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CNN 10
North Korea Sends Satellite Into Orbit; The Prime Minister Game
Aired December 13, 2012 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: When you say that`s something carved and stone it means it can`t be changed, right? Wait a few minutes before you answer that. I`m Carl Azuz. Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS.
After years of failed attempts, North Korea has sent a satellite into orbit. It was connected to a rocket that launched yesterday. Some experts called the launch a big deal for North Korea. Chance for the country to show off its progress with technology. Japan called the launch intolerable, and South Korea called it "a threat to the peace of the Korean Peninsula in the world." The issue here is that the technology used to launch this satellite is the same kind that could be used to launch a ballistic missile or an attack missile. Back in April, the United Nation Security Council demanded that North Korea stopped any launches that use missile technology. The group spoke out strongly against yesterday`s launch well.
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SUSAN RICE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: The international community and our colleagues in the council have condemned this launch clearly and swiftly, as a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions.
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AZUZ: Paula Hancocks looks at some impossible reasons for this launch and she has some reaction from both countries on the Korean Peninsula.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dancing on a street in Pyongyang, the day North Korea claims its sent a satellite into orbit. The response from residents unsurprisingly patriotic.
"The successful launch of the satellite has sent a shock wave to the whole world" this man says. Pyongyang insists the program is peaceful. The United States, South Korea and others disagree. They consider the launch to be a cover for testing ballistic missile technology. North Korea`s foreign ministry rebuffed the criticism saying hostile forces are showing signs of a sinister bid to take issue with the launch. Concern on the streets of Seoul was more low key.
"Confrontation is never good," says this Seoul resident, "It causes military tension. But I think North Korea just wanted to show off." South Korea`s defense ministry says the North leader Kim Jong-Un needed to cement his control one year after he succeeded his father. Experts said he needed to prove himself to the military.
LEE CHUN MIN, PROFESSOR, YONSEI UNIVERSITY: "After having purged all the key figures over the last several months, he had to show the army that he was still in command and he had to show the people that despite the fact that North Korea was doing very poorly economically, they had the right to stand up against so-called imperialists` forces, but they want it as an embrace on a message that the army that I`m with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush. Three of these last four U.S. Presidents have served eight years in the White House. President Obama`s set to do the same thing. When your country`s leaders are in office that long, it can make it easier to remember what order they came in. In Japan, that might be more challenging.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, would you like to play the prime minister game? It`s a very difficult challenge, so you have to place them in order, so ...
Oh, so close!
OK, what are you guys saying? Is it right? Is it correct? Do you think it`s correct? Yeah? Good job, it`s correct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: All right, so part of what makes that prime minister game so difficult is that in the past six years, Japan has had six different prime ministers. The country could get its seventh soon. Japan`s holding elections on Sunday, so what the Japanese people think about this turnover at the top of their government, and what kinds of challenges will their next prime minister face? Here `s Alex Zolbert with more.
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ALEX ZOLBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is it frustrating that you`ve had so many leaders in six years?
(voice over): "It`s completely crazy," she says. Another woman tells us, it is unusual to have so many prime ministers. It`s a sign of Japan`s instability.
Obviously, the jokes can be made about the ever-changing prime minister here in Japan, but there are very serious issues at play. This country is in recession once again, it`s grappling with rising debt, as well as its biggest reconstruction efforts since World War II. Plenty to tackle for whoever will become this country`s seventh prime minister in just over six years. Alex Zolbert, CNN, Tokyo.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s "Shoutout" goes out to Mr. Flynn`s classes at Unadilla Valley High School in New Berlin, New York.
Where will you find this memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Here we go, is it in Atlanta, Georgia, Birmingham, Alabama, Memphis, Tennessee or Washington, D.C.? You`ve got three seconds, go!
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is part of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: The memorial opened in October of last year. It includes more than a dozen quotes from Dr. King, but one led to some controversy, because it wasn`t an exact quote. Here is the inscription that`s carved into the monument.
"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." That`s not exactly what Dr. King said in the speech this came from. His full quote starts, "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.
Maya Anjelou, a famous poet and author said that leaving out the world "if" change the meaning. She said it made Dr. King appear to be arrogant. Now, officials say they are going to remove the inscription. The work should start early next year.
There are no plans to replace the inscription, but do you think officials should? And if so, what do you think should go there? That`s what we are asking on our blog, tell us what you think and tell us only your first names at cnnstudentnews.com.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit: A squid is an example of a gastropod. Not true. Squid are cephalopods, which means they have tentacles attacked to their heads.
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AZUZ: So we know they are cephalopods, we know they eat fish, shrimp and other squid and as far as Humboldt or jumbo squid go, we know they live about a year and that they like to hunt and migrate in groups. What we don`t know is why these things have been washing up on a California coast. Kiet Do of CNN affiliate KPIX tells us what theories researchers have.
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KIET DO, KPIX CORRESPONDENT: The beaches of Santa Cruz County are littered with the carcasses of thousands of Humboldt squid. They`ve stranded themselves from Aptos to Watsonville, a span of 12 miles.
HANNA ROSEN, STANFORD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDENT: You just see them essentially killing themselves and it`s just really weird to see it.
DO: It happened during high tide. Some people actually tried to put them back in the water, but researcher Hanna Rosen says the deepwater creatures swim right back to shore.
ROSEN: They don`t see the shore very often. So, it might just be that they don`t understand what`s going on around them, and they are just trying to get away and don`t realize that if they swim towards the shore they are going to run out of water, eventually.
DO: They are juveniles, both male and female, about a foot and a half long, weighing roughly three pounds. They had full stomachs, having feasted on smaller market squid, a few had also cannibalized each other, which is normal.
To be honest, researchers have no idea why this is happening. But they think it`s because the squid have eaten toxic algae.
ROSEN: It`s possible that the squid are ingesting either these neurotoxins or they are getting it through their food, and that could be causing them to be disoriented and swim on to the beach.
DO: Humboldt squid haven`t been in the Moderate Bay for a few years. Scientists believe El Nino weather patterns may have drawn them to the cooler waters of northern California. This is the third stranding in six weeks.
ROSEN: It`s really an exploratory time for us, so we are learning more about what causes these strandings and whether or not we should be worried about them, of it`s just a natural part of the squid cycle.
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AZUZ: Before we go, baby talk. It`s something that Apple`s Siri system just doesn`t get.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: A-da-da.
SIRI: I don`t know what you mean by WWW. How about a web search for it?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: A-da-da.
SIRI: I don`t know what you mean by that. How about a web search for it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Even if that video came off as a spoiled chat, it`s easy to see why he is the apple of someone`s eye. And we love how the kid smiles because, you know, he is not taking it too seriously. At the end of the day, it`s all phone and games. I`m going to hang it up for now. We hope you`ll answer when CNN STUDENT NEWS comes calling again on Friday. Bye now.
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