Are US Journalists Being Used as Pawns by North Korea?
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 9 June 2009
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
North Korea said today that it would use nuclear weapons in a "merciless offensive" if provoked, just two days after sentencing two American journalists to twelve years in a gulag-type prison labor camp. Guest host Sara Terry explores the motives behind North Korea's recent aggressive actions and whether the US should re-start negotiations or take a hard-line stance with the secretive communist power. Also, the first Guantanamo detainee is transferred to the US, and a victory for human rights activists in the Niger Delta.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point. |
| 0:08.0 | Hard time in a prison camp. Are two U.S. journalists being used as pawns by North Korea? |
| 0:17.4 | I'm Sarah Terry, sitting in for Warren Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. |
| 0:26.3 | North Korea has sentenced two American television reporters to 12 years in prison, prompting an international outcry. |
| 0:33.7 | The U.S. is working for their release, but can it keep negotiations separate from the politics of the region? |
| 0:39.8 | What is North Korea trying to gain with recent nuclear tests and missile firings? |
| 0:44.8 | How is a transition in leadership affecting the country's dealings with the rest of the world? |
| 0:49.7 | On reporter's notebook later on, a victory for human rights activists in the Niger Delta, a big |
| 0:55.3 | payout by an oil giant. First, the news. |
| 0:59.5 | Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio |
| 1:05.2 | International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John |
| 1:09.9 | D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. |
| 1:12.5 | I'm Sarah Terry, sitting in for Warren Alney, back with To the Point from PRI. North Korea said today |
| 1:18.3 | that it would use nuclear weapons in a merciless offensive, if provoked, just two days after |
| 1:24.3 | sentencing two U.S. journalists to 12 years in a gulag-type prison labor camp. |
| 1:30.5 | What's behind North Korea's recent aggressive actions? Should President Obama try to restart negotiations? |
| 1:36.9 | Or take a hardline stance with the secretive communist power? |
| 1:40.9 | On reporter's notebook, payout in the Niger Delta, an oil company giant agrees to pay millions in a case involving the execution of local human rights activists. |
| 1:51.0 | First, this news update. The first detainee from Guantanamo Bay Prison has been transferred to stand trial in a U.S. civilian court in New York. |
| 2:00.2 | The transfer comes three weeks after President Obama |
| 2:02.8 | laid out his plans for closing the Guantanamo camp by January of next year. Joining me is Adam Zagarin, |
| 2:09.6 | senior correspondent in Washington for Time Magazine. Thanks for joining us. |
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