Seven-Year-Old Girl in Critical Condition after Assault with Pipe; Diplomacy and Commas on Secretary of States Agenda; Koreas Unveil Initial Plan For Denuclearization
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, selling the same horse twice. Critics accuse Pyongyang of making old promised and failing, making real concessions. Will she, or won't she? Republicans' set deadline for Brett Kavanaugh's accuser to decide if she'll testify against the Supreme Court nominee. And why does this keep happening? Three Australian football players in black face, and they say they had no idea it was racist. Hello everybody, great to have you with us. I'm John Vause and this is NEWSROOM L.A. The</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Their political romance may still be in the honeymoon stage but North Korean Leader, Kim Jong- un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in seemed ready to take things to the next level. During a summit filled with smiling photo ops in Pyongyang, both leaders touted a new era of peace and cooperation, joint economic, transportation, and healthcare projects. Even a bid to co-host a 2032 Summer Olympics. The North and South also signed a detailed agreement to end all military hostility. North Korea promised to shut down a key missile test site. And it's young beyond nuclear facility, even saying international inspectors will allowed to watch, but a vaguely warded caveat says, the U.S. must take corresponding measures.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We assume that to be a declaration ending the Korean War or other steps.</s>RIPLEY: Steps that could include a long-time North Korean demand that U.S. troops scale down and eventually pull out of the Korean Peninsula -- a traditional deal breaker for Washington.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does not move the ball forward at all. We're still in the same place.</s>RIPLEY: President Donald Trump trying project momentum in his own dealings with Pyongyang.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had very good news from North Korea and South Korea.</s>RIPLEY: Crediting some of the progress on his personal relationship with Kim Jong-un. Plans are in the works for a possible second summit with the North Korean leader.</s>TRUPM: We're talking. He's very calm -- he's calm, I'm calm.</s>RIPLEY: Trump is citing North Korea's lack of recent missile tests as a positive sign, despite the months-long stalemate in denuclearization talks. North Korean state media this week, placing all the blame on U.S. demands, once again calling them gangster-like. President Moon will try to salvage the situation, acting as mediator when he visits the U.S. next week. Kim Jong-un says, he'll soon be the first North Korean leader ever to visit Seoul -- a chance for more photo ops and more promises of a bright unified future. What happens next could clarify if Washington and Seoul are still on the same page when it comes to Pyongyang or if the U.S. is beginning to look like a third wheel. Will Ripley, CNN.</s>VAUSE: CNN's Paula Hancock is with us live from Seoul; and in San Francisco, Philip Yun, Executive Director of the Plowshares Fund and Former Advisor on North Korea to President Bill Clinton. So, Paula, first to you, I guess for the latest there, it was a relatively easy day three for these two leaders -- a little sight-seeing. Can't have a summit without summit. This comes after a day of announcements on Wednesday, which some torrential progress; others say, it was just a big of smoke and mirrors.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, John. Today, what we saw was the -- the two leaders climbing to the top of the Mt. Paektu. Now, this symbolically is a very big deal for both North and South Korea. It's the spiritual homeland of the Korean people. So, to see the leaders of both North and South Korea at the top of this summit, holding hands with their arms in the air, and smiling with the entourage around them, it is incredibly symbolic. We heard from President Moon when he was on the plane on the way to Pyongyang, he said he'd always wanted to go to Mt. Paektu -- it also borders China. But he said, he never wanted to go the China way, he was waiting until he could access it from North Korea. So, that is a very symbolic moment. And then just last night as well, President Moon speaking to 150,000 North Koreans at a mass games that was organized for him saying that he wanted denuclearization, and the 150,000 North Koreans cheered as South Korean president telling them that. So, certainly, symbolically and from a photo op point of view, there's have been some very strong moments in just the last 24 hours. John.</s>VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Stay with us. Because, Philip, to you, there appears the concern here among many is that there's a lack of details and specifics, which there's a lot of room for interpretation. And this seems mostly on the issue of scrapping North Korea's nuclear program, so how do you see it?</s>PHILIP YUN, DIRECTOR, PLOWSHARES FUND: Yes, I think that's absolutely right. I think that it's -- with North Korea, as we said before, it's never as good as Donald Trump, perhaps, is saying. But quite frankly, I don't think it is as bad as some of the critics are saying as well. Out of the summit has come a couple of really good things, you know: One is the United States and North Korea are now after a stalemate, are now agreeing to talks which they had canceled before. So, I think that's a good sign; it's the start of a process. There's still an issue of, really, who goes first and what that means. I also think that there's something that's overlooked that the north- south summit that happened talked about confidence building measures. It was talking about the military of both sides, sort of, stepping back a little bit. It's November 1st or no fly zones over the border, no military drills by the border, and things doing what the East Sea -- West Sea where there was a lot of fire fights in the past. So, if we're worried about miscalculations, which is what I have been worried about more than anything else, that tensions rise, these are concrete steps, if they're implemented fully that will make the situation less volatile. So, that's good news.</s>VAUSE: Paula, to you, the secretary of state has said, you know, he's welcomed the decision to defend the Yongbyon, the nuclear facility. But he also added in the presence of US and IAEA -- International Energy Agency inspectors, but if you read the declaration that Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un actually signed, it only says the North will take measures for "the permanent dismantlement of the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon as the United States takes corresponding measures in accordance with the spirit of the June 12th U.S.-DPRK joint statement." You know, that was, basically, back in Singapore. When we're talking 24 hours ago, there was a lot of talk about international inspectors being allowed in. I think it came from President Moon. So, where is the confusion here? What actually happened?</s>HANCOCKS: Well, John, there is confusion here. And everybody is asking the Blue House for clarification and the answer is let's wait until everyone gets back from Pyongyang and ask them. Effectively, what they agreed to yesterday was that they were going to dismantle this one missile site and there would be international experts allowed to go to that. The Yongbyon nuclear facility was separate. That was conditional on U.S. measures. And there was no mention in the declaration or the speeches from either one of the leaders about U.S. or IAEA inspectors. Now, of course, North Korea may have agreed to that. We simply don't know and that wasn't publicly announced, or it may actually be the fact that North Korea has announced something and the U.S. has taken it a little step further, and they're talking across purposes. This would not be the first time that they appear to be doing that. But as far as we heard and we saw from that declaration, North Korea did not agree to having nuclear inspectors inside the country.</s>VAUSE: And Phil, how concerned are you that it seems Washington and Pyongyang, you know, they continue to talk past each other.</s>YUN: Well, of course, it's a cause for concern. I agree that the actual declaration, if you look at it only referred to inspectors or experts. I believe it was with respect to the missile sites. It didn't say anything about the -- about the Yongbyon facility at all, but I do think that this points out to the general issue that we have to worry, worry about is what does denuclearization mean and who goes first? This is a variation of what has plagued the U.S.-North Korea relationship as to who steps first? One is, do you agree to denuclearization? And then, do we go in talks now? It's a peace treaty first and then, as what North Korea wants a peace treaty first and then denuclearization. The United States, the same, vice versa. So, these are issues that still have to be ironed out. But again, they're talking here, which before they were not. And remember, one year ago, we were actually worried that United States was going to have a pre-emptive strike on North Korea. So, the situation is much better. That doesn't mean that it can't get worse but for right now, we're in a good situation. Better situation.</s>VAUSE: Yes. I just want to stick with denuclearization because the inter-Korea part of this seems to be a big win. But on denuclearization, would you say it was just that expectations were just too high to begin with for what the South Korean president could actually accomplish here?</s>YUN: You know, I think that's right. I think, really, the South Korean president -- all he wanted to do was get the process moving forward to get some momentum going, get the United States and -- the United States and North Korea to actually start having a dialogue and a process. In my view, you know, I think we're setting ourselves up for failure if we expect denuclearization to happen too quickly. It's going to take a long time, I think. President Trump realized has been the case with other things; it's a lot more difficult than what you initially expect. So, I think there's some expectation setting here that's going to have to continue as we move down the road here if we're going to get anything accomplished.</s>VAUSE: And Paula, finally, to you, we've seen a situation here where President Moon Jae-in, the South Korean President, is simply, you know, now moving on his own track, is moving away from the U.S. -- you know, with his own priorities in all of these negotiations with the North Koreans.</s>HANCOCKS: Well, President Moon, John has made it clear that he is now the chief negotiator. He's been asked by the U.S. president, apparently, to mediate between those two countries. But he also is focusing on the inter-Korea relationship and that is blossoming. I mean, you see the photos of these two men together. The third time they're meeting, clearly, they have built a rapport, and that is important to try to improve that relation. And as Philip was mentioning, the military pact that North and South Korea have agreed upon is significant. They have decided to demilitarize part of the joint security area. This is the area in the DMZ where North and South Korean soldiers have been facing off against each other for decades. They have said from October 1st, they're going to start to clear some land mines. There's going to be a no-fly zone. The naval areas, the maritime areas on both sides of the country, there will be some areas there that they will take care of. There are significant movements happening, guard posts in the DMZ will be taken down on a trial basis. So, certainly, from an inter-Korean point of view, progress was made or at least it seemed to have been made if they stick to that agreement.</s>VAUSE: Yes, it does seem that the criticism and skepticism about the denuclearization part is overshadowing what has been some real progress in this relationship between North and South. And with that, I'd like to thank you both, Paula and Philip. I appreciate you both for being with us.</s>YUN: Thank you.</s>VAUSE: And we'll take a short break. When we come back, the clock is ticking for the woman who accuses U.S. Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault. Republican Senators say, she has until the end of the week to decide if she is willing to testify. Also, ahead, from the troubles to the worries. How the good Friday agreement could play into Brexit?