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CNN Saturday Morning News
U.N. Special Envoy Seeks to Defuse North Korea Crisis
Aired January 18, 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: As we mentioned, a U.N. special envoy is in Beijing today after holding high-level talks in North Korea.
Maurice Strong is looking for ways to defuse the nuclear standoff before it gets dangerously out of hand.
CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Jaime FlorCruz, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Another envoy returning from Pyongyang looking for a solution to the standoff between the United States and North Korea. The situation, he says, remains worrisome.
MAURICE STRONG, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY: So there's a serious, an ominous risk that this crisis could escalate. If it does, it would escalate, in my view, unnecessarily, because the positions of the parties as they have articulated them, as you well know, are actually quite close to each other. The problem is a breakdown of trust and communication.
FLORCRUZ: The breakdown began when the United States alleged that Pyongyang had admitted to having a secret nuclear program. In response, Washington suspended fuel shipments. North Korea has since reactivated nuclear facilities frozen since 1994, expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors, and has withdrawn from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
The U.N. envoy, along with these Australian diplomats, are trying to promote dialogue. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, now in Pyongyang, has proposed what he calls quiet diplomacy to resolve the differences.
STRONG: There is no question that what the North Koreans are saying, if they don't -- they want to resolve it peacefully. But as you know, they're also saying that they are determined to go through war if that is required for their security and the integrity of their nation.
FLORCRUZ: North Korea has other pressing problems. Years of natural disasters and economic mismanagement have led to food shortages and famine, prompting streams of refugees to flee for food, jobs, and freedom. STRONG: The humanitarian crisis is a real crisis. It is not just a potential crisis. It is a crisis affecting the lives and the prospects of some 6 to 8 million people.
FLORCRUZ: If these humanitarian and political crises escalate, analysts see worse yet to come.
BATES GILL, ANALYST: The worst, I don't think this is likely, but you would have a continued ratcheting up of tension, continuing saber-rattling on the part of the North, to a point where there is a miscalculation, and the United States feels compelled, for the security of the region, to act.
FLORCRUZ (on camera): The ultimate goal of these diplomatic initiatives is to preempt such a horrible scenario and then move on to a negotiated solution. The first step to get there is to reopen channels of communications.
Jaime FlorCruz, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 18, 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: As we mentioned, a U.N. special envoy is in Beijing today after holding high-level talks in North Korea.
Maurice Strong is looking for ways to defuse the nuclear standoff before it gets dangerously out of hand.
CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Jaime FlorCruz, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Another envoy returning from Pyongyang looking for a solution to the standoff between the United States and North Korea. The situation, he says, remains worrisome.
MAURICE STRONG, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY: So there's a serious, an ominous risk that this crisis could escalate. If it does, it would escalate, in my view, unnecessarily, because the positions of the parties as they have articulated them, as you well know, are actually quite close to each other. The problem is a breakdown of trust and communication.
FLORCRUZ: The breakdown began when the United States alleged that Pyongyang had admitted to having a secret nuclear program. In response, Washington suspended fuel shipments. North Korea has since reactivated nuclear facilities frozen since 1994, expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors, and has withdrawn from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
The U.N. envoy, along with these Australian diplomats, are trying to promote dialogue. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, now in Pyongyang, has proposed what he calls quiet diplomacy to resolve the differences.
STRONG: There is no question that what the North Koreans are saying, if they don't -- they want to resolve it peacefully. But as you know, they're also saying that they are determined to go through war if that is required for their security and the integrity of their nation.
FLORCRUZ: North Korea has other pressing problems. Years of natural disasters and economic mismanagement have led to food shortages and famine, prompting streams of refugees to flee for food, jobs, and freedom. STRONG: The humanitarian crisis is a real crisis. It is not just a potential crisis. It is a crisis affecting the lives and the prospects of some 6 to 8 million people.
FLORCRUZ: If these humanitarian and political crises escalate, analysts see worse yet to come.
BATES GILL, ANALYST: The worst, I don't think this is likely, but you would have a continued ratcheting up of tension, continuing saber-rattling on the part of the North, to a point where there is a miscalculation, and the United States feels compelled, for the security of the region, to act.
FLORCRUZ (on camera): The ultimate goal of these diplomatic initiatives is to preempt such a horrible scenario and then move on to a negotiated solution. The first step to get there is to reopen channels of communications.
Jaime FlorCruz, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
