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American Morning
A Discussion of North Korea's Leader
Aired January 07, 2003 - 09:13 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about it from Seoul, South Korea. Don McIntyre, who's "Time's" bureau chief there in Seoul, South Korea.
Welcome you to AMERICAN MORNING from half a world away. A substantial delay in the satellite, I'm told, so I'm going to go ahead and pop the question to you. We'll put up on our screen here, let our viewers know what we know, just a few elements of the man's life, Kim Jong Il. He's 60 years old. In his own country, he's known as "The Great Leader." He's ruled there since 1994. Apparently wears Mao- style suits, permed hair, shoes with lifts, and many more peculiarities about this man's life.
What more, sir, do we know about this man?
DON MCINTYRE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, he's a fascinating character. There were a lot of stories about his lifestyle. He seems to like his wine. He seems to like the company of women. There are stories about parties in Pyongyang and some of them are even true.
But I think what we saw in 2000 when he met with South Korea's leader Kim Dae Jong, the summit, he came out, and suddenly the world was surprised to see that he's also a statesman, he was witty, he was cracking jokes, he was even showing the proper sort of Korean deference to the South Korean president, who is an older man.
So he's not just the buffoon character that we used to think. He does have a fairly wild lifestyle, and he does need to work on his outfits, but I think we've seen that he's also quite a smart, calculating person. He knows what he's doing.
HEMMER: Don, in the Western world, many people consider him crazy. You don't believe that to be the case. Why not? For some of the reasons you just laid out here?
MCINTYRE: Yes, I think we have seen that he is on top of his brief. When Madeleine Albright went to Pyongyang in 2000, she said that. The South Korean president said that. He's on top of world affairs, he watches South Korean television, he watches American movies, he knows about the Oscars, he likes Michael Jordan, so he's not somebody who is out of touch. And people who know him say he is quite a smart guy and not somebody you should treat lightly.
HEMMER: Just to fill in a few holes here, you mention he's a movie fan, apparently library of 20,000 videos, a big fan of James Bond movies, "Friday the 13th" movies for some reason, any movie with Elizabeth Taylor in it, Daffy Duck cartoons, also on a different note, afraid to fly as well, hence the reason two years ago, why he took a train all of the way to Moscow.
Let's get away from the peculiarities of the man right now and talk about what he wants in this current confrontation. What would make him happy? Is it aid? Is it money? Is it more than that?
MCINTYRE: I think it's clear what he's most interested in the survival of his regime. He sees nuclear weapons as a way -- as a bargaining chip, a way to force the United States to sit down with him and give him some kind of guarantee that he will not be attacked. I think he also would like aid because he's his economy has collapsed, and I think he would like to get both of those things from the United States.
HEMMER: How likely or unlikely, in your estimation, is he to use weapons against South Korea, maybe against Japan, which is well within range as well?
MCINTYRE: I think that's unlikely. It would only, I think, happen in the case where he was attacked by the United States. In fact, South Korea has grown much closer to North Korea, and I think you have probably seen there the images of South Korean students protesting against the United States, which they see as not treating South Korea as an equal. Young South Koreans think that the bad guy in this drama is Washington, not Pyongyang.
HEMMER: We're out of time. Donald McIntyre, from Seoul, South Korea, thank you for your time, with "Time" magazine.
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 January 7, 2003 - 09:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about it from Seoul, South Korea. Don McIntyre, who's "Time's" bureau chief there in Seoul, South Korea.
Welcome you to AMERICAN MORNING from half a world away. A substantial delay in the satellite, I'm told, so I'm going to go ahead and pop the question to you. We'll put up on our screen here, let our viewers know what we know, just a few elements of the man's life, Kim Jong Il. He's 60 years old. In his own country, he's known as "The Great Leader." He's ruled there since 1994. Apparently wears Mao- style suits, permed hair, shoes with lifts, and many more peculiarities about this man's life.
What more, sir, do we know about this man?
DON MCINTYRE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, he's a fascinating character. There were a lot of stories about his lifestyle. He seems to like his wine. He seems to like the company of women. There are stories about parties in Pyongyang and some of them are even true.
But I think what we saw in 2000 when he met with South Korea's leader Kim Dae Jong, the summit, he came out, and suddenly the world was surprised to see that he's also a statesman, he was witty, he was cracking jokes, he was even showing the proper sort of Korean deference to the South Korean president, who is an older man.
So he's not just the buffoon character that we used to think. He does have a fairly wild lifestyle, and he does need to work on his outfits, but I think we've seen that he's also quite a smart, calculating person. He knows what he's doing.
HEMMER: Don, in the Western world, many people consider him crazy. You don't believe that to be the case. Why not? For some of the reasons you just laid out here?
MCINTYRE: Yes, I think we have seen that he is on top of his brief. When Madeleine Albright went to Pyongyang in 2000, she said that. The South Korean president said that. He's on top of world affairs, he watches South Korean television, he watches American movies, he knows about the Oscars, he likes Michael Jordan, so he's not somebody who is out of touch. And people who know him say he is quite a smart guy and not somebody you should treat lightly.
HEMMER: Just to fill in a few holes here, you mention he's a movie fan, apparently library of 20,000 videos, a big fan of James Bond movies, "Friday the 13th" movies for some reason, any movie with Elizabeth Taylor in it, Daffy Duck cartoons, also on a different note, afraid to fly as well, hence the reason two years ago, why he took a train all of the way to Moscow.
Let's get away from the peculiarities of the man right now and talk about what he wants in this current confrontation. What would make him happy? Is it aid? Is it money? Is it more than that?
MCINTYRE: I think it's clear what he's most interested in the survival of his regime. He sees nuclear weapons as a way -- as a bargaining chip, a way to force the United States to sit down with him and give him some kind of guarantee that he will not be attacked. I think he also would like aid because he's his economy has collapsed, and I think he would like to get both of those things from the United States.
HEMMER: How likely or unlikely, in your estimation, is he to use weapons against South Korea, maybe against Japan, which is well within range as well?
MCINTYRE: I think that's unlikely. It would only, I think, happen in the case where he was attacked by the United States. In fact, South Korea has grown much closer to North Korea, and I think you have probably seen there the images of South Korean students protesting against the United States, which they see as not treating South Korea as an equal. Young South Koreans think that the bad guy in this drama is Washington, not Pyongyang.
HEMMER: We're out of time. Donald McIntyre, from Seoul, South Korea, thank you for your time, with "Time" magazine.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
