Kerry Arrives in Seoul; North Korea's Nuclear Capabilities
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nuclear crisis in Korea. Secretary of State John Kerry on the ground in the South right now as U.S. intelligence suggests the North may indeed have the power to make good on its threats.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Explosives mailed to the man who called himself America's toughest sheriff. Was this a plot to take out Joe Arpaio?</s>BERMAN: Nature's raw power caught on camera. New this morning word of more storm deaths with the threat continuing at this hour. Look at that.</s>ROMANS: And fight on the field, benches clear in San Diego after one of baseball's best pitchers out of action for weeks.</s>BERMAN: That was a nutty fight.</s>ROMANS: Wow. Good morning, welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Zoraida is off today.</s>BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is Friday. Friday.</s>ROMANS: Friday.</s>BERMAN: April 12th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East. And happening right now, Secretary of State John Kerry touching down overnight in Seoul trying to diffuse the missile crisis on the Koreaan Peninsula just hours after the dramatic and unexpected revelation that some U.S. intelligence sources believe that North Korea has the technology to make a nuclear weapon and put it on a missile. With so much at stake, Kerry will make three stops on this trip, Beijing and Tokyo are up next. And the secretary of state is expected to lean very hard on China to help rein in the North Koreans. Here's Kyung Lah.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Secretary Kerry is in Seoul this morning. It's a trip that's being built as a getting-to-know-you trip. But he is getting to work very very, quickly because there is a lot on his plate, it is a whirlwind 18-hour tour in South Korea. He has already met with top U.S. commanders in the region, he's already met with the president of South Korea and he is now on his way to meet with the foreign minister. He has a two-part mission here. First, it will be to reassure South Korea that the United States will protect the country, that they are bound by treaty and that they are important allies, but the other is to seek some sort of diplomatic off-ramp with North Korea, to try to send that message to try to find a new solution to an old and what is recently become a more threatening problem in this region. From here he will head to Beijing and Tokyo throughout this region. What will follow him is this Pentagon intelligence assessment that North Korea may be able to deliver a nuclear weapon via ballistic missile, a very stunning report, especially for the United States and this region. Kyung Lah, CNN, Seoul.</s>ROMANS: Let's go now to the Pentagon for new details on that intelligence assessment of North Korea's nuclear capabilities. Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence joins us now. Chris, it appears the Obama administration attempting to do some serious damage control over the release yesterday of that information.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's right, Christine. I mean, just this morning a U.S. official was saying that they do not believe that North Korea is as far along in their nuclear program as was suggested in that first assessment. This is coming after the director of National Intelligence had to put out a statement late last night basically saying this was one assessment in that other intelligence agencies didn't necessarily come to the same conclusion. But I think the bottom line is North Korea has clearly moved the ball and is continuing to make progress.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They demonstrated their willingness to invest in missile technologies in violation of their international obligations. And we do think that over time they might develop a greater capability.</s>LAWRENCE: The one thing that the assessment does say is that the North Koreans still have problems with reliability. That means when you push the button, does that particular missile actually fire and can you hit what you're aiming for?</s>ROMANS: All right. Do we have any more information, Chris, this morning on how that piece of information got declassified?</s>LAWRENCE: Yes, this is what you don't see publicly, Christine, and a Defense official told me basically that this was a mistake. And another official told CNN that normally in a classified report like this you don't see one sentence of a classified report unclassified. Again, they are saying it was a mistake on their part. They are not blaming Congressman Doug Lamborn, but he says, look, he felt it's something the American people need to know.</s>REP. DOUG LAMBORN (R), COLORADO: And I do that properly in that this was declassified, whether it was a mistake or not, I can't answer that, but this is -- given the seriousness of the threat, Anderson, this is something that I think people do need to know about.</s>LAWRENCE: Yes, again, he put in the word out. And again, the officials here saying it was a mistake -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: , So, Chris, what about the weapons that we do know North Korea has, how long of a range do they have? Give us a little sense of what we know they do have.</s>LAWRENCE: We know they've got missiles, some of them have been tested and proven to work, others haven't. Take a look at this map. Basically they've got Scud missiles, they got the Nodong, those can reach, you know, 500 to 1,000 kilometers. We believe that they have missiles that can reach as far as Japan, they tested missiles that can go a lot further, but those tests haven't been successful. Take a look at this other map, the Musudan missile that is believed to be the subject of this launch, that may have the ability to reach Guam but again it has never been tested -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right. Chris Lawrence, thanks. And, you know, we're awaiting a press conference live from Secretary Kerry live from Seoul. We're going to bring that to you when it happens.</s>BERMAN: New this morning, explosives mail to a controversial Arizona sheriff. Authorities in Flagstaff intercepted a suspicious package addressed to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix. The test confirmed the package did have black powder. Experts blew it up, no one was hurt, now they're trying to figure out who sent this package. Arpaio has received many threats for his controversial and outspoken ways. The government sue him for allegedly for violating the civil rights of Latinos.</s>ROMANS: New this morning in Colorado, 31-year-old Thomas Guolee is under arrest in connection with the murder of state prison chief Tom Clements. Police took him into custody as a person of interest. Clements was shot to death at his home last month. Guolee is said to be an associate of Evan Eel or Evan Eel, rather, the suspected gunman.</s>BERMAN: New developments this morning in the Senate where a debate on gun control legislation is underway. Sixteen Republicans joined Democrats in pushing aside a filibuster that attempted to stop debate from taking place. A number of senators, both Democrat and Republican, thank relatives of the victims of the Connecticut school massacre for lobbying senators to at least bring legislation to the Senate floor for discussion.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Darkness, 20 years when it comes to gun control. Darkness. The lies, the misinformation, and when people see you, it means much more than when they hear me or anybody else. So we've made a huge difference.</s>BERMAN: The amendments that will be debated include expanding background checks on gun buyer, separate amendments on banning assault weapons and also banning high-capacity magazines.</s>ROMANS: Another day, another record high for the Dow and the S&P; 500. The Dow now within reach of 15,000. Yesterday the final official closing numbers, 14865, that's two record-high finishes in the last two days for the blue chip. The S&P; 500 also closing at an all-time high yesterday now less than seven points from the 1600 mark. But the bulls could be taking a breather this morning. The Dow, the NASDAQ and S&P; 500 futures for those all pointing lower this morning. It signals a possible pause at the Opening Bell.</s>BERMAN: All right. Brace yourself, baseball fans, it's a very costly bench-clearing brawl during last night's Dodgers/Padres game in San Diego. Yes, take a look at this. That's Zach Greinke, the $147 million right-hander, he hit Carlos Quentin with a pitch. Greinke says something, you see Quentin charging the mound.</s>ROMANS: Whoa.</s>BERMAN: Greinke breaks his left collarbone in this process here. That's really, really bad for a pitcher. Once the order was restored, Greinke was unable to continue. Not clear how much the pitcher will have to sit out, how much time he will use. He won the Cy Young in 2009. One of the best pitchers in baseball. Here's a little subtext here. It's the third time that Greinke has hit Carlos Quentin over the years.</s>ROMANS: Oh really?</s>BERMAN: They have a little bit of bad blood there. Still, you know, you don't charge the mound with a bat. He did drop the bat, but not many people are looking on Carlos Quentin's actions fondly right now.</s>ROMANS: Wow, look at that.</s>BERMAN: Again the third time, the third time, Greinke has hit Quentin over the years. So he's never hit anyone as much as he's hit Carlos Quentin. That's some more history right there.</s>ROMANS: All right. Round one of the Masters is in the books. Four- time champ Tiger Woods posting a respectable two under par 70. He's lurking four strokes off the lead. How about 14-year-old Chinese phenom here, Tianlang Guan. Five bogeys and four birdies in his first competitive round of Augusta for an impressive one-over par 73. He's ahead of last year's champ, Bubba Watson. Here's your leaderboard after 18 holes. Spain's Sergio Garcia and Australian Mark Leishman on top at six under. One shot better than American Dustin Johnson and tied for fourth the 1992 Masters champ, 53-year-old fan favorite Freddie Couples.</s>BERMAN: Couples looked awesome yesterday. You know, a lot of players had some really, really low scores yesterday. Tiger was fine but he left a lot of shot out there. He could have been doing a lot better than he actually is.</s>ROMANS: You're sports consumption --</s>BERMAN: I have all afternoon to watch the golf now.</s>ROMANS: And we are awaiting a news conference our of South Korea. Secretary of State John Kerry to talk to reporters in Seoul amid rising tensions with the North. We'll be right back.