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CNN Saturday Morning News
U.S. Intelligence Detects Toubling Activity Near North Korean Nuclear Site
Aired February 01, 2003 - 07:06 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: The U.S. is inching closer to war with Iraq, but the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific also wants to beef up air and sea forces in his region. It's seen as a signal to North Korea that the U.S. is not focusing exclusively on Iraq, and it comes as U.S. intelligence detects more troubling activity near a North Korean nuclear site.
CNN's Mike Chinoy reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President George W. Bush in his State of the Union message.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq.
CHINOY: But as the U.S. prepares for war with Iraq, while still insisting on the need for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis, just what are the lessons from the current situation?
With U.S. spy satellites detecting signs that North Korea is moving nuclear fuel rods out of storage at its Yongbyon reactor, there's a growing chorus of voices arguing that the regime of Kim Jong Il presents a much more immediate danger.
JON WOLFSTHAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The North Korean threat is much more advanced, and because they have the ability to either deliver ballistic missiles against our allies, either with chemical or biological weapons, and in the extreme, possibly with a nuclear warhead, that is directly influencing our willingness to consider military options.
CHINOY: Indeed, precisely because North Korea poses a greater military threat on top of its nuclear program and has a million-strong army and thousands of artillery pieces within range of Seoul, the Bush administration has conspicuously avoided talking about a military solution.
HENRY SOKOLSKI, NONPROLIFERATION POLICY EDUCATION CENTER: You don't bomb a nuclear nation. Saddam does not have nuclear weapons. North Korea does.
CHINOY: To other adversaries of the United States, that could send a powerful message -- go get nuclear weapons in a hurry.
LEON SIGAL, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY WITH NORTH KOREA": This is a policy of proliferation, not nonproliferation. This is going to encourage the North to develop weapons...
CHINOY (on camera): And the question increasingly being asked is, Will other nations absorb the same message and try to follow the same path, with grim implications for security around the world?
Mike Chinoy, CNN, Seoul.
(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
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is inching closer to war with Iraq, but the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific also wants to beef up air and sea forces in his region. It's seen as a signal to North Korea that the U.S. is not focusing exclusively on Iraq, and it comes as U.S. intelligence detects more troubling activity near a North Korean nuclear site.>
Aired February 1, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is inching closer to war with Iraq, but the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific also wants to beef up air and sea forces in his region. It's seen as a signal to North Korea that the U.S. is not focusing exclusively on Iraq, and it comes as U.S. intelligence detects more troubling activity near a North Korean nuclear site.
CNN's Mike Chinoy reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President George W. Bush in his State of the Union message.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq.
CHINOY: But as the U.S. prepares for war with Iraq, while still insisting on the need for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis, just what are the lessons from the current situation?
With U.S. spy satellites detecting signs that North Korea is moving nuclear fuel rods out of storage at its Yongbyon reactor, there's a growing chorus of voices arguing that the regime of Kim Jong Il presents a much more immediate danger.
JON WOLFSTHAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The North Korean threat is much more advanced, and because they have the ability to either deliver ballistic missiles against our allies, either with chemical or biological weapons, and in the extreme, possibly with a nuclear warhead, that is directly influencing our willingness to consider military options.
CHINOY: Indeed, precisely because North Korea poses a greater military threat on top of its nuclear program and has a million-strong army and thousands of artillery pieces within range of Seoul, the Bush administration has conspicuously avoided talking about a military solution.
HENRY SOKOLSKI, NONPROLIFERATION POLICY EDUCATION CENTER: You don't bomb a nuclear nation. Saddam does not have nuclear weapons. North Korea does.
CHINOY: To other adversaries of the United States, that could send a powerful message -- go get nuclear weapons in a hurry.
LEON SIGAL, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY WITH NORTH KOREA": This is a policy of proliferation, not nonproliferation. This is going to encourage the North to develop weapons...
CHINOY (on camera): And the question increasingly being asked is, Will other nations absorb the same message and try to follow the same path, with grim implications for security around the world?
Mike Chinoy, CNN, Seoul.
(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
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is inching closer to war with Iraq, but the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific also wants to beef up air and sea forces in his region. It's seen as a signal to North Korea that the U.S. is not focusing exclusively on Iraq, and it comes as U.S. intelligence detects more troubling activity near a North Korean nuclear site.>
