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CNN Sunday Morning
South Korean Envoy Meets With Russian Officials
Aired January 05, 2003 - 07:16 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: South Korea is working hard to try to diffuse a nuclear standoff between its Northern neighbor and Washington. Officials in Seoul say they will send their president's top national security adviser to the U.S. and Japan.
Meanwhile, another South Korean envoy is meeting with Russian officials in Moscow.
Our Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty joins us now with the very latest on these talks.
Good morning Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, you know, what you have is a standoff, obviously, and it's kind of like a game of who goes first. North Korea wants assurances that it will be protected from any type of attack from the United States, and the United States says we're not going to talk with you until you give up your nuclear program.
So, South Korea now, is developing some type of a compromise plan, and that apparently is what it is discussing with the Russians.
We have the deputy foreign minister of South Korea here, Yim Sung-Joon. He is meeting with his counterparts over at the Russian Foreign Ministry, and essentially they're turning to Russia to try to help resolve this issue. After all, Russia does have some of the best relations with North Korea of any country in the world.
And not too much coming out of those meeting so far, except for one quote from Alexander Listiakov (ph), who's the specialist at the Russian Foreign Ministry. He said, "It's time to get all sides together, and to essentially cool the rhetoric, so that North Korea will not be afraid" -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So then, is that Russia's role going into these talks, just to kind of cool the situation a little bit, Jill?
DOUGHERTY: Well, Russia has kind of two different games that's it's playing here. Number one, it definitely does want North Korea to give up its nuclear plan -- program. It does not want any type of nuclear weapons on the peninsula.
On the other hand, it is also is not happy with the way the United States has been conducting its diplomacy. After all, the Russians a few days ago were pretty strong in saying that including North Korea in that list of axis of evil countries has actually scared this reclusive nation, and that the best thing is simply to cool the rhetoric and get down, try to have some discussions.
The problem at this point, of course, is the United States is taking a very strong approach, and saying no discussions until North Korea gives up that nuclear plan.
COLLINS: All right, Jill Dougherty, our Moscow bureau chief, thank you very much.
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 5, 2003 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: South Korea is working hard to try to diffuse a nuclear standoff between its Northern neighbor and Washington. Officials in Seoul say they will send their president's top national security adviser to the U.S. and Japan.
Meanwhile, another South Korean envoy is meeting with Russian officials in Moscow.
Our Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty joins us now with the very latest on these talks.
Good morning Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, you know, what you have is a standoff, obviously, and it's kind of like a game of who goes first. North Korea wants assurances that it will be protected from any type of attack from the United States, and the United States says we're not going to talk with you until you give up your nuclear program.
So, South Korea now, is developing some type of a compromise plan, and that apparently is what it is discussing with the Russians.
We have the deputy foreign minister of South Korea here, Yim Sung-Joon. He is meeting with his counterparts over at the Russian Foreign Ministry, and essentially they're turning to Russia to try to help resolve this issue. After all, Russia does have some of the best relations with North Korea of any country in the world.
And not too much coming out of those meeting so far, except for one quote from Alexander Listiakov (ph), who's the specialist at the Russian Foreign Ministry. He said, "It's time to get all sides together, and to essentially cool the rhetoric, so that North Korea will not be afraid" -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So then, is that Russia's role going into these talks, just to kind of cool the situation a little bit, Jill?
DOUGHERTY: Well, Russia has kind of two different games that's it's playing here. Number one, it definitely does want North Korea to give up its nuclear plan -- program. It does not want any type of nuclear weapons on the peninsula.
On the other hand, it is also is not happy with the way the United States has been conducting its diplomacy. After all, the Russians a few days ago were pretty strong in saying that including North Korea in that list of axis of evil countries has actually scared this reclusive nation, and that the best thing is simply to cool the rhetoric and get down, try to have some discussions.
The problem at this point, of course, is the United States is taking a very strong approach, and saying no discussions until North Korea gives up that nuclear plan.
COLLINS: All right, Jill Dougherty, our Moscow bureau chief, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
