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CNN Saturday Morning News

North Korea Expels Weapons Inspectors

Aired December 28, 2002 - 07:02   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, ANCHOR: And now to this hour's top story. North Korea ups the ante in the nuclear stakes, and the U.S. charges that the North has been violating the armistice that ended the Korean War.
Let's go to CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon, who's joining us in Seoul, South Korea. What's the latest from there, Rebecca?

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Catherine.

Well, the International Atomic Energy Agency now says that it has no choice but to comply with the North Korean decision to expel its nuclear inspectors from North Korea. this means that there will be no one from the international community to monitor what goes on at the Yongbyon nuclear power plant. This is the graphite-moderated plant capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium that has been frozen since 1994 under an agreement made between the United States and North Korea in exchange for fuel oil and eventually new light-water nuclear reactors.

North Korea now saying on Friday that it is going to unseal the spent fuel rods at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- at the Yongbyon nuclear power plant. This could potentially enable the extraction of material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. However, with the inspectors gone, exactly what will go on there will be difficult for the international community to know.

Meanwhile, as you mentioned, the U.S.-led UN command saying that the North Koreans have violated the armistice agreement by sending earlier this month troops into the demilitarized zone with machine guns. This is in violation of the armistice rules.

Now, meanwhile, Seoul, in hopes of finding some way to ratchet down the tensions, is going to be sending envoys both to China and to Russia. China and Russia are North Korea's closest allies.

Washington has recently asked both of those countries to help exert pressure on North Korea to stop what it is doing, stop moving towards nuclear weapons development. However, China and Russia have both responded coolly to Washington at this point. South Korea now sending its own envoys, hoping that it may make a little more headway in convincing these neighbors and allies of North Korea, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Rebecca, we know how this is playing internationally, but what about there in Seoul? You know, how is it being played there? What are people on the street saying about all this? MACKINNON: Well, Catherine, people are watching and waiting to see what happens next. The situation here politically is quite complicated. There are some in South Korea who do believe the United States has been too hardline. There has been a rising tide of anti- U.S. sentiment in the past several months, after a couple of U.S. servicemen ran down a couple of South Korean teenagers. They were acquitted in a U.S. military trial. There were a lot of protests. There have been continuing even this evening protests about revising the U.S. military agreement with South Korea.

Yet on the other hand, there have also been protests against North Korea, calling on North Korea to stop trying to develop nuclear weapons.

So there are views on both sides. Meanwhile, the president here, we have a new president-elect, No Muvyon (ph), who's just been elected, going to take office in February, he's walking a very delicate line trying to maintain good relationships with Washington and not let North Korea drive a political wedge between him and Washington, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Yes, he will definitely have a full plate when he takes office in February.

All right, Rebecca, thank you. Rebecca MacKinnon in Seoul, South Korea. Thank you.

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 December 28, 2002 - 07:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, ANCHOR: And now to this hour's top story. North Korea ups the ante in the nuclear stakes, and the U.S. charges that the North has been violating the armistice that ended the Korean War.
Let's go to CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon, who's joining us in Seoul, South Korea. What's the latest from there, Rebecca?

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Catherine.

Well, the International Atomic Energy Agency now says that it has no choice but to comply with the North Korean decision to expel its nuclear inspectors from North Korea. this means that there will be no one from the international community to monitor what goes on at the Yongbyon nuclear power plant. This is the graphite-moderated plant capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium that has been frozen since 1994 under an agreement made between the United States and North Korea in exchange for fuel oil and eventually new light-water nuclear reactors.

North Korea now saying on Friday that it is going to unseal the spent fuel rods at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- at the Yongbyon nuclear power plant. This could potentially enable the extraction of material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. However, with the inspectors gone, exactly what will go on there will be difficult for the international community to know.

Meanwhile, as you mentioned, the U.S.-led UN command saying that the North Koreans have violated the armistice agreement by sending earlier this month troops into the demilitarized zone with machine guns. This is in violation of the armistice rules.

Now, meanwhile, Seoul, in hopes of finding some way to ratchet down the tensions, is going to be sending envoys both to China and to Russia. China and Russia are North Korea's closest allies.

Washington has recently asked both of those countries to help exert pressure on North Korea to stop what it is doing, stop moving towards nuclear weapons development. However, China and Russia have both responded coolly to Washington at this point. South Korea now sending its own envoys, hoping that it may make a little more headway in convincing these neighbors and allies of North Korea, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Rebecca, we know how this is playing internationally, but what about there in Seoul? You know, how is it being played there? What are people on the street saying about all this? MACKINNON: Well, Catherine, people are watching and waiting to see what happens next. The situation here politically is quite complicated. There are some in South Korea who do believe the United States has been too hardline. There has been a rising tide of anti- U.S. sentiment in the past several months, after a couple of U.S. servicemen ran down a couple of South Korean teenagers. They were acquitted in a U.S. military trial. There were a lot of protests. There have been continuing even this evening protests about revising the U.S. military agreement with South Korea.

Yet on the other hand, there have also been protests against North Korea, calling on North Korea to stop trying to develop nuclear weapons.

So there are views on both sides. Meanwhile, the president here, we have a new president-elect, No Muvyon (ph), who's just been elected, going to take office in February, he's walking a very delicate line trying to maintain good relationships with Washington and not let North Korea drive a political wedge between him and Washington, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Yes, he will definitely have a full plate when he takes office in February.

All right, Rebecca, thank you. Rebecca MacKinnon in Seoul, South Korea. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com