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American Morning
North Korea Seems Ready to Open Doors of Main Nuclear Complex
Aired January 02, 2004 - 08:04 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea seems ready to open the doors of its main nuclear complex to a U.S. scientific team. A South Korean official said this morning that the North has agreed to let the team tour the facility next week.
For more on this, we go to the White House now.
Correspondent Dana Bash standing by -- good morning once again, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
We are still waiting for U.S. confirmation of this delegation, as you said, which is scheduled, according to the South Koreans, for next week, January 6-10. But the fact that this is coming from South Korea, of course, is significant. South Korea has been working hand in hand with the United States on North Korea and its nuclear weapons. It oftentimes acts as a bridge between the two countries diplomatically.
Now, this would be quite significant if, in fact, any United States citizens or anybody from the outside ere to be allowed in and actually tour that country's nuclear facilities. We are told that the goal is to tour Yongbyon, which is a Soviet style facility which had inspectors monitoring it up until 2002, when North Korea kicked them out.
Now, the U.S., along with four other countries, four of North Korea's neighbors, have been in talks about getting that country to stop its nuclear power. At this point, they are discussing when the next round of talks could be. But the president has made clear, back in October he actually said that he is now willing to give them the security assurances that they want, but only if they allow verifiable inspections of their nuclear power and eventually, of course, to stop their nuclear power.
Long time North Korean experts concede that it is very difficult to see what kind of motives they are having, why they would do something like this. But we certainly are watching to see how this develops, to see if this is, in fact, a breakthrough in the talks and perhaps a breakthrough in negotiations to get that country to stop its nuclear power -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, of course, we'll wait to hear more on that.
But, Dana, as you know, the president also addressed a number of other issues with reporters yesterday during his hunting trip. And even though he was hunting quail, he did talk about the recent fears over beef and mad cow disease in particular.
BASH: That's right. He was hunting quail. Just for the record, he killed five, he said. But in terms of mad cow, he talked for the first time publicly about mad cow disease. And he tried to use the bully pulpit to try to calm any health concerns about the fact that mad cow, of course, was found for the first time in the U.S. right before Christmas, trying to make it clear to Americans that it's OK to eat beef.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've talked to Secretary Veneman about this issue. I told her that I want her to take the steps necessary to make sure that the food supply is safe and that the American consumer can be confident. And she is looking at different ways to do that. As a matter of fact, she announced some measures the other day.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BUSH: I think they should be. As a matter of fact, I ate beef today and will continue to eat beef.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And Mr. Bush's comments were clearly also aimed at trying to calm the economic concerns about this mad cow disease. Prices have dropped and a number of countries have banned U.S. imports -- or importing U.S. beef into their countries since this has been discovered -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash, thanks so much for all of that.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Complex>
Aired January 2, 2004 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea seems ready to open the doors of its main nuclear complex to a U.S. scientific team. A South Korean official said this morning that the North has agreed to let the team tour the facility next week.
For more on this, we go to the White House now.
Correspondent Dana Bash standing by -- good morning once again, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
We are still waiting for U.S. confirmation of this delegation, as you said, which is scheduled, according to the South Koreans, for next week, January 6-10. But the fact that this is coming from South Korea, of course, is significant. South Korea has been working hand in hand with the United States on North Korea and its nuclear weapons. It oftentimes acts as a bridge between the two countries diplomatically.
Now, this would be quite significant if, in fact, any United States citizens or anybody from the outside ere to be allowed in and actually tour that country's nuclear facilities. We are told that the goal is to tour Yongbyon, which is a Soviet style facility which had inspectors monitoring it up until 2002, when North Korea kicked them out.
Now, the U.S., along with four other countries, four of North Korea's neighbors, have been in talks about getting that country to stop its nuclear power. At this point, they are discussing when the next round of talks could be. But the president has made clear, back in October he actually said that he is now willing to give them the security assurances that they want, but only if they allow verifiable inspections of their nuclear power and eventually, of course, to stop their nuclear power.
Long time North Korean experts concede that it is very difficult to see what kind of motives they are having, why they would do something like this. But we certainly are watching to see how this develops, to see if this is, in fact, a breakthrough in the talks and perhaps a breakthrough in negotiations to get that country to stop its nuclear power -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, of course, we'll wait to hear more on that.
But, Dana, as you know, the president also addressed a number of other issues with reporters yesterday during his hunting trip. And even though he was hunting quail, he did talk about the recent fears over beef and mad cow disease in particular.
BASH: That's right. He was hunting quail. Just for the record, he killed five, he said. But in terms of mad cow, he talked for the first time publicly about mad cow disease. And he tried to use the bully pulpit to try to calm any health concerns about the fact that mad cow, of course, was found for the first time in the U.S. right before Christmas, trying to make it clear to Americans that it's OK to eat beef.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've talked to Secretary Veneman about this issue. I told her that I want her to take the steps necessary to make sure that the food supply is safe and that the American consumer can be confident. And she is looking at different ways to do that. As a matter of fact, she announced some measures the other day.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BUSH: I think they should be. As a matter of fact, I ate beef today and will continue to eat beef.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And Mr. Bush's comments were clearly also aimed at trying to calm the economic concerns about this mad cow disease. Prices have dropped and a number of countries have banned U.S. imports -- or importing U.S. beef into their countries since this has been discovered -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash, thanks so much for all of that.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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