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CNN Live Saturday
Bush Administration Has Plan to Stop North Korea's Nuclear Program
Aired December 28, 2002 - 18:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY: We begin tonight with the nuclear standoff between the White House and North Korea. With North Korea admitting it is reactivating its nuclear program, the Bush administration now has a plan to pressure Pyongyang into stopping the program. CNN's White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has details. She is at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the plan already has some components in place but only recently it has come together as tensions between the U.S. administration and North Korea have mounted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice over): A senior administration officials says the White House has a new policy to deal with the increasingly defiant North Korea. It is called tailored containment.
A plan the president has signed off, onto, to put maximum financial and political pressure on North Korea's Kim Jung Il to abandon his nuclear weapons programs. Under the new policy the Bush administration would work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to bring North Korea's case before the United Nations Security Council.
The U.N. could declare North Korea in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. And perhaps, impose economic sanctions, putting more international pressure on North Korea to discontinue its nuclear programs.
The plan also calls for the U.S. to encourage North Korea neighbors to limit, or even sever their economic ties with Pyongyang. Japan and South Korea have already cut off their oil shipments to the country.
And the policy has an active military component as well. U.S. vessels could intercept missile shipments from North Korea to cut into their profits from weapons sales. It is a policy a senior administration official says would depend greatly on the cooperation of U.S. allies. But if successful could isolate North Korea to the point it has to give up its nuclear ambitions, or face a crippled regime.
The new policy comes amid growing criticism that the Bush administration's handling of North Korea so far has only lead to an escalation of tensions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a very serious crisis. And the current Bush policy is failing. This is a very good foreign policy team doing a very bad job right now on North Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now the White House insists that it will not negotiate with North Korea until that country gives up its nuclear weapons program, but a senior administration official does tell us that the United States would be interested in engaging in low-level talks with North Korea if it had something constructive to say. But as one official put it, there would be no deal making -- Carol.
LIN: Suzanne, why the different tactics, that the White House is using, different from say, how they're dealing with Saddam Hussein, who isn't a confirmed threat, and yet North Korea here, which could potentially could develop a nuclear weapon in less than six months?
MALVEAUX: Very good question, it comes up a lot. There are a couple of things. First of all, the administration would say that North Korea desperately needs the economic aid. It is dealing with a very harsh winter, perhaps starvation of many of its people. They believe that North Korea, the regime, will become desperate and eventually will give in to the economic and diplomatic pressure.
Another one of the reasons, they say, is that they feel that there is a greater sense of danger to the neighbors of North Korea than actually to the administration itself. So, the believe that U.S. allies will actually put a lot of pressure on North Korea to cooperate.
And finally, there are some U.S. intelligence officials that tell CNN they don't believe that North Korea is able to produce a new nuclear weapons within a year. So, they believe the administration has a little bit more time for diplomacy to work.
LIN: Let's hope they're right. Thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting live from the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Program>
Aired December 28, 2002 - 18:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY: We begin tonight with the nuclear standoff between the White House and North Korea. With North Korea admitting it is reactivating its nuclear program, the Bush administration now has a plan to pressure Pyongyang into stopping the program. CNN's White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has details. She is at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the plan already has some components in place but only recently it has come together as tensions between the U.S. administration and North Korea have mounted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice over): A senior administration officials says the White House has a new policy to deal with the increasingly defiant North Korea. It is called tailored containment.
A plan the president has signed off, onto, to put maximum financial and political pressure on North Korea's Kim Jung Il to abandon his nuclear weapons programs. Under the new policy the Bush administration would work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to bring North Korea's case before the United Nations Security Council.
The U.N. could declare North Korea in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. And perhaps, impose economic sanctions, putting more international pressure on North Korea to discontinue its nuclear programs.
The plan also calls for the U.S. to encourage North Korea neighbors to limit, or even sever their economic ties with Pyongyang. Japan and South Korea have already cut off their oil shipments to the country.
And the policy has an active military component as well. U.S. vessels could intercept missile shipments from North Korea to cut into their profits from weapons sales. It is a policy a senior administration official says would depend greatly on the cooperation of U.S. allies. But if successful could isolate North Korea to the point it has to give up its nuclear ambitions, or face a crippled regime.
The new policy comes amid growing criticism that the Bush administration's handling of North Korea so far has only lead to an escalation of tensions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a very serious crisis. And the current Bush policy is failing. This is a very good foreign policy team doing a very bad job right now on North Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now the White House insists that it will not negotiate with North Korea until that country gives up its nuclear weapons program, but a senior administration official does tell us that the United States would be interested in engaging in low-level talks with North Korea if it had something constructive to say. But as one official put it, there would be no deal making -- Carol.
LIN: Suzanne, why the different tactics, that the White House is using, different from say, how they're dealing with Saddam Hussein, who isn't a confirmed threat, and yet North Korea here, which could potentially could develop a nuclear weapon in less than six months?
MALVEAUX: Very good question, it comes up a lot. There are a couple of things. First of all, the administration would say that North Korea desperately needs the economic aid. It is dealing with a very harsh winter, perhaps starvation of many of its people. They believe that North Korea, the regime, will become desperate and eventually will give in to the economic and diplomatic pressure.
Another one of the reasons, they say, is that they feel that there is a greater sense of danger to the neighbors of North Korea than actually to the administration itself. So, the believe that U.S. allies will actually put a lot of pressure on North Korea to cooperate.
And finally, there are some U.S. intelligence officials that tell CNN they don't believe that North Korea is able to produce a new nuclear weapons within a year. So, they believe the administration has a little bit more time for diplomacy to work.
LIN: Let's hope they're right. Thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting live from the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Program>
