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American Morning
Diplomatic Effort Continues in Standoff Over North Korea
Aired January 21, 2003 - 07:32 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: Now back to North Korea, where a diplomatic effort continues in the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear plans. American, Russian and Australian diplomats are all looking for a solution and representatives from North and South Korea meet in Seoul.
Tom Mintier is standing by there. He brings us up to date on the status of all of that -- good morning, Tom.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
If all the chess pieces are out of the box, but they're not on the board in the right area, it seems to get things rolling. The U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton arrived in Seoul this afternoon for meetings with South Korean officials. Mr. Bolton, on arriving in Seoul, said that he was willing and the U.S. was willing, has been, to talk to North Korea, but not without some strings attached and some conditions that they must recognize the NPT. And that takes it almost back to square one because North Korea so far has not expressed a willingness to talk to anybody, except U.S. diplomats, face to face, knee to knee, as they call it.
Now, there are talks going on here in South Korea between North Korean officials and South Korean officials at the cabinet level, but as far as North Korea is concerned, these talks do not concern themselves with the nuclear issue. South Korea has already said that it will bring it on the table. North Korea has already said that they don't want to talk about it. They say these talks are issues between North and South Korea, that if they want to talk about the nuclear issues, it will be with the United States.
The issue is expected to be on the table in the next few days, establishing a transportation corridor for highways and rail links between North and South Korea, the same things they've talked about eight times before.
South Korea has indicated they want to talk about the nuclear issue. North Korea has indicated they do not -- Paula.
ZAHN: How long do you think this is all going to drag on?
MINTIER: It's really difficult to say. We heard from the, Mr. Kelly the other day, that he did not expect a quick solution to this, that it will take some time. Now, the Russian deputy foreign minister came out of Pyongyang into Beijing today after meeting Kim Jong Il for six hours and there is the possibility that there might be some movement on that front. The deputy foreign minister said he had to call his president and brief him and it's quite possible that Kim Jong Il and Vladimir Putin may speak. But we'll have to wait and see if that plays out in the next 24 to 48 hours.
ZAHN: Tom Mintier, appreciate the update.
Thanks.
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 21, 2003 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to North Korea, where a diplomatic effort continues in the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear plans. American, Russian and Australian diplomats are all looking for a solution and representatives from North and South Korea meet in Seoul.
Tom Mintier is standing by there. He brings us up to date on the status of all of that -- good morning, Tom.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
If all the chess pieces are out of the box, but they're not on the board in the right area, it seems to get things rolling. The U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton arrived in Seoul this afternoon for meetings with South Korean officials. Mr. Bolton, on arriving in Seoul, said that he was willing and the U.S. was willing, has been, to talk to North Korea, but not without some strings attached and some conditions that they must recognize the NPT. And that takes it almost back to square one because North Korea so far has not expressed a willingness to talk to anybody, except U.S. diplomats, face to face, knee to knee, as they call it.
Now, there are talks going on here in South Korea between North Korean officials and South Korean officials at the cabinet level, but as far as North Korea is concerned, these talks do not concern themselves with the nuclear issue. South Korea has already said that it will bring it on the table. North Korea has already said that they don't want to talk about it. They say these talks are issues between North and South Korea, that if they want to talk about the nuclear issues, it will be with the United States.
The issue is expected to be on the table in the next few days, establishing a transportation corridor for highways and rail links between North and South Korea, the same things they've talked about eight times before.
South Korea has indicated they want to talk about the nuclear issue. North Korea has indicated they do not -- Paula.
ZAHN: How long do you think this is all going to drag on?
MINTIER: It's really difficult to say. We heard from the, Mr. Kelly the other day, that he did not expect a quick solution to this, that it will take some time. Now, the Russian deputy foreign minister came out of Pyongyang into Beijing today after meeting Kim Jong Il for six hours and there is the possibility that there might be some movement on that front. The deputy foreign minister said he had to call his president and brief him and it's quite possible that Kim Jong Il and Vladimir Putin may speak. But we'll have to wait and see if that plays out in the next 24 to 48 hours.
ZAHN: Tom Mintier, appreciate the update.
Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
