Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Tensions Over North Korea's Nuclear Program Escalate

Aired January 11, 2003 - 07:34   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 is another hotspot that the U.S. is forced to deal with, as tensions over the country's nuclear program escalate. Joining me now from Chicago to talk about this is CNN military analyst, Brigadier General David Grange. Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for being here.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

COLLINS: Let's take just a minute to break down once again what we've heard this morning, several things. News from Vienna about the nuclear reactor and restarting that facility in Pyongyang. The Beijing news that they are possibly thinking about resuming tests on their anti-ballistic missiles there. And then we have North Koreans basically dancing in the streets, applauding pulling out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. What do you make of all of this, sir?

GRANGE: Well, first of all, the people dancing in the streets is obviously controlled and...

COLLINS: Sure.

GRANGE: ... and it's actually -- you know it's manipulated not to be taken any true feeling of any people or people that have a lot of disinformation. So they're not sure what they're doing. Reference the North Korean actions in China -- it's a perfect time for these countries to nag at the United States and others because of our focus on the Middle East. And so it causes us to look over our shoulder, and it's very difficult with all these different challenges going on for our nation to deal with it in (ph) most cases almost alone. Now in the Korean area, of course, we have Japan, South Korea supporting the issue of us dealing with North Korea.

COLLINS: I know you did serve time in the DMZ. Tell me what you think from those experiences about our presence there overall.

GRANGE: Yeah. There's no doubt in my mind that in the last 50 years the United States made a difference having forces in Korea. We spent 50 years training the South Korean army, which is an excellent army right now. It's not talked about very much, but it's a pretty tough army.

COLLINS: Why is it so great?

GRANGE: Because they use American Army, American military standards to train. And we put a lot of effort in there. Our military train pilots; they're soldiers, Marines. We've spent a lot of time in there, 50 years. And so they're a good military. In fact, it's probably in the future -- and I wouldn't do it immediately -- but in the future, maybe it's time to pull out some of the combat forces and just kind of have our forces that are stuck in Korea be able to respond to Korea and other places in the Pacific.

So I think that it will eventually come to that, but not at the threats of North Korea. Just as probably time, because the South Korean army is trained and it's a very competent force. Plus you have Japan there. And we can project there if we need to very quickly.

COLLINS: So you think they can defend themselves?

GRANGE: No, I don't think they can defend themselves, but much better than 1950. In fact, our military is much better than 1950. I'm just saying that they're at a point now that they're probably 10 times as good as they were 50 years ago. And we would have some type of treaty and plan with them to respond to any threat that they may receive.

And China has a different attitude now with North Korea and so does Russia. And so that's all -- the dynamics of that region have changed since 1950. So the situation has changed and we probably ought to take a good look at that.

COLLINS: North Korea has also said many bold comments; one of which saying that a new Korean war would lead to a third world war. What's the likelihood of that happening?

GRANGE: I don't think so. And that's because I think that North Korea can be contained very easily. Again, it goes back to that comment I made on the way China and Russia backs North Korea today. They don't want a war. They have enough problems; they have a lot of economic ambitions. They don't want to have another war.

And then Japan is in a little different situation, as is the South Korean army. So really, North Korea is kind of pinned in there with some pretty substantial counterforces if they try and do anything really stupid.

COLLINS: Obviously with each war and each conflict there are lessons to be learned from all of them. Does the U.S. have a chip on its shoulder, though, from any of these previous conflicts do you think?

GRANGE: Well, no. But I think it's -- you learn from every previous conflict, whether it be Vietnam or the first Korean War. One of them definitely is readiness. The Korean War is a great example that you have to have a robust, capable military to protect your interests, whether they be diplomatic or economic or whatever around the world.

And if you take Vietnam, it's a great example that we had a good Army, good military. But we had to have the backing of the American people for the long haul. And we had to have an administration that was willing to win. And, of course, the administration was not willing to win, and that's why the war (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so long.

COLLINS: All right. Brigadier General David Grange, we certainly appreciate your time this morning coming to us from Chicago -- thank you.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

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 11, 2003 - 07:34   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 is another hotspot that the U.S. is forced to deal with, as tensions over the country's nuclear program escalate. Joining me now from Chicago to talk about this is CNN military analyst, Brigadier General David Grange. Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for being here.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

COLLINS: Let's take just a minute to break down once again what we've heard this morning, several things. News from Vienna about the nuclear reactor and restarting that facility in Pyongyang. The Beijing news that they are possibly thinking about resuming tests on their anti-ballistic missiles there. And then we have North Koreans basically dancing in the streets, applauding pulling out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. What do you make of all of this, sir?

GRANGE: Well, first of all, the people dancing in the streets is obviously controlled and...

COLLINS: Sure.

GRANGE: ... and it's actually -- you know it's manipulated not to be taken any true feeling of any people or people that have a lot of disinformation. So they're not sure what they're doing. Reference the North Korean actions in China -- it's a perfect time for these countries to nag at the United States and others because of our focus on the Middle East. And so it causes us to look over our shoulder, and it's very difficult with all these different challenges going on for our nation to deal with it in (ph) most cases almost alone. Now in the Korean area, of course, we have Japan, South Korea supporting the issue of us dealing with North Korea.

COLLINS: I know you did serve time in the DMZ. Tell me what you think from those experiences about our presence there overall.

GRANGE: Yeah. There's no doubt in my mind that in the last 50 years the United States made a difference having forces in Korea. We spent 50 years training the South Korean army, which is an excellent army right now. It's not talked about very much, but it's a pretty tough army.

COLLINS: Why is it so great?

GRANGE: Because they use American Army, American military standards to train. And we put a lot of effort in there. Our military train pilots; they're soldiers, Marines. We've spent a lot of time in there, 50 years. And so they're a good military. In fact, it's probably in the future -- and I wouldn't do it immediately -- but in the future, maybe it's time to pull out some of the combat forces and just kind of have our forces that are stuck in Korea be able to respond to Korea and other places in the Pacific.

So I think that it will eventually come to that, but not at the threats of North Korea. Just as probably time, because the South Korean army is trained and it's a very competent force. Plus you have Japan there. And we can project there if we need to very quickly.

COLLINS: So you think they can defend themselves?

GRANGE: No, I don't think they can defend themselves, but much better than 1950. In fact, our military is much better than 1950. I'm just saying that they're at a point now that they're probably 10 times as good as they were 50 years ago. And we would have some type of treaty and plan with them to respond to any threat that they may receive.

And China has a different attitude now with North Korea and so does Russia. And so that's all -- the dynamics of that region have changed since 1950. So the situation has changed and we probably ought to take a good look at that.

COLLINS: North Korea has also said many bold comments; one of which saying that a new Korean war would lead to a third world war. What's the likelihood of that happening?

GRANGE: I don't think so. And that's because I think that North Korea can be contained very easily. Again, it goes back to that comment I made on the way China and Russia backs North Korea today. They don't want a war. They have enough problems; they have a lot of economic ambitions. They don't want to have another war.

And then Japan is in a little different situation, as is the South Korean army. So really, North Korea is kind of pinned in there with some pretty substantial counterforces if they try and do anything really stupid.

COLLINS: Obviously with each war and each conflict there are lessons to be learned from all of them. Does the U.S. have a chip on its shoulder, though, from any of these previous conflicts do you think?

GRANGE: Well, no. But I think it's -- you learn from every previous conflict, whether it be Vietnam or the first Korean War. One of them definitely is readiness. The Korean War is a great example that you have to have a robust, capable military to protect your interests, whether they be diplomatic or economic or whatever around the world.

And if you take Vietnam, it's a great example that we had a good Army, good military. But we had to have the backing of the American people for the long haul. And we had to have an administration that was willing to win. And, of course, the administration was not willing to win, and that's why the war (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so long.

COLLINS: All right. Brigadier General David Grange, we certainly appreciate your time this morning coming to us from Chicago -- thank you.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

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