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CNN NEWSROOM
No Meeting Place Yet for U.S.-North Korea Summit; Chemical Experts Blocked from Entering Attack Site; Calm and Grace of a Heroine Pilot; Saying Goodbye to a Colleague; South Korea Prepares For Its Summit With North Korea; An American Woman Describes Her Ordeal In Syria; First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel Replaces Raul Castro; U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley Sharp Rebuttal Is Having A Moment. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 19, 2018 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, HOST, CNN: Cautious optimism on North Korea. President Trump he hopes for a successful with Kim Kong-un but will walk away if he has to.
In Cuba, six decades after the Revolution, a political evolution. A new president is taking over and his last name is not Castro.
Plus, trapped with ISIS. An American woman describes what it was like living under the terror group's rule with her children.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN Newsroom.
Donald Trump is predicting big things for his upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-un. His first priority getting rid of North Korea's nuclear arsenal. Mr. Trump has been listening to concerns from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their two-day summit in Florida. And although he has high hopes for the summit the president say he will walk out if the talks are not fruitful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As you know I will be meeting with Kim Jong-un in the coming weeks to discuss the denuclearization of the Korea peninsula. Hopefully that meeting will be a great success and we're looking forward to it. It could be a tremendous thing for North Korea and a tremendous thing for the world. So, we will be doing everything possible to make it a worldwide success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Mr. Trump also says negotiations are under way to free three Americans held prisoner in North Korea. Prime Minister took a cautious turn warning the talk with North Korean leaders have failed in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): If North Korea takes the right path under the Japan-North Korea-Pyongyang declaration there could be a possible path to settle the unfortunate past and normalize the diplomatic relationship.
For that to happen a comprehensive resolution of multiple concerns including abduction, nuclear, and missiles would be the fundamental preconditions through the upcoming historic U.S.-North Korea Summit.
We strongly hope for a breakthrough in the situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN is following reaction throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Will Ripley is in Hong Kong and Anna Stewart is in Tokyo. Welcome to you both. Let's to you first, Will. It seems the biggest tumbling block right now for these face-to-face talks between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is finding a location they can both agree upon to meet. Why is this proving to be so problematic, and once they do sit down for these talks, have they both figured out yet that they don't share the same definition for what constitute denuclearization.
WILL RIPLEY, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, we certainly hope that they are doing their homework on each other and certainly on the North Korean side. Kim Jong-un has a team of people who is so focused is the Korean peninsula politics nuclear gamesmanship. Who Trump has briefing him preparing him for the summit is less clear. But they can't do any of that until they decide on where they're going to hold it.
And it seems like a simple thing, but in fact, if you start to really think about the political implications in meeting places. Let's say Kim Jong-un wants to go to Washington or he ruled that out, you know, going to U.S. territory. No. Donald Trump ruled out going to Pyongyang. For similar reasons, he doesn't feel that security could be guaranteed there. You know, Kim Jong-un ruled out going to an aircraft carrier on the waters of the Korean peninsula. Donald Trump ruled out going to the demilitarized zone.
So where does that leave us? It leaves us with trying to find a neutral location for this and there are several places in Asia that are being thrown around as possibility. Singapore and Malaysia as you see on the screen there, or also going Vietnam, Thailand also a neutral European capital like Stockholm, Sweden, Geneva, Switzerland.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was considered a frontrunner a few days ago. That apparently is becoming less likely possibly just because of the logistics of getting all of the international press into that country.
But some of the other issues are here that Kim Jong-un apparently prefers to travel by train, much like his predecessors. He took that armored train, that luxury train to Beijing. Obviously that limits where he'd be able to go. And if he's going to fly somewhere will his jet have the fuel capacity to get in there or will he have to get a jet from another country. So, all of those logistics are being work out, and then denuclearization what is it mean for North Korea. Well, it means the American nuclear umbrella going away, it means American troops off the Korean peninsula. It means a peace treaty with South Korea. Whereas, denuclearization for the United States means North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons completely in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, normalization of relations.
[03:05:07] Two very different definitions of the term. Are they going to be able to come together, we don't know. We certainly don't know if they are going to be able to come together in a location because they haven't chosen yet. And until they know where they are going to do it, they can set a date. Donald Trump saying early June, but also indicating that it might not happen, Rosemary.
CHURCH: It could very well prove to be the stumbling block because this, as you mention, Kim Jong-un likes and prefers to travel by train, and not only train, but a bulletproof train. He feels vulnerable in a plane and he feels very vulnerable outside his own country. So, this could indeed prove to be the thing that brings this whole thing to an end.
RIPLEY: Yes. And we don't know for sure what is it in Kim Jong-un's mind. He does fly and he has a private jet. In fact, sometimes he flies his own plane. We visited sites in North Korea where he has been described as actually flying the plane in himself, and then flying away.
So, it's not necessarily a fear of flight itself but it is a little less of a secure situation for a leader of a country to get in an aircraft flying to foreign space and he's never made a trip like that before. The trip to Beijing as far as we know was the first time he even left North Korea since he came to power in late 2011.
And yes, that bulletproof heavily armored train is a very secure method of transportation. Obviously what would be ideal for the North Koreans is to have this meeting as close to home as possible, but that apparently is not going to work for the Americans. And they really do have to sort this out before they can move forward with this.
CHURCH: Yes, indeed. We'll see what happens with that. Will Ripley joining us there from Hong Kong. Thanks for that. Let's go to Anna Stewart now in Tokyo. And Anna, Japan's prime minister met with President Trump for that two-day summit, warning him in fact about talks with North Korea. And also talking trade. What is being said about that trip back in Tokyo?
ANNA STEWART, PRODUCER, CNN: Yes. Well, you know, to give it some context this was a crucial trip really for Abe. Politically he's really weak here in Japan, he's facing a number of corruption allegations, very low approval ratings and there have been protests in the tens of thousands just in the last week in Tokyo.
So, it's really important that he won some political points on this trip. And you know, he's done pretty well. Firstly on North Korea, Trump assured him, made a promise in front of all the reporters that he would take Japan's interest on North Korea to any discussion.
Now those aren't necessarily the same as other countries. One of them is the issue of Japanese abductees held in North Korea now for decades. It's a real crucial issue here in Japan, and of course, the security of Japan itself.
And then on trade, this was more of a mixed bag. So, Japan remains not on the exemption list for Japan in the aluminum tariffs which he thought it might get an exemption here.
However, he hasn't been push, Abe has not push into a bilateral free trade agreement. That is what Trump really wanted to achieve I think to have a really good political win for himself that Abe managed to push back slightly on that. They've open up a dialogue on free talks of making trade freer, fairer, easier, but that's the far-cry from a bilateral deal.
And then on TPP, this was fascinating. We had such a turnaround from Donald Trump in the last week. Tuesday night, saying that he really wasn't interested on Twitter. And in the statement today, saying, well, if the deal was significantly better maybe he would be open to it. So, perhaps, Abe manage to persuade him to come back to TPP. So that could be seen as a win as well.
The question is, is all of this really enough to sort of sail the ship back home. Abe has got a lot to deal with when he gets off that plane.
CHURCH: He must certainly does. Anna Stewart, with that assessment, joining us with a live report from Tokyo. We appreciate that.
Well, senior U.S. officials tell CNN President Trump personally made the decision to cool off new sanctions on Russia. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley announce the plans on Sunday, but the White House back pedaled the next day with economic advisor Larry Kudlow, saying Haley might have been confused. Topic came up again Wednesday with President Trump saying he'll hit Russia with more sanctions when they deserve it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There's been nobody tougher on Russia than President Donald Trump. Between building up the military, between creating tremendous vast amounts of oil. We raise billions and billions of dollars extra in NATO.
We had a very, very severe -- we were talking about it a little while -- fight in Syria recently a month ago between our troops and Russian troops, and it's very sad but many people died in that fight.
[03:10:04] There has been nobody tougher than me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: It is unclear when an inspection team will be able to verify whether chemical weapons were used in a deadly attack in Syria. A U.N. advance security team was shot at on Tuesday in Douma near the site of an alleged attack. The U.S. says the timing of the inspection is critical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MATTIS, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We're very much aware the delay that the regime impose on that delegation, but we are also aware of how they have operated in the past to see what they have done using chemical weapons. In other words, using the pause after a strike like that to try to clean up the evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And U.S. and other western nations say the Syrian regime dropped the banned weapons on the last rebel held town in eastern Ghouta, about 75 people were killed. Syria and Russia deny a chemical attack took place.
Well, Jomana Karadsheh joins us now from Amman, Jordan. So Jomana, nearly two weeks after the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma, and still the inspection team is unable to get to the site to verify what happened and they've been shot at as just reported.
U.S. Defense Secretary we heard there James Mattis believes the delay was to allow the regime to clean up any evidence. So just how useful will this investigate (AUDIO GAP) be in the end once they do get there.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, that's the big question, Rosemary, when are they going to be able to get there and what they are going to be able to gather when they do. You know, keeping in mind this is not been a sealed type of crime scene, a very sterile kind of a crime scene. You had Russian experts who visited, you had the regime that has been also at the crime scene and they even escorted journalists, including American journalists. And all these people going to the scene of the attack before the fact-finding mission from the OPCW.
And when you talk to chemical weapons experts they say it is extremely important for them. As you know, you would expect to get there as soon as possible after an attack for a number of reasons. You know, most important when they want to try and establish what kind of chemical may have been used in an alleged attack. If it's something like chlorine, for example, which is believed to have been used in this alleged attack.
They say that traces of chlorine gas could evaporate, they could disappear within a couple of days of an attack. And we're talking about an attack that took place 12 days ago. And if this was a nerve agent, for example, like western governments believe that sarin may have also been used in the attack, that could, traces of that could linger in the area for a couple of years.
Another very important thing, Rosemary, why they need to get there as soon as possible is of course a concern when it comes to tampering with evidence and compromising the scene. And so far, it is really unclear when the OPCW fact-finding mission is going to make it to Douma. CHURCH: Yes. Unclear when but if history is our guide when might this chemical weapons team be allowed access to the site in Douma. And what are you learning about the people who were affected by this attack.
KARADSHEH: You know, it's very difficult to tell, Rosemary, when they are going to get access. You know, there are several factors here when it comes to logistics and permission. We believe they have these permissions as we've heard from the director general of the OPCW, then you have the security situation on the ground, allowing them to enter the area and spend some time there.
And as you mentioned earlier, their advanced security team on Tuesday when they're carrying out that reconnaissance mission to try and inspect the site ahead of the arrival of the OPCW fact-finding mission, they came under fire one of these locations and also an explosive device was detonated. But as we understand no one was hurt.
We need to keep in mind what the scope of the mission of this OPCW fact-finding mission is going to be. It's not to assign blame. They need to establish the fact of whether an attack took place and what chemical was used, so they do need to get there as soon as possible and it's unclear when that's going to happen.
When you're talking about what people there are saying, you know, Rosemary, activists and medical workers that we were speaking to right after the attack were warning that this area is now going to be under the control of the regime. It's going to be very difficult to get, you know, the accounts, the honest accounts, as they say, from people who are there in the area right now because they might feel that they are intimidated. They feel that they're scared of speaking freely in an area that is under control of the regime.
[03:15:05] These are people who have been living for years until rebel control and they've decided to stay in this area even after the regime took control. So it's very difficult to verify from people what really happened.
And since the attack took place, Rosemary, there have been so many different stories competing narratives conspiracy theories from both sides here blaming each other for the attack, and in some cases saying an attack never took place.
CHURCH: It's very hard to get to the truth of this story. Jomana Karadsheh bringing us the details from her vantage point in Amman, Jordan where it is just after 10.15 in the morning. Thank you so much.
Let's take a very short break here, but still to come, a Southwest Airlines pilot is credited with saving thousands of lives after a mid- flight engine explosion. Her name is Captain Tammie Jo Shults and we will tell you exactly how she flew them to safety.
And this.
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RICHARD BLYSTONE, FORMER CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Can I go a little farther, Mr. President, you have seen the magazine covers. No doubters saying beast of Baghdad or butcherer of Baghdad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Remembering one of the legends of journalism who were lucky enough to call a friend and a colleague.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Well, U.S. air safety inspectors have launched an investigation into the terrifying 22-minute nightmare that killed one passenger on a Southwest Airlines jet and ended with an emergency landing.
It has prompted airlines around the world to inspect their Boeing 737 planes. The Southwest flights problems started when the engine on the left wing broke in midflight. It shattered a window next to passenger Jennifer Riordon, who died from her injuries.
An investigator explained how difficult it was to land the plane after the accident occurred.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT SUMWALT, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: The aircraft began a rapid uncommanded left roll for about 41 degrees of right angle. So usually when you're flying on an airline you get rarely go about 20, 25 degrees of bank, this went over 41 degrees. The pilot's level for the wings and throughout the rest of the flight there was one I'm going to describe is a fair amount of vibration throughout the airframe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And the woman who was at the controls Captain Tammie Jo Shults is being hailed a hero. She is a former Navy fighter pilot who managed to land the damage plane.
Our Alex Marquardt has more on her flight record.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
TAMMIE JO SHULTS, PILOT, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: Yes, we have part of the aircraft missing so we're going to need to slow down a bit.
(END VOICE CLIP)
[22:20:01] ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Not a hint of nerves in the voice of Captain Tammie Jo Shults as she radioed in the emergency to the control tower.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
SHULTS: OK, could you have the medical medics there on the runway as well, we've got injured passengers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Injured passengers? OK. And are you -- is your airplane physically on fire.
SHULTS: No, it's not on fire but part of it is missing. They say there's a hole and someone went up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: With engine one blown up, smoke billowed into the cabin, yelling, screaming. The oxygen masks dropping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTY MARTINEZ, PASSENGER, SOUTHWEST AIRLINE: I truly thought that these were going to be my last moments on earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Marty Martinez had no idea that amid the chaos calm and collected 56-year-old Shults was actually guiding the plane in for a landing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: We're all freaking out, you know, thinking, you know, wondering if we were going to make it home to our loved ones or not, but I just feel so lucky to have some with that type of experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Shults' experience, Martinez soon learned is deep and groundbreaking. As a teenager growing up in a ranch in New Mexico she wanted to fly in the Air Force but was told there were no female pilots. So she tried the Navy. After waiting a year she got in. One of the first women to be a naval aviator. Saying in a book, "I had finally broken in to the flight club."
Women were barred from combat so she became an instructor, eventually selected again one of the first women to train on the coveted FA-18 Hornet fighter jet. By the time Shults retired from the Navy she'd reach the rank of lieutenant commander.
So, on Tuesday morning, when the last engine blew out, it's a little surprise she showed no fear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, AVIATION CONTRIBUTOR, CNN: Compared to her previous experiences is one of the first female F-18 fighter pilots carrier based I suspect this was one walking depart for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Shults' extraordinary landings quickly compared to the miracle on the Hudson Captain Sully Sullenberger lost both of his engines but could rely on his plane's automatic systems to keep the plane under control. Captain Shults had no automatic help bringing the plane down manually.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: They drill this over and over again. So this becomes ingrained in their memories, their muscle memory. It becomes almost routine for them and in the case of Tammie Jo Shults it was evident that that training just came right through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: That historic training now being credited by Martinez and the other surviving passengers for getting them to the ground safely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: I tell her that, you know, thank you for giving me a second chance on life. Now I walked in and I take these breaths and I feel like I'm going to move forward with this new found sense of purpose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Truly heroic effort on her part. And that was our Alexander Markquardt reporting there from New York.
Over decades, our colleague and friend Richard Blystone brought the world to us, whether it was the Gulf War of the slaughter in Rwanda. His reporting drew us in and made us pay attention. And that maybe the greatest legacy a journalist can leave.
Richard died earlier this week. He was 81.
Christiane Amanpour remembers a CNN original.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: If hell had a national park, it would look like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST, CNN: From the burning oil fields of Kuwait to the killing fields of Cambodia. If the narrative of news had a poet laureate it was this man, Richard Blystone. Word seems small for a person who looms so large.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: So we flew over oceans of Civil War when we came down we walk through the islands of misery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Who always had the right turn of phrase to explain the unfathomable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: The sharp angles of the starving reflect the implacable geometry of their predicament. They tether on a knife edge of survival that does not take much to tip the balance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: To make the seemingly Monday meaningful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: The conformity, the blind obedience, the numbing routine, the regulation, the herd mentality, the barriers shackles of feathers of curved. The obliteration of individuality. What a neat symbol of life and work under communism, just find yourself a bottle in plant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: And to make the apparently insignificant consequential.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: A long way from Berlin, John F. Kennedy would come to this wall to boost spirits by declaring Ich bin Ein medley writer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Elmira, New York was where Blystone started his life. The Associated Press is where he started his journalism career reporting the Civil Rights movement and later the War in Vietnam and it's there he started his family. Risking his own life to save someone else's when he rescued A.P.'s Cambodia newsman, Chaay-Born Lay, along with his wife and children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:25:06] BLYSTONE: When this cast was filled Jimmy Carter was president of the United States.
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AMANPOUR: Blystone joined CNN in 1980, just before this pioneering network went on the air, becoming one of the so-called originals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: As for the gas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: A true original who witnessed seismic events at the end of the millennium and showed us what most couldn't see and stood up to men others feared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BLYSTONE: Can I go a little farther, Mr. President. You have seen the magazine covers, now doubters say beast of Baghdad or butcherer of Baghdad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: The best of colleagues Richard was wedded to the truth and he knew how to find it in everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: And Marion Gaberik (Ph) knows not only the thrill of catching something but the pleasure of setting something free.
Freedom of thoughts, freedom of speech, freedom of worship to the freedom to go down to the river and fish and rankle with those, well, maybe it does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Following the collapse of communism, he traveled thousands of miles along the old Iron Curtain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: An Iron Curtain Churchill had it right. Not only it wasn't meant to keep the Germans from one another but to blind them from what was going on with one another.
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AMANPOUR: Not afraid to play the fool or show the foolish side of the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: I got the shop right here, the better is all reveal and they would all bet (Inaudible) if they have a beer. I can't do. I can't do. The loss has the shop. I can't do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: And remembering those who should never be forgotten.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: All imperfections past they march now in foughtless order keeping the hard-won heights over Omaha Beach, a field of pattern leaving their many origins into their common destiny.
A field that was then so far from tranquil. Nine thousand Americans have earned the place they rest but their marble Requiem would be sterile as stone if it didn't belong as well to all who come or are led here. Burning cling of what it was like a grasp of what it was full. For the dead they're all one nation.
As soon as the place of prying eyes now--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: CNN's own poet laureate leaves a world of mourning friends, followers, and colleagues, but we will always have his words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLYSTONE: My side in Modlareuth is in Thuringia state, your side is in Bavaria. Walls crumble and fall. Bureaucracy is forever.
Richard Blystone, CNN, Modlareuth, Germany.
Beirut, Paris, Lockerbie, Amsterdam, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leon, Bond (Ph), Iraq, Northern Iraq, Kuwait, West Germany, East Germany, Elton, England, Loch Ness, Wales, Belfast, Dublin, Sarajevo, Tuzla Airbase, Christian (Inaudible). From Marsaxlokk Bay in Malta. Mogadishu. From Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Richard Blystone, CNN, London.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, HOST, CNN: A very warm welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church. Let's update you now in the main stories we've been following this hour.
Donald Trump says he's looking forward to meeting Kim Jong-un, but is not afraid to walk out if things are not going his way. Mr. Trump says his main focus is for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. He's predicting the summit will be a worldwide success.
It's unclear when an international fact-finding mission will be able to travel to Duma, Syria to determine whether deadly chemical weapons were used there. An advanced U.N. security data was shot at on Tuesday. The U.S. and its allies accuse the Syrian regime of using the band weapons earlier this month to attack the last rebel held town in Eastern Ghouta, 75 people were killed. Syria and Russia denied the claim.
Well, the U.S. and North Korea have yet to decide on the date or the place for the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, but the president seems to have high expectations. He talked about his plans at a news conference with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was looking out for his country's interest with regard to North Korea. Mr. Abe says Pyongyang shouldn't be rewarded just for starting a dialogue with the U.S. He says he and President Trump agree they must keep maximum pressure on the north.
Let's turn now to our Paula Hancocks, who is standing by in South Korea live from Seoul. Good to see you, Paula. So, South Korea is preparing for its summit with North Korea. How are those preparations progressing and what are the expectations there?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, the expectations from (inaudible) that really this is the guidepost for the next summit, the one with Trump and Kim Jong-un. We've heard from the South Korean President Moon Jae-in today. He was speaking to domestic reporters, saying that it was going to be a milestone to open up meeting nuclearization (ph), to stop the process.
Certainly, there is a feeling in this country that this one should go well, but the important one is going to be the one with the U.S. as well. They're very well aware that if the U.S. is not on board, that it doesn't matter how much the North and South Koreans talk. But they're making some very deliberate preparations for that meeting up at the DMZ, the first time a North Korean leader is going to come to South Korea. We know that there have been renovations that are underway, a hotline between the two leaders is about to be opened in the next day or so. And they let us go up to the DMZ yesterday or Wednesday to see the final preparations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: This is the Truce Village in Panmunjon. And it is where the upcoming summit between the North and South Korean leaders will be held, the first one in more than a decade. Now, we will be seeing a North Korean leader crossing the border into South Korea for the first time ever. Now, potentially, that could happen just hear. You see that lit of concrete, just in the distance there, that is the actual border, that's the MDL, the Military Demarcation Line.
Kim Jong-un could potentially step over that. If he does, he is in the history books. Now, the South Korean presidential office appreciates how significant this is. They say that they're going to try and broadcast that moment live, because it is so historic.
Now, of course, Kim Jong-un might decide to drive. We simply don't know, at this point, but this would be the most dramatic image. So, this is one of the conference rooms where talks have been held in the past. And it is a truly neutral point. Part of this building is in fact in South Korea, and the other half is in North Korea.
Now, recent discussions have been held on both sides of the border, not specifically in here. This is one of the tourist favorite places to come though, because once you pass this middle point, they can say, I'm in North Korea.
This is the peace (inaudible). It's about 200 meters also from the MDL, the actual border. And it is the building where Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in will be meeting on April 27. Now, we're told we're not allowed inside, because renovations are ongoing. They want to look its best for the occasion.
[03:35:03] But quite frankly, every time I come to the DMZ, you're never even allowed to film this building. So that is a new development. Now, from their point of view, they say that they see this summit as a guidepost to the next summit, the one between Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Now, the official agenda for this summit that would be held here is denuclearization. But of course, both sides could see that denuclearization in very different ways. Now, also, they'll be talking about how to secure peace in the Peninsula, how to improve relations between North and South Korea. But from their point of view, they say this will be the perfect chance to asses North Korea's willingness to denuclearize. And of course, whether or not the U.S. will guarantee the conditions in return.
Now, what they're hoping is that this particular summit is not that full of ceremony that you saw from the previous two summits, when the South Korean leader at that time went north to Pyongyang and really gave them a propaganda gift, showing just how ceremonial those summits were.
They want very few protocols, they wanted it to be practical, they wanted to not be a one-off. They want to make sure, they say, that at least two or three summits this year alone. We got hotlines between the two leaders, which is expected to be ready in the next day or so. They will use it before they meet next Friday, so Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in will be having a phone call before they actually meet in person. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. All that has to happen now is for Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to settle on a location for their summit. And everything should go smoothly. All right. Many thanks to Paul Hancocks joining us there live from Seoul.
An American woman is telling her story of living under ISIS rule in Syria. Right now, she is in Kurdish detention with her four children, their future uncertain. But what brought her to this point began in the Midwestern United States with her marriage to a Moroccan national. Nick Paton Walsh picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A story of how an Indiana family went from a life of sports cars and the delivery business, to joining ISIS and to see their son here, the face of ISIS propaganda against America is one of mystery, compassion, and animal savagery that stretches belief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I saw was a bunch of drug-using selves (ph) that came their countries who had no place.
WALSH: Sally 32, Matthew 10, and Sarah (ph) aged 5, and her youngest 2, born in the so-called ISIS caliphate, now in Syrian custody, in limbo, and whether they go home or not depends in part on how well Sam explains her innocence and the four-year-old deal behind them. Their story begins with a vacation to Turkey that led to a border town where she says she was cute (ph) to crossing ISIS' world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There would be people here simply don't believe you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can believe whatever they want to believe, but they've never been put in a situation to make a decision like that.
WALSH: At the ISIS border crossing, she says she faced an impossible choice. Her husband grabbed little Sara (ph) while she has Matthew.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The position I was in was to stay there with my son or watch my daughter leave with my husband. And I had to make a decision. I thought, like I said, we could just walk across the border and we could come back again.
WALSH: She chose to keep the family together. But it's hard to believe Sam didn't ever realized what she was getting into. It was also when the gentle comforts of her marriage ended and her husband, Mussa (ph), could never even seem to (inaudible) in America, became an abusive monster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before, he used to spoil me. I love you. I mean, we were very much in love. The romance never left. As soon as we came here, it was completely different. Everything was completely different. I was a dog, I had no choice, it was extremely violent.
WALSH: Mussa (ph) travelled a lot to fight. He beats Sam at home, but still had two more children with her, which is quite why part of the stifling twist of a clearly abusive relationship may remain in locked inside Sam (ph) along with exactly what she knew and when about Mussa's (ph) radicalization.
Remarkably, Mussa (ph) suggested they buy slaves. Some of these girls captured by ISIS in 2014, they spent $20,000 on two teenage girls, (Inaudible) and a younger boy (inaudible) to keep her company, she says and rescue the slaves to a better life. Yet, Mussa (ph) repeatedly raped the girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I met (Inaudible), I couldn't -- I couldn't think about money, like I would have spent every dollar I had on her to bring her.
WALSH: But it turned out that she was repeatedly raped by your husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is true. But in every house that she was in before, that was the same situation, but she didn't have the support of someone like me.
WALSH: Do you now not regret enabling that serial rape?
[03:40:04] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, because it would've been worse if anybody else. And no, no one will ever, ever be able to imagine what it's like to watch their husband rape a 14-year-old girl, ever. And then, she comes to you, comes to me after crying. And I hold her and tell her, it's going to be OK, everything is going to be fine, just be patient.
I would never apologize for bringing those girls to my house. We knew that if we were just patient, we would stick through it together, you understand? I was like their mother.
WALSH: Astonishingly, (inaudible) sends this message from a refugee camp confirming Sam's (ph) kindness and how Sam (ph) was beaten black and blue, as she tries to protect her from Mussa (ph). I'm doing well with my family, she says. And I want to see you even
just once more. Let me know what I can do to get you out.
But the terror did not stop there. Matthew, (inaudible) of Sam's first marriage to an American soldier, with a priced cast member to an ISIS film shoot.
How did Matthew feel to be in that film? I recognize him from it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was not my choice. I ended up with two broken ribs over that video. I thought -- I thought --
WALSH: What do you remember of that day, Matthew?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was hard. I didn't want to do it. He would hit me and he would stress me.
WALSH: Mussa (ph) died in a drone strike late last year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was able to breathe. I was like, OK, we can start phase two.
WALSH: Tens of thousands fled the siege, but Sam said she only felt safe for the very end, leaving with these last hundreds of ISIS given passage out.
The FBI hasn't viewed them, but there are no charges yet or tickets back home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One evening, Donald (ph), and you know, we want to live a normal life for us again.
WALSH: Instead, now, she is surely reliving her decisions over and over again. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Northern Syria.
CHURCH: Just horrifying.
Well, seven months after Hurricane Maria smashed into Puerto Rico, most of the island is once again without electricity. The power failure is being blamed on a subcontractor that was operating a piece of equipment too close to a main transmission line. Passenger trains was stopped dead in their tracks.
About 75 percent of almost 1.5 million customers don't have power. Utility officials say repairs will take days. Puerto Rico's recovery from Hurricane Maria has been very slow. The island's electrical grid was wiped out by the storm. The government says the subcontractor has caused two power failures and should be let go.
For the first time in nearly 60 years, a member of the Castro family wants to speak to Cuba's President. Ronald Castro is to step down in the coming hours and a new leader has been nominated to replace him. We will have the details next.
Plus, Britain's former prime minister defends his decision to hold the Brexit vote, even though it cost him his job. And the little boy with a simple question when we come back, why that question is international news.
[03:45:01] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Well, David Cameron has had almost two years to think about the Brexit vote that cost him his job as Britain's Prime Minister. One might expect that he regrets the decision to hold that referendum, but that is not the case. He told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, giving voters the chance to weigh in on Brexit was the right thing to do, even if the outcome was not what he wanted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITAIN PRIME MINISTER: Brexit is a huge event in our country's history. I don't regret holding a referendum. I think it was the right thing to do. I don't think you can belong to these organizations and see their powers grow, treaty after treaty, and power after power, going from Westminster to Brussels and never asking the people whether they're happy governed in that way.
But I haven't changed my mind about the results of the referendum. I wish the vote had gone another way. I think we've taken the wrong course. But to be frank, you know, Britain is the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world. It is a legitimate choice to try and be a friend and a neighbor, and a partner of the European Union, rather than a member of the European Union.
And that's what the country has chosen. I accept a result. I wish my successor well in the work she's doing. I know as being prime minister, it is a hard enough job without your predecessor giving your own commentary. And that's why I haven't been giving -
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST, CNN: All the things you just said to me about the successes that you've done, the changes, and the transformations, are you worried that this will be what people will remember you for?
CAMERON: Well, I think people will make up their own minds. I obviously believe that I was right to hold a referendum. I made a promise to British people, I kept that promise. The point I would make is that people say it was all about politics. And of course, there is always politics involved in these decisions, but there was also, I believe, a fundamental problem that Britain had, and that Britain was seeing with the development of a single currency, the beginning of decisions being made about us without us. And we needed to fix opposition.
I wanted to fix it inside European Union. The British public chose that we will fix it from outside the European Union. And I wish my successor well with her work in being what I hope will be a good and friendly and close neighbor to the European Union, for all those who were -- perhaps we were slightly reluctant and sometimes unhappy tenant. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And you can watch the entire interview with David Cameron at CNN.com. Take a look at that.
Well, it is the end of an era in Cuba. Raul Castro is stepping down as president, ending almost 60 years that he or his brother, Fidel, were heads of state. Mr. Castro is expected to be replaced by First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel who was nominated by Cuba's National Assembly. This video shows both leaders casting votes in that election.
Meantime, it is still an open question just how much power Mr. Diaz Canel would actually have since Mr. Castro is expected to leave Cuba's Communist Party until at least 2021. Patrick Oppmann has more now on the historic power shift.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are long lines for just about everything in Cuba, but usually don't see top Cuban officials waiting in them, except when Cuban first vice president Miguel Diaz Canel, cued up alongside residents in his hometown of Santa Clara to vote in a single party parliamentary elections in March.
Diaz Canel who many expect to succeed Raul Castro as president on April 19, many have been trying to show a common touch that has been missing as of late from Cuba's leaders. Even though he would be the first Cuban head of state, born after the revolution, in his carefully scripted remarks, Diaz Canel sounds like Cuba's older generation that has held on the power for the last six decades.
We are defending our process, we are defending a revolution, he says, which continue to be threatened, which continues to be attacked.
After Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, he became not only Cuba's head of state, but also the first secretary of the ruling Communist Party and top general of Cuba's Armed Forces. Titles of Fidel eventually turned over to his younger brother, Raul, after he nearly died from a mystery illness in 2006. Now, Raul Castro is 86 and ready to transfer power to a handpicked successor.
[03:50:01] Diaz Canel isn't enough start for an improvisation, Raul Castro said in 2013, his trajectory has lasted nearly 30 years. During the years, he worked his way up to Communist Party hierarchy in Cuba's provinces. Diaz Canel earned a reputation as an efficient administrator, nothing interested in the limelight.
In a rough and tumbled world of Cuban politics, showing any ambition can be the kiss of death to one's career. Many of Miguel Diaz Canel's contemporaries were sidelined after they lost the faith of the Castros. If Diaz Canel does become the next president of Cuba, it maybe in part simply because he survived longer than the competition.
Still almost no one expects Diaz Canel to run the whole show. Raul Castro is expected to remain head of the Cuban Communist Party until at least 2021. And it is unlikely that Diaz Canel who has little military experience will head Cuba's powerful Armed Forces. Unlike the Castros, Diaz Canel could have a harder time imposing his will on various factions within the Cuban government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my time, when Raul said something, I would do it, even if I had second thoughts. Is that's how the younger generation and Diaz Canel is going to react to what Diaz Canel says?
OPPMANN: And that could mean another first for Cuba, a president who need to form alliances to stay in power. Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.
CHURCH: A touching moment this week outside Rome, Pope Francis was talking to a group of children when a young boy named Emmanuel (ph) came to the microphone with a question. Now, at first, the child froze and with tears in his eyes struggled to speak. The Pope motioned for him to come forward. He did and whispered his question.
You see, the boy's father was atheist and had recently died, but he made sure that his four children were baptized. Emmanuelle's (ph) question simple but powerful, was his father in heaven.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS (through translator): Emmanuel (ph) has the doubt that his dad not being a believer to not go to heaven. It is God who decides who goes to heaven. But how is God's heart in front of a father like that, what you think, a dad's heart, God has a dad's heart. Surely, God was proud of your father, because it is easier to baptize children when you believe in God and when you do not believe in God. And God loves this for sure. Speak to your dad, pray for your dad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And then, the Pope asked the group, would God abandon a father like Emmanuel's (ph). The children shouted no, God would not abandon him. The (inaudible) group to Emmanuel (ph) and said, there's your answer. All right. It is time pause right now.
Still to come, politicians in Washington may be thinking twice about taking on Nikki Haley. One news anchor has advice on dealing with the U.S. ambassador.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a little spare time, maybe a parasol with a bit of shade available, and you were thinking of putting on Nikki Haley. Oh, oh, don't do it. I say no. I say look at available evidence, and decide against it. No shade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The desert town of Victorville in California is dealing with a serious invasion of tumbleweeds. It looks like something out of the Wild, Wild West. Strong winds blew in lots of the prickly plants. One resident said the neighbor was trapped in his home for two hours because the weeds blocked his front door and garage.
[03:55:13] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is just flying like it is a tornado yesterday. And it was just falling from that side to this side, this side to this side.
CHURCH: The workers use pitchforks and heavy equipment to get rid of all the weeds.
Well, out of the many mixed messages coming out of the White House on U.S. policy toward Russia comes one crystal-clear response to an attempt to lay blame. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley sharp rebuttal is having a moment. Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was Ambassador Nikki Haley's comment of a quote streaking from anchored away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With all due respect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't get confused.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't get confused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't get confused.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With all the respect.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't get confused.
MOOS: One commentator tweeted it was the greatest feminist declarative statement ever, even if she did spell declarative wrong, so bad ass, said that another #Idon'tgetconfused could be a 2020 campaign slogan, tweeted someone else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the greatest shame quotes in modern politics.
MOOS: The U.N. ambassador threw shade after the administration's top economic advisor Larry Kudlow suggested she was behind the curve on Russian sanctions policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There might have been some momentary confusion about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't get confused, end quote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nikki Haley punching back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A stunning stiffed arm (ph) to the White House.
MOOS: Nikki Haley spits hot fire, read one headline, with all due respect, even Haley opponents are showing respect for I don't get confused, I don't like Nikki Haley's politics, but I like her back bone, tweeted an admiring critic of the feisty U.N. ramp.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who does this? Only a monster does this.
MOOS: Already, I don't get confused has joined the ranks of feminist floor like she persisted and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is claiming my time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several times that we were doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is claiming my time.
MOOS: Maybe Haley wasn't the greatest political shade quote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, you're no Kennedy.
MOOS: But amazingly, it earned -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't get confused.
MOOS: Ahead, caught in two raised eyebrows from a normally poker- faced Wolf Blitzer. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Not the last we've heard of that. And thanks for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. The news continues with Max Foster in London. Have a great day.
