see here in Washington that's really put our economy off its tracks. Now, last week, both chambers worked together to pass a full-year bill to fund our government, and I don't think this issue is any different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Kate Bolduan, speaking of working together, I thought both parties -- we're talking Dems and Republicans -- claim they want to extend this tax cut for a full year. So why can't they agree on that?

BOLDUAN: I think we should be specific to say that both Republicans and Democratic leaders do not want the tax cut to expire. Leaders want to see it be extended.

Why couldn't they agree? Well, they were negotiating towards a more comprehensive deal last week, as we talked about, towards a one-year extension, but where we're told talks really broke down came on the issue of how to cover the cost of these tax cuts.

Democrats and Republicans, they were trying to figure out these pay- fors, as we call them up here on Capitol Hill, how to cover the costs of the tax cut and the other measures. In the bill they had agreement on quite a bit of them, but they could not bridge the gap. And that's where this two-month extension came, but clearly that gap, that divide is still there as we speak today.

BALDWIN: So, quickly, if this does fail, as Speaker Boehner projects, tonight, then what? What's next?

BOLDUAN: Speaker Boehner also said that they're going to have a vote to move to conference. It's another kind of legislative maneuver that you can do when there's a difference on legislation between the House and Senate. If they move to conference, it's a way that the House and Senate could come together with negotiators and try to hash out their differences. But I'll tell you, if you just look at a statement put out by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today, that's going to difficult, as he's given zero indication that he is looking to bring anyone from the Senate back in to continue negotiations.

Just briefly, Brooke, he said, "Senator McConnell and I negotiated a compromise at Speaker Boehner's request. I will not reopen negotiations until the House follows through and passes this agreement that was negotiated by Republican leaders and supported by 90 percent of the Senate."

And there, of course, he's talking about the fact that the vote on that short-term extension, Brooke, was a vote of 89-10. You don't often see those numbers in the Senate these days.

So, it's unclear where things will go from here. We know that Speaker Boehner, though, is looking forward to having this vote this evening, which he is confident it will fail on this two-month extension that the Senate passed this weekend.

BALDWIN: All right. Thirteen days. Thirteen days and counting, Kate Bolduan. We know they want to go on vacation, so --

BOLDUAN: Never.

BALDWIN: -- perhaps something will get done.

Kate, thank you.

Hey, you ever think about who your dream date would be? I'm sure you've thought about it, how you would ask him or her out. Some Marines this year have already done this.

Remember Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis? They were both invited to Marine Corps balls. They both went. And now even more high-profile invites.

This gutsy Marine, Aaron Leeks, was brave enough to invite the first lady, Michelle Obama, to next year's Marine Corps ball as she attended this Toys for Tots event. Her response? "I'd love to." Leeks did, by the way, ask for the president's permission.

Now to all the alleged hazing incidents at Florida A&M University. The governor of Florida wants the president of the university to be removed from his job. We're going to tell you what the board of trustees decided about the fate of that particular president right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just today, the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees said it will not suspend university president Dr. James Ammons despite an investigation into suspected hazing that has clearly rocked that campus. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON BADGER, CHAIRMAN, FAMU BOARD OF TRUSTEES: We will stand firm against outside influence regardless of how well-intended that may lead to detrimental consequences that threatens the viability of the university.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Since the death of drum major Robert D. Champion, investigators say they have uncovered possible employee fraud and misconduct at the university, and that is why the governor of Florida wanted the president to step aside.

I want to bring in George Howell, who's been following this for us. He is live there in Tallahassee.

And so, George, the board did not follow the governor's recommendation. Do you know what's behind the board's decision today?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, for context, you have to go back to what Tommy Mitchell said, who is the head of the alumni association here for FAMU.

He says the group that oversees accreditation for colleges and universities sent a warning to Governor Rick Scott that this board of trustee should be able to make its decision free of any governmental pressures.

So today, we saw a board firm in its decision that it will not, it has no plans to remove Dr. James Ammons from its post and that it will not be influenced by outside pressures.

Later in the day, we did get a response from the governor saying that he will abide by the decision of the board of trustees here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I want to read this. This is how the Florida Governor Rick Scott reacted today. I'm quoting here. "To assure the public that these investigations are clearly independent, I believe it would have been in the best interest of Florida A&M University for President Ammons to step aside until all of these investigations are completed."

Continues on, "However, we have a process in Florida and that process has been followed." Governor Scott mentioned an unrelated case of child molestation on this campus. Detectives are investigating the band alleged hazing say, they found, quote, "financial irregularities."

Are these incidents, George, putting more pressure on this board? I mean, what's next for FAMU?

HOWELL: Clearly, you have a very complicated case, financial issues, clearly the hazing incident of Robert Champion. At this point, the board made it clear that they are going to meet each week, whether over phone or in person still unclear. But they're going to meet each week for the next 60 days to start discussing the facts of these cases so that they can start making decisions related to the murder investigation of Robert Champion -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: George Howell, thank you very much. Speaking of Robert Champion, his death reaching much farther than simply Florida A&M. It's affecting high school students hundreds of miles away.

Coming up next hour, we're going to speak with a parent of a high school band member who is furious. His son's academic future could be ruined because of these stories.

But now, North Korea's leader died of a heart attack just this past weekend. And the story today is all about what's next. How will Kim Jong-il's youngest son rule this nation?

What about the country's nuclear program? How will the world markets react to today's news? We're going to answer all of those questions for you after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Kim Jong-il's death threw a sudden and new uncertainty on to the Korean Peninsula. That's certainly reflective in market activity today.

Let's go to Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, I know Asian markets were horrible today. What about our markets? What's the impact here, if any?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. First, let's talk about those Asian markets. It really was the driving force for that sell-off for the Asian markets. You know, it's just because of concern about the regional instability following his death.

You saw Japan's Nikkei, Hongkong's Hang Seng both falling 1 percent. South Korea fell more than 3 percent. As for companies hit hardest, shares of Samsung, LG, they plunged. Now what's happening, what happened there in the markets really not a huge surprise, geopolitical concerns, they almost always pressure stocks.

Now there are worries that North Korea could prompt a military confrontation with South Korea or Japan, that kind of worry was weighing on the markets. Analysts say, you know what, it's kind of bad timing.

Everybody is already worried about Europe, slow growth worldwide, and analysts say, you know what? The last thing anybody needs at this point is another shock to global activity -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thank you. With the death of Kim Jong-il, a lot hangs in balance over the future of the Korean Peninsula. His death comes as North Korea has pursued a nuclear weapons program and a power vacuum could be detrimental to the stability of this particular region where 28,000 American troops are posted in South Korea. I want to bring in John Park, he is a research fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science International Affairs. John, it's nice to have you back.

First question, just quickly looking back, I know North Korea kept the news of Kim Jong-il's death a secret for an entire 48 hours. Why is that?

JOHN PARK, HARVARD'S BELFER CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: I think basically, Brooke, they had to get their house in order. We're in an accelerated leadership succession process order to begin with.

Then Kim Jong-il suddenly dies. I think they had to get the message right, make sure that the message was sent through the workers party of Korea institutionally a very organ in North Korea right now through this leadership succession.

What we've seen there is the announcement of Kim Jong-un as the great successor. I think going forward we're going to see more of these titles and more of these roles for Kim Jong-un, but also in the context of closer relations with China.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about this great successor. I mean, John, we don't even know for sure his age. It's been projected 27, 28, 29. He's a bit of a mystery man. Perhaps western education in Switzerland, likes American basketball. What else do we know about this man?

PARK: We know officially he was appointed to two very important roles when the North Koreans convened their party conference in September of 2010. The first was to a four-star generalship and the second to the vice chair of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea.

These are important elements and this vice chair position specifically related to the military commission. That is a title that (inaudible) in China. So as we see this leadership succession unfold, the institutional coordination between the Workers Party of Korea and the Communist Party of China I think is remarkable and very significant.

BALDWIN: Given these titles, then I have two questions for you. Will he be the key central player here of this next iteration of the regime or will he be supported by collective leadership?

And, two, as a presumptive heir, will he be open to changes, reform, or will he want to prove he's the new tough guy? I mean, essentially he has his finger on the trigger right now in a nuclear armed nation?

PARK: Well, North Korea has self proclaimed itself as a nuclear weapon state. With that type of announcement, there's a lot of concern how this country will continue with command and control of their nuclear infrastructure.

But I think the key point here is the inner circle that you referred to. These were individuals who are hand-picked by Kim Jong- il. If you look at their legitimacy and their power, it derived specifically from Kim Jong-il. So if you imagine Kim Jong-il as a solar energy source then members of this inner circle were solar panels.

So with Kim Jong-il now not on the scene anymore, the key question is, what is the solar energy source? Clearly it's not Kim Jong-un. He's still in the process of being groomed and developing the capabilities of potentially becoming a leader.

This is where I go back to the institution building that is occurring and deepening between the Chinese Communist Party and the Workers Party of Korea.

North Korea right now needs that type of institutional support. I think gradually we'll see more of these votes of confidence and support coming out of Beijing for this fragile regime in North Korea right now.

BALDWIN: What about just the U.S. role? We have 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. I mean, can you just explain the stakes here as it relates back to America?

PARK: Stakes are very high. We've seen the reaffirmation of the U.S. presence in the Asia/Pacific region and we've seen the U.S. put a tremendous amount of emphasis on the two key assets in northeast Asia, the U.S./South Korea alliance and the U.S./Japan alliance.

When it comes to these 28,000 U.S. service personnel and their dependence in the Korean Peninsula, they're a very important part of this U.S./South Korea deterrence stance. When it comes to the actual threat, though, North Korea does have a large conventional force, but it's deteriorated and atrophied overtime.

I think the greater concern is that if there is sudden instability in North Korea, what happens to the nuclear facilities? What happens to the nuclear material?

So when it comes to the security of these components and materials, that's where I think the greater concern about the direct threat to U.S. national security comes in.

BALDWIN: What about -- and I'm peeking out of my eye because I'm looking at the White House daily briefing room. We're still waiting for that to p happen. What do you think -- here it is it -- should the Obama administration, John, express condolences to North Korea?

PARK: I think at this stage there has to be a little more coordination specifically among the United States, South Korea and Japan when it comes to how they're going to move forward.

Japan has already sent its condolences to North Korea, but I think in terms of this coordination and signaling it has to occur at the highest levels.

The leaders of the countries involved I think need to start engaging in clear as well as regular communication because we frankly entered a period that is the fog of the post-Kim Jong-il period.

BALDWIN: The fog. John Park, always a pleasure to have you on. We really appreciate your expertise as always. Thank you so much.

We're going to take you to Washington here as we have brand new poll numbers out for you just this afternoon in the race for the White House. We're going to break those poll numbers down for you coming up.

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A pilot friend of mine sent me an e-mail about a dog rescue flight. I had no idea about these. I said, that sounds interesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Coming up in 60 seconds, a program that links up willing and abled pilots with a program to save shelter animals. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let's talk presidential race. Just 15 days -- horse race, thank you, Eric. Fifteen days until the Iowa caucuses, the latest CNN/ORC poll finds the Republican race getting pretty tight at the top.

Take a look with me. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are locked at 28 percent in this new nationwide survey. They're locked now. Ron Paul third, you see the 14 percent. Others are in the single digits.

When Republicans are asked what's important to their vote, 62 percent say personal qualities like leadership and vision trump their stands on the issues.

There is still room for someone to make a move, though, 56 percent say it's possible they could change their mind about who they will support.

Mike Young says his dog's death from cancer last year left a hole in his heart so had when he heard he could put had his pilot skills to use by helping abandoned dogs, he signed up.

Since then, Young has rescued more than 100 dogs with more than 20 flights usually picking up dogs from either North or South Carolina and bringing them up the northeast coast before they're euthanized in shelters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE YOUNG, VOLUNTEER PILOT: My dog's name was Conan. He was a German Shepherd. We paid good money to have the cancer treated. He responded well to the chemo, but his kidneys failed. That's ultimately why we had to put him to sleep.

Now I'm on pilot in Paws, which is a web site that people have dogs that's have to be transported. These are rescuers who pull them from high-kill shelters, post on this web site that they have dogs to move from point A to point B.

And pilots like me get e-mails saying, another request has been posted, and I scan through them to see if there's any rescue flight that's are within my area that I could do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How's life treating you this fine it day?

YOUNG: Doing good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Save some more dogs.

YOUNG: It's OK, Bo! It's OK.

They actually look like they know they're about to be saved. This is different. There are people loving them. There are other dogs around them. And they almost know they're going to be going to their forever home.

Bo seems to want to be in the back seat. You know what? He just managed to get to the front. Transporting dogs is one of the most important steps in saving dogs.

You have to move them from rural areas typically to more urban areas where there's a higher probability they're going to get rescued.

Come on, girl. Here you go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Sweetie! Hi!

YOUNG: What do you guys think of the new addition to your family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's absolutely beautiful. We love her.

YOUNG: You look into the new owner's eyes, for the first time they're going to get to hold their dog.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to hold her, buddy?

YOUNG: And they just hold their dog like they just had it forever and they were waiting forever for this dog. You know that dog's going to have a good life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, sir! Have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year, and thank you. You actually made our Christmas.

YOUNG: So how can I not spend my time and money giving to these dogs? Giving the owners of these new dogs the opportunity to have the love that I have for these dogs? And really that's what it's all about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Make sure you watch CNN's "Giving and Focus" special airing 4:30 p.m. Eastern Christmas day hosted by Tom Foreman.

Now to some video that is tough to look at. A video of women being punched, dragged, stomped on and stripped. All of this happening in the middle of the street in the protests in Egypt by uniformed security officers. The video and the story behind it, don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The city that really never completely calmed down after this year's revolution exploded into deadly violence over this past weekend. Just a warning, some of the video you're about to see, some of the images, are very, very, very graphic.

I'm talking about Cairo where this brutal scene -- look at this, caught on camera Saturday, just off Tahrir Square in central Cairo. In the middle of the screen, you can see all these uniformed security guards viciously beating, kicking these two antigovernment protestors, one of them I need to point out to you is a woman.

So watch as they -- here they go, drag her across the ground. They partially rip off her clothes and then stomp on her exposed body. The reason for the violent protests and strong reaction, this isn't new, the singling out and beating of an Arab woman, though, that is something we have not seen there in Egypt.

I want to go straight to Cairo to Mohammed Jamjoom. Obviously, Mohammed, we'll talk big picture her. First of all, this woman, do we know who she is, how she is today?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, since this video emerged, our team here has been reaching out trying to get a hold of this woman who is in the video. We've not been able to.

We've spoken to a woman who purports to be a friend of this woman. She says that the woman has been severely traumatized, that she's just not ready yet to speak to the media. She's pretty badly bruised up, as you can imagine, and maybe she'd want to in the days to come, but right now she's not ready to tell her story publicly at this stage, Brooke?

BALDWIN: Looking at these images, her shirt ripped off her, these uniformed officers' feet stomping on her. What has the reaction been in both the public and the press there where you are?

JAMJOOM: To put it simply, one of outrage. As you can imagine, in an Islamic country, for people to be seeing a woman treated in this way, not just being abused, not just being beaten, but having clothes torn off, being stomped on, as you mentioned, in the intro.

To be beaten this badly, this unrelentingly, by the security forces here, it's engendered a lot of anger. It's really added fuel to the fire. Tensions are already high here. This is the fourth day where clashes have happened.

At this point, 14 people have been killed, over 800 injured. This is the video that's made the rounds the most the past few days since it happened on Saturday, and it's really just caused so much anger.

It's caused more people to come out into streets protesting what's going on by the government. In fact, we're hearing that there are plans tomorrow for women to come out and lead a protest in Tahrir Square, which you see behind my shoulder, to try to protest what happened -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So that is for women for tomorrow, in addition to all of this, apparently one of our own CNN news crew say they saw riot police beating children and elderly people?

What do you know about this, this new violence with this new under current with they've had election there, leaders trying to bring forth a new, what they were hoping for, a newer Egypt?

JAMJOOM: Brooke, it really undermines these horrific tales and videos and eyewitness accounts that we've been hearing and seeing the past few days, really undermines the message that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

This is the military body that's been ruling Egypt ever since Hosni Mubarak was ousted several months ago, it really undermines the message that they're trying to put out and the message they've been trying to put out is that, once elections are over, a civilian government will take over this country.

That the peaceful revolutionaries will have gotten what they wanted, but the revolutionaries that are still out there, the protesters, that activists, they say they are tired of this military council ruling.

They say that they believe this country has gone backwards. They say that they need new leadership here now. That they need the field marshal that heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to step down.

That they want the prime ministers to step down so what you're hearing from the government here, much different from what you're hearing from the people that are still out in the streets as angry as ever and vowing to continue to coming out into the streets as long as this military council that rules the country is still in place -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: It is amazing. So many months later after Hosni Mubarak is gone, this protest continues. Mohammed Jamjoom, I appreciate it for us there in Cairo.

Coming up, major winter storm warnings for you across the country. Five states now under a blizzard warning. We're talking a foot or more of snow. The track of the storm, who gets it, next after this quick break. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Take a look at this behind me. A blizzard warning is in effect for people in New Mexico to Kansas, some places could see up to two feet of snow.

So this obviously could cause a bit of a travel nightmare for millions of people on the road for the holiday. Alexandra Steel is in for Chad today. So we're talking New Mexico, Texas, Kansas --

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.

BALDWIN: -- and it's already started in some places.

STEELE: Already started. It's this blizzard bull's eye on kind of the southwest and southern high plains so blizzard warnings essentially in effect until tomorrow morning.

But in addition to the foot or plus snow, what it will be is really will be perilous travel and some interstates potentially could even be closed. Let's show you. Here is a look at the radar.

You saw that behind, Brooke, just a sea of, of course, the green show you where the rain is and the white being the snow. But we're going to see a change over. All that rain will change over to snow on the back side of this certainly much colder. So what it is, it's a cold front pushing in, and when the colder air replaces the warm, that's when the changeover happens. But it's not just a snow event, yes, it is, but it's these winds, gusting and sustained 35 to 45-mile-an-hour gusts sustained for at least three hours, minimum blizzard criteria, and nearly zero visibility.

So that's really the biggest caveat here and really the biggest trouble. So here's a look of what we're going to see. Now this is that blizzard bull's eye, that red delineating where the blizzard warnings are.

Really this is the first big blizzard of the season so 12 to 15 inches you can see where that will be, of course, into New Mexico, the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, south western Kansas and south eastern areas of Colorado. That's really who will get hit the hardest with this.

And, again, here's where we'll see the heaviest amount of snow, but I-40 and I-25 we could see potentially those interstates, portions of them, closed today for near zero visibility. So the DOT could potentially do that. So if you are traveling, hop online to check it out.

And this is the I-40 Corridor right here from New Mexico --