North Korea Tension Grows; North Korea Tension Grows
MARQUEZ: New video out of North Korea does nothing to calm the growing tension there. Korean state TV is showing missiles being fired from North Korea's coast. There's no word whether the video -- when the video was shot or even if it's real. However one U.S. official has confirmed that two medium range missiles have been loaded onto launchers on North Korea's east coast. Earlier, I spoke with former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea and lead negotiator on North Korea, Christopher Hill; and Joseph Cirincione, former advisor to President Obama on nuclear issues. I asked Ambassador Hill why the U.S. describes the launch as just a test.</s>CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: Well, certainly the movements we've seen, the type of vehicles, et cetera, are consistent with a test launch. Also I don't believe these missiles have ever been fired before so I think most analysts believe this is indeed a -- a test launch and it may be the sort of crescendo the North Koreans are looking for as they get through April and as the U.S./South Korean exercise comes to an end.</s>MARQUEZ: Mr. Cirincione how advanced are the North Korean missiles? It's been showing off its weapons. But are -- some of these are pretty outdated maybe not very sophisticated? Are they really up to a 21st century fight?</s>JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, FORMER OBAMA ADVISOR ON NUCLEAR AFFAIRS: Well, these missiles are, we believe, based on an old Soviet design, an old Soviet submarine launch ballistic missiles. As the Ambassador who is the real expert on the Korean Peninsula noted, they've never been tested. These may just be for show. These are liquid fuel missiles so we're not going to see a sudden launch. They have to be erected, they have to be fueled. That would take hours, maybe days so you'd see this happening. If we were truly worried we could launch air strikes after all these missiles on the launch pad. The missile interceptors that you're seeing deployed actually have little relevance to this, the missile interceptors we're going to deploy in Guam are further away than this missile could possibly reach.</s>MARQUEZ: Yes.</s>CIRINCIONE: So those are really the short and medium range missiles. So a lot of this is for show.</s>MARQUEZ: Obviously with 29,000 U.S. troops nearby though, all of this is of concern. But the Ambassador of North Korea has told Russia and Britain that their embassies could be in danger, is that just a ploy to get other governments involved?</s>HILL: Yes it sure looks like they're trying to kind of hype the notion that the -- there's danger in the Peninsula that's caused by the U.S., et cetera. I must say I've never heard of this kind of thing before to you know tell embassies to go run for your lives and then the embassies say no, we're -- we're fine, just staying right here. So it is really an example of this kind of bizarre North Korean propaganda.</s>MARQUEZ: It sounds like this has a lot to do with internal politics and less so external politics. Mr. Cirincione --</s>CIRINCIONE: Yes.</s>MARQUEZ: What is the end game in your -- in your mind?</s>CIRINCIONE: Ambassador Hill points out the -- the limits of our ability to sort of match their move with our move. We've stood firm, we've reassured our allies. We're now working with China. We've sort of drawn clear limits for North Korea but you can't really get in this bluster/counter-bluster game. North Korea can out crazy us, there's an infinite number of things they can do like this stunt on warning embassies to evacuate. So now you're looking for the exit ramp. You want to work with your allies, work with China. How do you back North Korea down? Don't respond to these provocations. Don't escalate the crisis. I actually think over the next few weeks particularly as the exercises between U.S. and South Korea calm down that you might be able to walk this crisis back and get the parties to the negotiating table.</s>MARQUEZ: Mr. Ambassador there's always a perception that we can just appeal to China and China will sort of knock North Korea back into order but is it as simple a math as that?</s>HILL: No I wish it were. First of all the Chinese probably have some -- there are limitations to what they can do with the North Koreans. There's also limitations to what they want to do. You know China is pretty split on the subject. There are those in China who feel they are a plucky little ally and they don't want to push them and then there are others who would like to be rid of them. But clearly China has moved somewhat in recent weeks, they are clearly getting a little tired of the North Koreans.</s>MARQUEZ: Right.</s>HILL: And I think that's why it's been important for the U.S. to kind of keep our own rhetoric at a lower level and try to work with the Chinese and explore ways that China can be helpful in bringing the North Koreans back from the brink. I doubt that we're going to be able to get any nuclear talks started any time soon but at least we can kind of get through this -- this crisis of the last few weeks.</s>MARQUEZ: Now for many Americans, North Korea's fiery rhetoric and menacing threats are fueling new fears of military action, but not so many old memories. As Tom Foreman explains in today's "American Journey, the Korean War has long been considered a forgotten conflict even when it was front page news.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Korean war was a complicated affair from the start in 1950. A distant battle over whether the Korean Peninsula divided by World War II would be reunited under a Democratic or Communist government. The North's invasion of the South spurred world powers to join the fight and in short order almost two million American troops found themselves facing little-known enemies in a little-known land. Patrick O'Donnell is a combat historian and the author of "Give Me Tomorrow".</s>PATRICK O'DONNELL, COMBAT HISTORIAN: These men in the first -- in 1950, 1951 had to go against 20 to one odds in some cases against the Chinese army. They had to fight the temperature which dropped to 30 to 40 below zero. And they also did it with inferior weapons.</s>FOREMAN: The conditions during the war were worsened in a sense by the outcome. After three hard years the war ended essentially where it began. With the North, the South, and not peace, just an uneasy agreement to stop fighting. Historian Bruce Cumings from the University of Chicago.</s>BRUCE CUMINGS, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: Korea ended in a stalemate. Americans didn't really understand the war and veterans came home not to difficult circumstances like the veterans of the Vietnam war, but rather to a country that didn't really know where Korea was on the map and wasn't sure what the war had been about.</s>FOREMAN: These days, a great many Americans don't really know much about the Korean War. It has become the providence of historians and old soldiers. American consciousness of it has been shaped more by the TV show "M.A.S.H." than any reality. Only about a third of those who served during the Korean conflict are still alive, making it almost certain the forgotten war will stay that way. Tom Foremen, CNN, Washington.