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CNN Saturday Morning News
North Korea Considers non-Aggression Pact
Aired October 25, 2003 - 07:32 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: Turning now to the nuclear stand-off with North Korea. In an important shift, North Korea signals today it is willing to consider a U.S. proposal that could ease tensions.
CNN's Mike Chinoy joining us now by phone with the very latest -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, well, this could be a very significant development. North Korea's foreign ministry says that the Pyongyang government is willing to consider President Bush's proposal that written assurances of non-aggression towards North Korea, which he made during his swing through Asia last week. The president proposed a multinational set of assurances to ease Pyongyang's concerns that the United States wanted to topple that regime.
The North Koreans, a couple of days ago, responded initially by saying it was laughable. But now the North Koreans say they will be willing to consider those remarks.
The statement from Pyongyang also said that North Korea wanted to see a package solution for the total denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on the principal of simultaneous action. The statement said what we want is for both sides to drop their guns and establish normal state relations to coexist peacefully.
That's a significant change in tone from the usually bellicose and threatening remarks that North Korean propaganda features on most days. And the North Koreans also said they were trying to further explore the meaning of President Bush's initiative in contacts through their U.N. mission in New York. They said it was too early to determine whether the six nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, which were held in Beijing in August -- and a second round have been in process -- whether that would be the right format. But the North said they were serious about exploring what President Bush meant and if he was sincere, there might be a diplomatic opening to resolve this crisis -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, Mike, let me just ask, then, if the North Korean spokesman is saying it might be a little bit premature to be talking about whether they would return to these six nation talks, why? Why is it premature? It seems like this is an obvious significant step forward.
CHINOY: Well, the North has always wanted to resolve this crisis in a bilateral fashion, dealing just with the United States. And it's interesting that in this generally positive and conciliatory statement, it only referred to the president's proposal to offer written assurances of non-aggression. It did not mention that multilateral part. The North clearly is trying to hold out as a bargaining chip its willingness to attend those talks.
But what I think is most significant about this is that the North appears to see some kind of diplomatic opening here that it wants to explore without the usual litany of conditions that it's had before. Previously it said Washington must agree to sign a formal non- aggression pact and it couched all of its statements with threats to test a nuclear weapon and warnings of catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula if there wasn't progress.
This was a much more moderate and constructive kind of tone and the North reiterating its desire to see the end of all this, to be able to live in peace with the United States, at least on paper saying they're willing to denuclearize the entire Korean Peninsula.
But they don't trust the Bush administration and that's why they want to test this out through contacts through the their diplomats at the U.N., who have regular dealings with State Department officials before committing to that six nation format further down the road -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, we will obviously have to watch what will happen next here. A big development coming to us out of North Korea.
Mike Chinoy.
Thanks so much, Mike.
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 October 25, 2003 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the nuclear stand-off with North Korea. In an important shift, North Korea signals today it is willing to consider a U.S. proposal that could ease tensions.
CNN's Mike Chinoy joining us now by phone with the very latest -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, well, this could be a very significant development. North Korea's foreign ministry says that the Pyongyang government is willing to consider President Bush's proposal that written assurances of non-aggression towards North Korea, which he made during his swing through Asia last week. The president proposed a multinational set of assurances to ease Pyongyang's concerns that the United States wanted to topple that regime.
The North Koreans, a couple of days ago, responded initially by saying it was laughable. But now the North Koreans say they will be willing to consider those remarks.
The statement from Pyongyang also said that North Korea wanted to see a package solution for the total denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on the principal of simultaneous action. The statement said what we want is for both sides to drop their guns and establish normal state relations to coexist peacefully.
That's a significant change in tone from the usually bellicose and threatening remarks that North Korean propaganda features on most days. And the North Koreans also said they were trying to further explore the meaning of President Bush's initiative in contacts through their U.N. mission in New York. They said it was too early to determine whether the six nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, which were held in Beijing in August -- and a second round have been in process -- whether that would be the right format. But the North said they were serious about exploring what President Bush meant and if he was sincere, there might be a diplomatic opening to resolve this crisis -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, Mike, let me just ask, then, if the North Korean spokesman is saying it might be a little bit premature to be talking about whether they would return to these six nation talks, why? Why is it premature? It seems like this is an obvious significant step forward.
CHINOY: Well, the North has always wanted to resolve this crisis in a bilateral fashion, dealing just with the United States. And it's interesting that in this generally positive and conciliatory statement, it only referred to the president's proposal to offer written assurances of non-aggression. It did not mention that multilateral part. The North clearly is trying to hold out as a bargaining chip its willingness to attend those talks.
But what I think is most significant about this is that the North appears to see some kind of diplomatic opening here that it wants to explore without the usual litany of conditions that it's had before. Previously it said Washington must agree to sign a formal non- aggression pact and it couched all of its statements with threats to test a nuclear weapon and warnings of catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula if there wasn't progress.
This was a much more moderate and constructive kind of tone and the North reiterating its desire to see the end of all this, to be able to live in peace with the United States, at least on paper saying they're willing to denuclearize the entire Korean Peninsula.
But they don't trust the Bush administration and that's why they want to test this out through contacts through the their diplomats at the U.N., who have regular dealings with State Department officials before committing to that six nation format further down the road -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, we will obviously have to watch what will happen next here. A big development coming to us out of North Korea.
Mike Chinoy.
Thanks so much, Mike.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
