January 11th, 2013

Bill Richardson: North Korea is hostile, unpredictable; Schmidt a “rock star there”

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson describes his trip to North Korea emphasizing that it’s best for as many people as possible to engage in foreign policy, not just “officials in the State Department.” Richardson went with Google’s Eric Schmidt to discuss missile activity, detained American Kenneth Bae and internet openness.

Richardson says, “Kenneth Bae is way up in the northern part of the country. It was not accessible to us, but we made the point very strongly that he should be treated properly. We were assured that the judicial proceedings on his case would happen soon. That’s sometimes a good sign because it means it may be wrapping up and hopefully, he’ll be released. But, you know, nobody had been — we do have a Swedish representative there. We don’t have representatives in North Korea, advocating for him.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.