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American Morning
U.S. Intends to Keep Talking with North Korea
Aired October 17, 2002 - 09:15 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea says it has been secretly developing a nuclear weapons program for several years now. The White House revealed the news last night and says that the aid mission from the North Korean government is a very serious material breach of a 1994 agreement. So, how is the Bush administration going to react to this? Kelly Wallace joins us from the White House, and Andrea Koppel joins us from the State Department this morning.
Good morning to the two of you.
Kelly, let's start with you. First of all, why are we hearing about this now when it's been just about two weeks that the administration has known this?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, U.S. officials say they got this new information over the summer, and then you had the Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly presenting it to the North Koreans earlier this month, two weeks ago, and then really, much to the administration's surprise, the North Koreans admitted, yes, in fact, they have this secret nuclear weapons program.
U.S. officials say, look, they have this new information, they wanted to talk to other allies, talk to members of Congress, have internal discussions. There was this National Security Council meeting on Tuesday. That led, of course, to the White House announcement on Wednesday.
The State Department, in fact, issued a statement yesterday calling on North Korea to eliminate its nuclear program -- Paula.
ZAHN: Explain to us how you think this is going to affect the coalition-building at the U.N. for a new resolution against Iraq?
WALLACE: Well, it's interesting, Paula, I just talked to a senior official who says this will have no impact on coalition- building for Iraq. But really, White House officials have to know it is going to be somewhat of a complicating factor, because you have this administration taking two approaches. It is saying that for Iraq, it is considering the possible use of military action to deal with Saddam Hussein and to prevent him from one day acquiring nuclear weapons, and then you might have other countries who say, well, how come you're using that approach with Iraq and you're using different approach with North Korea? Why not use diplomacy like you are planning to use with North Korea with Iraq? So it's likely to be a complicating factor -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, Kelly. Let's bring Andrea into the scene as we await the president, who is disembarking the White House for a couple of different places today. He's heading to Atlanta for a little fund-raising and Florida for some big fund-raising. We're not sure if he's going to take any questions from reporters this morning about this alarming development coming out of North Korea.
It doesn't look like he's slowing down there. We're going to keep our eye on the president and bring Andrea Koppel into the discussion with the latest reaction from the State Department.
Yes, it look looks like he's walking to Marine One there, Andrea. Let's carry on with this explosive announcement.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Well, as Kelly mentioned, Paula, the Bush administration is trying to maintain an even keel on this, and trying not to have this situation escalate any further, and trying to make sure that this doesn't affect what it's trying to do at the United Nations.
And so, as Kelly alluded to, Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, issued a statement just last night, saying that the U.S., basically the 1994 agreed framework, the deal that it had with North Korea in exchange for freezing its nuclear program, it would provide with light water reactors and heavy fuel oil. That deal was off the table, and that in fact the U.S. wanted to try to work with its allies to convince North Korea to do what it had said all along that it was going to do, and that is to freeze that program, but it really is a serious diplomatic dilemma for the administration.
ZAHN: Well, let's talk about that. It's one thing to say it's not going to have any impact on what's going on in the U.N., but clearly, they've to be very concerned when you have spokes folks out there saying, all right, let's talk about the doctrine of preemption here. Now you have proof that North Korea actually has a nuclear weapons program. You know, why not threaten the same kind of military action against North Korea as you are against Iraq?
KOPPEL: Absolutely, and the administration is doing everything it can to downplay the situation right now. But at the same time, the State Department dispatched two high-level officials to travel both to Asia and to Europe. In fact, right now, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation John Bolton are in Beijing meeting with the Chinese. John Bolton will travel to Moscow, to Paris and London and to Brussels to meet with E.U. members. And Jim Kelly will travel to Japan and South Korea. What they're trying to do, Paula, is to use the leverage that these countries have, some of them declared nuclear powers themselves, to pressure North Korea to give up that nuclear program as quickly as possible -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, we're going to leave it there at this hour. Andrea Koppel, thanks so much for the update.
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 October 17, 2002 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea says it has been secretly developing a nuclear weapons program for several years now. The White House revealed the news last night and says that the aid mission from the North Korean government is a very serious material breach of a 1994 agreement. So, how is the Bush administration going to react to this? Kelly Wallace joins us from the White House, and Andrea Koppel joins us from the State Department this morning.
Good morning to the two of you.
Kelly, let's start with you. First of all, why are we hearing about this now when it's been just about two weeks that the administration has known this?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, U.S. officials say they got this new information over the summer, and then you had the Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly presenting it to the North Koreans earlier this month, two weeks ago, and then really, much to the administration's surprise, the North Koreans admitted, yes, in fact, they have this secret nuclear weapons program.
U.S. officials say, look, they have this new information, they wanted to talk to other allies, talk to members of Congress, have internal discussions. There was this National Security Council meeting on Tuesday. That led, of course, to the White House announcement on Wednesday.
The State Department, in fact, issued a statement yesterday calling on North Korea to eliminate its nuclear program -- Paula.
ZAHN: Explain to us how you think this is going to affect the coalition-building at the U.N. for a new resolution against Iraq?
WALLACE: Well, it's interesting, Paula, I just talked to a senior official who says this will have no impact on coalition- building for Iraq. But really, White House officials have to know it is going to be somewhat of a complicating factor, because you have this administration taking two approaches. It is saying that for Iraq, it is considering the possible use of military action to deal with Saddam Hussein and to prevent him from one day acquiring nuclear weapons, and then you might have other countries who say, well, how come you're using that approach with Iraq and you're using different approach with North Korea? Why not use diplomacy like you are planning to use with North Korea with Iraq? So it's likely to be a complicating factor -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, Kelly. Let's bring Andrea into the scene as we await the president, who is disembarking the White House for a couple of different places today. He's heading to Atlanta for a little fund-raising and Florida for some big fund-raising. We're not sure if he's going to take any questions from reporters this morning about this alarming development coming out of North Korea.
It doesn't look like he's slowing down there. We're going to keep our eye on the president and bring Andrea Koppel into the discussion with the latest reaction from the State Department.
Yes, it look looks like he's walking to Marine One there, Andrea. Let's carry on with this explosive announcement.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Well, as Kelly mentioned, Paula, the Bush administration is trying to maintain an even keel on this, and trying not to have this situation escalate any further, and trying to make sure that this doesn't affect what it's trying to do at the United Nations.
And so, as Kelly alluded to, Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, issued a statement just last night, saying that the U.S., basically the 1994 agreed framework, the deal that it had with North Korea in exchange for freezing its nuclear program, it would provide with light water reactors and heavy fuel oil. That deal was off the table, and that in fact the U.S. wanted to try to work with its allies to convince North Korea to do what it had said all along that it was going to do, and that is to freeze that program, but it really is a serious diplomatic dilemma for the administration.
ZAHN: Well, let's talk about that. It's one thing to say it's not going to have any impact on what's going on in the U.N., but clearly, they've to be very concerned when you have spokes folks out there saying, all right, let's talk about the doctrine of preemption here. Now you have proof that North Korea actually has a nuclear weapons program. You know, why not threaten the same kind of military action against North Korea as you are against Iraq?
KOPPEL: Absolutely, and the administration is doing everything it can to downplay the situation right now. But at the same time, the State Department dispatched two high-level officials to travel both to Asia and to Europe. In fact, right now, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation John Bolton are in Beijing meeting with the Chinese. John Bolton will travel to Moscow, to Paris and London and to Brussels to meet with E.U. members. And Jim Kelly will travel to Japan and South Korea. What they're trying to do, Paula, is to use the leverage that these countries have, some of them declared nuclear powers themselves, to pressure North Korea to give up that nuclear program as quickly as possible -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, we're going to leave it there at this hour. Andrea Koppel, thanks so much for the update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
