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American Morning

Wake-Up Call: What's Up In D.C.?

Aired December 30, 2002 - 06:36   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: For more now on what the White House is calling the North Korea situation and other news from the nation's capital, for that we check in by telephone with our CNN State Department producer, Elise Labott.
Elise -- thank you for getting up early with us this morning.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Good morning, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Good morning to you. The Bush administration is certainly hesitant to call this a crisis.

LABOTT: Well, that's right. Secretary Powell on all of the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday sure didn't want to use that "C" word, and part is because officials believe that's exactly what the north is looking for, trying to intimidate the U.S. into negotiations.

And Powell saying yesterday, this is what the Clinton administration did, negotiating the agreed framework in '94, promising Pyongyang all sorts of assistance in exchange for stopping its nuclear weapons program. And it worked for a while, but now they're back in the same situation. So, this administration is refusing to take the bait from the north.

The U.S. doesn't really believe that the threat is that imminent right now. The U.S. knew North Korea had enough material to make a few nuclear bombs, and the feeling is that they can make another few over the next six months to a year. It's not a crisis yet. And a crisis by its very definition demands swift and immediate attention, and though officials say the administration isn't preoccupied with Iraq, it certainly seems to focus on that right now.

CALLAWAY: Yes. And why? Why is the administration so focused now on Iraq with the developments in North Korea?

LABOTT: Well, as we heard from Senator Lieberman, some think North Korea is an even more dangerous situation, and it should be dealt with first. The north, a much larger army, much more advanced weapons, selling that technology to other countries. But officials say while North Korea's President Kim Jung Il is a brutal dictator, he hasn't unleashed his weapons capability in another country.

Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein has a history of using weapons of mass destruction against his own people and his own neighbors -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: You know, and finally, let me ask you about this tailored containment policy that the Bush administration seems to think is the answer. We heard from Seoul, South Korea this morning with Sohn Jie-Ae saying, South Korean officials are not so keen on it. What kind of support is the president going to get for this?

LABOTT: Well, it's not really clear yet. Although the South Koreans have said that they want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S., there's a lot of anti-American sentiment in South Korea right now. Assistant Secretary James Kelly will be traveling to the region in the next few weeks to meet with U.S. allies and coordinate this strategy. But certainly, the U.S. is going to be relying on allies, not only South Korea, but Russia, China, Japan, to curtail their ties with the north and try to goad the North Koreans into abandoning its nuclear program.

CALLAWAY: All right, Elise, have a good day -- Elise Labott in Washington.

LABOTT: Thanks, Catherine.

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 30, 2002 - 06:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: For more now on what the White House is calling the North Korea situation and other news from the nation's capital, for that we check in by telephone with our CNN State Department producer, Elise Labott.
Elise -- thank you for getting up early with us this morning.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Good morning, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Good morning to you. The Bush administration is certainly hesitant to call this a crisis.

LABOTT: Well, that's right. Secretary Powell on all of the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday sure didn't want to use that "C" word, and part is because officials believe that's exactly what the north is looking for, trying to intimidate the U.S. into negotiations.

And Powell saying yesterday, this is what the Clinton administration did, negotiating the agreed framework in '94, promising Pyongyang all sorts of assistance in exchange for stopping its nuclear weapons program. And it worked for a while, but now they're back in the same situation. So, this administration is refusing to take the bait from the north.

The U.S. doesn't really believe that the threat is that imminent right now. The U.S. knew North Korea had enough material to make a few nuclear bombs, and the feeling is that they can make another few over the next six months to a year. It's not a crisis yet. And a crisis by its very definition demands swift and immediate attention, and though officials say the administration isn't preoccupied with Iraq, it certainly seems to focus on that right now.

CALLAWAY: Yes. And why? Why is the administration so focused now on Iraq with the developments in North Korea?

LABOTT: Well, as we heard from Senator Lieberman, some think North Korea is an even more dangerous situation, and it should be dealt with first. The north, a much larger army, much more advanced weapons, selling that technology to other countries. But officials say while North Korea's President Kim Jung Il is a brutal dictator, he hasn't unleashed his weapons capability in another country.

Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein has a history of using weapons of mass destruction against his own people and his own neighbors -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: You know, and finally, let me ask you about this tailored containment policy that the Bush administration seems to think is the answer. We heard from Seoul, South Korea this morning with Sohn Jie-Ae saying, South Korean officials are not so keen on it. What kind of support is the president going to get for this?

LABOTT: Well, it's not really clear yet. Although the South Koreans have said that they want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S., there's a lot of anti-American sentiment in South Korea right now. Assistant Secretary James Kelly will be traveling to the region in the next few weeks to meet with U.S. allies and coordinate this strategy. But certainly, the U.S. is going to be relying on allies, not only South Korea, but Russia, China, Japan, to curtail their ties with the north and try to goad the North Koreans into abandoning its nuclear program.

CALLAWAY: All right, Elise, have a good day -- Elise Labott in Washington.

LABOTT: Thanks, Catherine.

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