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American Morning
North Korea Kicking Out IAEA inspectors
Aired December 27, 2002 - 07:03 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we want to get to the stakes that are escalating in the North Korean nuclear situation. There is word that North Korea is kicking out the inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. That would mean there would be no international monitoring of the nuclear facilities that North Korea is reopening.
Sohn Jie-Ae is in Seoul, South Korea this morning with more on the story -- hello.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Daryn.
We are hearing from South Korean media that the North Korean media reports that it is kicking out the two International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors that have been in North Korea throughout this nuclear development. They are saying that the two inspectors automatically have to leave, because North Korea decided to unfreeze its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, although the Vienna-based IAEA did say that they have not been informed of any word from North Korea that its inspectors should leave.
This does put the International Atomic Energy Agency at a difficult point. The two inspectors were the only way that the outside world had any access to North Korea's nuclear activities. This is after North Korea removed the safety seals and surveillance cameras from the nuclear reactors after it stated that it was going to reactivate the two.
Now, this comes after there was an escalation of a war of words on the Korean Peninsula earlier in the week. Earlier in the day, North Korea said that Washington's demand that it stop its nuclear program was -- quote -- "pipe dreams." And they also said Washington was having a dangerous -- was playing a dangerous game if it wasn't going to negotiate with North Korea.
Now, this follows even an earlier stern warning by South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun. So far, this is the sternest word he had so far to North Korea. He warned that what North Korea was doing was going against the wishes of the international community for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He also said it was going against the Korean peoples' wishes for a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Now, one other country that the United States and South Korea hopes will have a positive influence on North Korea is China. And China today was also a bit critical of Washington's stance, words coming from Washington earlier that Washington was confident that it could fight and win two wars at once, and North Korea was badly mistaken if it thought that Washington was preoccupied with Iraq.
Now, the China's Daily -- the "China Daily" criticized those words, saying they were hawkish and dangerous. It also said that Washington -- those words are not doing anything to help the warming relationship on the Korean Peninsula between South and North Korea.
So, the latest development from North Korea does seem to raise the stakes significantly today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sohn Jie-Ae in Seoul, South Korea, thank you so 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 December 27, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we want to get to the stakes that are escalating in the North Korean nuclear situation. There is word that North Korea is kicking out the inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. That would mean there would be no international monitoring of the nuclear facilities that North Korea is reopening.
Sohn Jie-Ae is in Seoul, South Korea this morning with more on the story -- hello.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Daryn.
We are hearing from South Korean media that the North Korean media reports that it is kicking out the two International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors that have been in North Korea throughout this nuclear development. They are saying that the two inspectors automatically have to leave, because North Korea decided to unfreeze its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, although the Vienna-based IAEA did say that they have not been informed of any word from North Korea that its inspectors should leave.
This does put the International Atomic Energy Agency at a difficult point. The two inspectors were the only way that the outside world had any access to North Korea's nuclear activities. This is after North Korea removed the safety seals and surveillance cameras from the nuclear reactors after it stated that it was going to reactivate the two.
Now, this comes after there was an escalation of a war of words on the Korean Peninsula earlier in the week. Earlier in the day, North Korea said that Washington's demand that it stop its nuclear program was -- quote -- "pipe dreams." And they also said Washington was having a dangerous -- was playing a dangerous game if it wasn't going to negotiate with North Korea.
Now, this follows even an earlier stern warning by South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun. So far, this is the sternest word he had so far to North Korea. He warned that what North Korea was doing was going against the wishes of the international community for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He also said it was going against the Korean peoples' wishes for a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Now, one other country that the United States and South Korea hopes will have a positive influence on North Korea is China. And China today was also a bit critical of Washington's stance, words coming from Washington earlier that Washington was confident that it could fight and win two wars at once, and North Korea was badly mistaken if it thought that Washington was preoccupied with Iraq.
Now, the China's Daily -- the "China Daily" criticized those words, saying they were hawkish and dangerous. It also said that Washington -- those words are not doing anything to help the warming relationship on the Korean Peninsula between South and North Korea.
So, the latest development from North Korea does seem to raise the stakes significantly today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sohn Jie-Ae in Seoul, South Korea, thank you so 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.
