In a report on the CBS-TV news show “60 Minutes,” celebrity TV correspondent Dan Rather purported to have obtained exclusive insights into North Korea during a brief trip there last October, when the regime arranged brief tours for hundreds of foreign journalists.
Rather provided an audience for North Korea’s infamous Ri Chan-Bok, the same three-star general who gave a story to New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and columnist Nicholas Kristof, when they visited in July 2005.
The crux of Ri’s message to Rather — as to Sulzberger and Kristof — was that, if the Americans invade, North Korea will retaliate with its burgeoning nuclear arsenal.
The quotes from the program reveal Ri at his intimidating best, putting on the same kind of performance that he once staged for American major generals in periodic negotiations, not held for several years, in the truce village of Panmunjom between the two Koreas.
“Tell the American people that you met the general,” Ri advised CBS. “If the United States invades our country and starts a war, the People’s Army will fight to the death and defend ourselves and take appropriate revenge.”
Ri warmed to the theme as he went on.
“We firmly believe that the United States will carry out its policies on our country even if they have to use military means,” he said. But if the United States does invade, “What we can say to you definitely right now is that we currently have nuclear weapons.”
"60 Minutes" did not point out that Ri used similar rhetoric for years in fruitless attempts to intimidate his American interlocutors at Panmunjom. In fact, the program made no mention Ri’s past role as chief negotiator.
The program did, however, seize on Ri’s remarks as he charged, while showing the CBS team around the North Korean side of Panmunjom, that “neo-conservatives in the Bush administration” are responsible for U.S. forces stepping up military and propaganda exercises, an apparent reference to the annual Ulchi Focus war games.
“These are people who want to dominate the world, just like the Nazis of Germany,” Ri said. “After striking Iraq, they want North Korea.”
"60 Minutes" neglected to point out that Rather got his "exclusive" in October, when hundreds of foreign journalists gained entry to North Korea for tightly guarded tours of about four days each. The focus of the visits was the Arirang Festival, an extravaganza staged nightly for three months in the cavernous Kim Il-Sung Stadium.
Ri’s words also appeared on the CBS website in a report over the name of producer Tom Anderson.
The report repeated the lines chief North Korean negotiator Kim Gye-Gwan used during the six-party talks last September and November in Beijing. “Under current conditions, where there is no trust, how can we give up our weapons first,” Kim asked.
