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American Morning
Talks on Curbing North Korea's Nuclear Power
Aired August 26, 2003 - 06:23 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Envoys from six countries are meeting in Beijing today ahead of talks on curbing North Korea's nuclear power. Formal talks open tomorrow, with representatives from the United States, Japan, Russia, China and North and South Korea. The U.S. demands North Korea give up its nuclear power, but Pyongyang has vowed to fully restart it.
In the meantime, South Korea fired warning shots in the direction of a North Korean patrol boat that crossed a disputed border. That happened today. One more development. The "New York Times" is reporting a top State Department official has quit. It may signal the Bush administration is at odds over how to deal with North Korea. The Bush administration denies that.
Let's head live to Beijing now and Mike Chinoy on the videophone -- so what is the best strategy and does anyone really understand North Korea?
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big question for a long time has been trying to figure out what North Korea's motives are. The Bush administration, unlike the Clinton administration, has insisted that the North Koreans make the concessions up front on the nuclear crisis. The Bush administration demanding that the regime in Pyongyang agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons program before any discussion can be held about the kind of things that North Korea wants, including security assurances from the U.S. and economic aid.
For their part, the North Koreans are indicating that they're willing to discuss ending the nuclear program, but only if they get concessions from the U.S. up front in terms of that commitment for a non-aggression pact. So Washington and Pyongyang very much at odds.
The other key players in this six nation conference concerned to try and get a diplomatic process going so that the two sides, who have been locked in a very tense stand-off, don't see their crisis escalate, because there's always a concern in a very militarized Korean peninsula that the stand-off could lead to military action -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Mike, is it at all clear what the U.S. policy is when it comes to North Korea?
CHINOY: The Bush administration has been very divided, almost since it took office. A group in the State Department around Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage have favored engaging North Korea, albeit a more tough minded form of engagement than the Clinton administration followed. But in the Pentagon and the office of Vice President Cheney and with the State Department's arms control chief, John Bolton, there have been arguments that engaging North Korea is not going to lead anywhere. There have been, indeed, calls not only to not negotiate with the North Koreans, but to take a tough line, even some calls for a regime change.
And so this internal battle in the Bush administration has made it hard for the United States to come up with the strategy to deal with the North. And one of the big questions that we're all going to be watching in the next couple of days as these negotiations unfold is whether or not the Bush administration representative here on the ground, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, has some details, a road map to entice North Korea, or whether he's simply demanding the North make those concessions up front -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll see.
Mike Chinoy live from Beijing this morning.
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 August 26, 2003 - 06:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Envoys from six countries are meeting in Beijing today ahead of talks on curbing North Korea's nuclear power. Formal talks open tomorrow, with representatives from the United States, Japan, Russia, China and North and South Korea. The U.S. demands North Korea give up its nuclear power, but Pyongyang has vowed to fully restart it.
In the meantime, South Korea fired warning shots in the direction of a North Korean patrol boat that crossed a disputed border. That happened today. One more development. The "New York Times" is reporting a top State Department official has quit. It may signal the Bush administration is at odds over how to deal with North Korea. The Bush administration denies that.
Let's head live to Beijing now and Mike Chinoy on the videophone -- so what is the best strategy and does anyone really understand North Korea?
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big question for a long time has been trying to figure out what North Korea's motives are. The Bush administration, unlike the Clinton administration, has insisted that the North Koreans make the concessions up front on the nuclear crisis. The Bush administration demanding that the regime in Pyongyang agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons program before any discussion can be held about the kind of things that North Korea wants, including security assurances from the U.S. and economic aid.
For their part, the North Koreans are indicating that they're willing to discuss ending the nuclear program, but only if they get concessions from the U.S. up front in terms of that commitment for a non-aggression pact. So Washington and Pyongyang very much at odds.
The other key players in this six nation conference concerned to try and get a diplomatic process going so that the two sides, who have been locked in a very tense stand-off, don't see their crisis escalate, because there's always a concern in a very militarized Korean peninsula that the stand-off could lead to military action -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Mike, is it at all clear what the U.S. policy is when it comes to North Korea?
CHINOY: The Bush administration has been very divided, almost since it took office. A group in the State Department around Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage have favored engaging North Korea, albeit a more tough minded form of engagement than the Clinton administration followed. But in the Pentagon and the office of Vice President Cheney and with the State Department's arms control chief, John Bolton, there have been arguments that engaging North Korea is not going to lead anywhere. There have been, indeed, calls not only to not negotiate with the North Koreans, but to take a tough line, even some calls for a regime change.
And so this internal battle in the Bush administration has made it hard for the United States to come up with the strategy to deal with the North. And one of the big questions that we're all going to be watching in the next couple of days as these negotiations unfold is whether or not the Bush administration representative here on the ground, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, has some details, a road map to entice North Korea, or whether he's simply demanding the North make those concessions up front -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll see.
Mike Chinoy live from Beijing this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
