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North Korea Admits It Has Nuclear Weapons

Aired April 24, 2003 - 14:02   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An admission and a veiled threat from North Korea today. They came, sources say, during a closed-door talk with the U.S. and China. The topic: North Korea's nuclear program.
We get the latest from CNN's State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Miles, this was the first time in about six months that U.S. and North Korean officials had sat down for private talks. The Chinese were included not only as the host of this meeting but also as an active participant. And sources -- U.S. sources have told CNN that James Kelly, the man that you see right there, was told by the North Koreans that the implication being, not only did they have nuclear weapons -- not just an active nuclear program -- but that they would prove that they have that program soon.

Now, some U.S. officials have interpreted this to mean that North Korea is threatening to test nuclear weapons. Others say it could be plausible deniability that they could say, Well we never explicitly used the word test. Nevertheless, the way that the Bush administration at this early moment is reading the situation is that North Korea is threatening again brinkmanship with the United States. This, after all, their nuclear program is one of their only aces in the hole to try to get international attention and win concessions.

But Secretary of State Powell earlier today made very clear that the United States will not be bullied to the negotiating table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: They should not leave these series of discussions that have been held in Beijing with the slightest impression that the United States and its partners and the nations in the region will be intimidated by bellicose statements or by threats or actions they think might get them more attention or might force us to make a concession that we would not otherwise make. They would be very ill-advised to move in that direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: So which direction is the Bush administration going to move in now? Well, that really is the question, Miles. Until now, there had been a faction within the administration, among them Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who circulated a memo last week, who believed that North Korea is a regime that threatens the United States much as Iraq did and that perhaps the best policy should be to pursue regime change. Now, there's another faction that believes -- Secretary Powell is among those -- that engagement is the most effective way.

But however you look at it, North Korea certainly did throw the U.S. a curveball. U.S. officials have known for some time that North Korea likely had as many as two nuclear weapons. But this would be the first time that North Korea had admitted to the U.S. that it did -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Andrea, when the secretary of defense circulates a memo saying "regime change," that's pretty significant. How are we to read that? Does that -- does that mean that we're likely to see a buildup of aircraft carriers outside of the Korean Peninsula soon?

KOPPEL: I don't think that that is likely. The Bush administration has said over and over again that it deals with different countries in different ways. Diplomacy is the path that it has chosen for North Korea.

Secretary Rumsfeld is known within the community here as someone who likes to fire off a lot of memos. In fact, they have coined the expression, a Rummygram, because he circulates memos to a variety of people. This is just one option that Secretary Rumsfeld was putting forward.

And certainly no decision has been made as to how to react to what came out of the talks in Beijing, Miles. But fundamentally, this could just be another North Korean bluff -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 24, 2003 - 14:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An admission and a veiled threat from North Korea today. They came, sources say, during a closed-door talk with the U.S. and China. The topic: North Korea's nuclear program.
We get the latest from CNN's State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Miles, this was the first time in about six months that U.S. and North Korean officials had sat down for private talks. The Chinese were included not only as the host of this meeting but also as an active participant. And sources -- U.S. sources have told CNN that James Kelly, the man that you see right there, was told by the North Koreans that the implication being, not only did they have nuclear weapons -- not just an active nuclear program -- but that they would prove that they have that program soon.

Now, some U.S. officials have interpreted this to mean that North Korea is threatening to test nuclear weapons. Others say it could be plausible deniability that they could say, Well we never explicitly used the word test. Nevertheless, the way that the Bush administration at this early moment is reading the situation is that North Korea is threatening again brinkmanship with the United States. This, after all, their nuclear program is one of their only aces in the hole to try to get international attention and win concessions.

But Secretary of State Powell earlier today made very clear that the United States will not be bullied to the negotiating table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: They should not leave these series of discussions that have been held in Beijing with the slightest impression that the United States and its partners and the nations in the region will be intimidated by bellicose statements or by threats or actions they think might get them more attention or might force us to make a concession that we would not otherwise make. They would be very ill-advised to move in that direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: So which direction is the Bush administration going to move in now? Well, that really is the question, Miles. Until now, there had been a faction within the administration, among them Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who circulated a memo last week, who believed that North Korea is a regime that threatens the United States much as Iraq did and that perhaps the best policy should be to pursue regime change. Now, there's another faction that believes -- Secretary Powell is among those -- that engagement is the most effective way.

But however you look at it, North Korea certainly did throw the U.S. a curveball. U.S. officials have known for some time that North Korea likely had as many as two nuclear weapons. But this would be the first time that North Korea had admitted to the U.S. that it did -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Andrea, when the secretary of defense circulates a memo saying "regime change," that's pretty significant. How are we to read that? Does that -- does that mean that we're likely to see a buildup of aircraft carriers outside of the Korean Peninsula soon?

KOPPEL: I don't think that that is likely. The Bush administration has said over and over again that it deals with different countries in different ways. Diplomacy is the path that it has chosen for North Korea.

Secretary Rumsfeld is known within the community here as someone who likes to fire off a lot of memos. In fact, they have coined the expression, a Rummygram, because he circulates memos to a variety of people. This is just one option that Secretary Rumsfeld was putting forward.

And certainly no decision has been made as to how to react to what came out of the talks in Beijing, Miles. But fundamentally, this could just be another North Korean bluff -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Andrea Koppel at the State Department. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com