milder stair to the west. colder out towards the east despite the sunshine. taking you through monday evening and the first part of tuesday, notice how we expect to see fog forming. really quite extensively, even at this range. we're giving you a heads up on tuesday, lots of fog around in many locations. locations. hello. this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines at liz30pm. six people have died in a serious crash on one of birmingham's main roads. police say it's too early to speculate on the cause of the crash. the government wants to lower the age for automatic enrolment in company pension schemes from 22 to 18, in a move to offer more people financial security in retirement. "serious doubts" over military savings — mps warn the ministry of defence will struggle to pay for newjets, warships and armoured vehicles. prince harry has interviewed the former us president, barack obama, as part of his guest editorship of the today programme on radio 4. now on bbc news, as the standoff

between the trump administration and north korea's kimjong—un continues, rupert wingfield—hayes assesses the significance of the military preparations and the rhetoric on both sides. in south korea, the us air force is practising for war with the north. president trump is now threatening to erase north korea from the map. we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. kimjong—un is responding with ever bigger and more powerful missiles and nuclear tests. the us is moving ships and aircraft to the korean peninsula in ever greater shows of military might. are we now on the road to war or is president trump in danger

of starting a war he doesn't want? this could go had very very quickly. and it could go very had very, very quickly. 0k, we've just been told to put our goggles on. the plane is descending fast. i think that's the signal we are about to go on board. this is the scary bit. ok, that's the signal. and we're down. off the coast of south korea, three giant american super carriers are sailing together.

this is an extremely rare sight. they've been ordered here by president trump in the biggest show of naval might in this region for over a decade. the last time anything like this was seen in the western pacific was ten years ago. here off the korean peninsula, no one can really remember. this is a raw expression of america's military muscle. and for president trump it is a message being sent to pyongyang that if it doesn't come to the negotiating table this is potentially what it faces. on board these ships are more than 200 combat aircraft. so what does it mean to have three carriers out here together? well, the significance of our combat power as an american super

carrier is our striking arm of ourcarrierairwing. and we can sustain 2a hour operations for extended periods of time. however, with more than one carrier, that length of time goes out indefinitely, quite frankly, when we get to three. in other words, if called upon to do so, there is enough firepower out here to go to war, and to keep fighting day and night. this is president trump's response to what has been a year of dramatic advances by north korea. on the 28th of august, just after dawn, a long—range ballistic missile is launched from the runway of pyongyang's international airport. kim jong—un is there watching as the missile heads for space. it is the fifth missile test of 2017, but this one is different.

five minutes later and 1,500 kilometres away in northern japan, air raid sirens start blaring. this is not a drill. the north korean missile is passing right overhead. the loudspeakers order people to find shelter. it is the first time this has happened since world war ii. for months, up and down this coast, they have been practising for this. now, they're doing it for real. for a japanese generation brought up in peace and security, it's a big shock. translation: i want to protect my kids, but we don't have a basement, we have nowhere to hide.

that missile takes only ten minutes to reach japan, what can we do in ten minutes? translation: the sirens just scare people. there's nothing we can do. so what is the point? the government needs to have a real policy. five days later, kim shocks the world again. deep under a mountain near the chinese border, north korea has set off a nuclear device. pictures show the north korean dictator looking at a new peanut shaped bomb. the explosion is huge. 20 times bigger than the bomb dropped on hiroshima. at the un general assembly in new york, president trump makes his response. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. the united states is

ready, willing and able. but hopefully this will not be necessary. the united states has great strength and patience. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. speaking to the bbc, republican senator lindsay graham says this is no idle threat. i am 100% certain that if kim jong—un continues to develop missile technology, that can hit america, if diplomacy fails to stop him, there will be an attack by the united states against his weapon systems. let me tell you how the war ends, it ends with his utter destruction. before we get to that point, it might be worth trying to understand why kim jong—un seems so determined to face down america with nuclear weapons. on december 17th 2011, north korea's

long reigning dictator, kim jong—il, suddenly dies. his 30—year—old son is thrust into the leadership with virtually no experience. as he escorts his father's coffin, kim jong—un is surrounded by powerful old men. walking behind him, the most powerful of all, his uncle, jang song—thaek. today, all of these old men are either dead or in prison. in 2014, kim has his uncle hauled out of a party meeting accused of treason and executed by firing squad. kim jong—un is systematically eliminating all threats to his power.

at kuala lumpur international airport, a rotund north korean man is heading for check—in. moments later, cctv cameras catch the moment he is attacked by two young women, who wipe liquid on his face. almost immediately he starts to feel ill and seeks help. minutes later, he's unconscious, soon he will be dead. the man is kimjong—nam. kim jong—un‘s older brother. just a few metres away in this cafe, at one of those tables, four north korean men were sitting watching. all four are now wanted by malaysian authorities. one is reported to be a known

north korean security agent. after the attack here was over, they got up and headed for departures. kim jong—nam has been poisoned with vx, a rare and deadly nerve agent. almost certainly supplied by the agents sent by his younger brother. why would kim jong—un want his older brother dead? in the south korean capital, seoul, i've come to meet a man who once served in kimjong—un‘s palace guard. he describes a regime obsessed with security and paranoid about being overthrown. translation: to the kim family everyone is a potential enemy. the north korean military, the general staff, the entire north korean population. anyone who opposes kim is an enemy, even blood relatives.

this man says kim's nuclear quest is likewise about survival. and that it intensified after the overthrow of libyan dictator colonel gaddafi in 2011. the reason why the kim family is obsessed with developing nuclear weapons is to protect and maintain the regime. if the us attacks the north, it will use everything to strike back. but kim will not risk losing the regime by attacking first. kim jong—un is not stupid. nuclear weapons serve another purpose. to secure kim's own power and legitimacy. in every recent test, he has been there, personally supervising, cigarette in hand. president trump calls him

"little rocket man". but, to his own people, kim is now the leader who has taken their country into a very exclusive club. it is no small feat. the question now is can anything be done to stop him short of war, that everyone says they do not want. for us, in a way, the most important thing is not whether he's homicidal, it's whether he's suicidal. because, whether we go to war or not, it might well depend upon whether we think deterrence works, or whether we need a preventive war. because we can't fall back to deterrence. if he's not suicidal, hisjust homicidal, then i'm prepared to argue let's rely on deterrence. at kunsan airbase in south korea, the united states airforce

is practising for war with the north. i'm getting a very rare opportunity to see what that means. flying in the back seat of an f—16 fighter. up front is colonel steve tittel, callsign wolf ii. we're heading out on what they call here a red flag — simulated air—to—air combat. we're going to go ahead and we're going to engage them. 0k. ourjob will be to play a north korean intruder. up ahead, two blue team f—16s

are waiting to stop us. we're going to engage the one on the right side. wolf ii makes repeated high—g turns as he tries to get a missile lock on the defending aircraft. in the back, it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest. to stay in the air and keep fighting, thesejets need to be refuelled once every hour and a half. so we're about to go up

and top up ourfuel tank, there is a tankerjust up ahead of us here. we'll get some fuel. this is not a game. there is a very serious point. this is deterrence at work. wolf ii and his fellow pilots practice every day so that north korea knows, if it ever attacked the south, it would be

attacking the united states, too. i want to be ready because i want to send the message of deterrence, and the message of, leave us alone, you don't want to mess with us. but if you make the mistake of straying across the line, may god have mercy on the wolf pack‘s prey, because we are ready. readiness is our currency and we have money in the bank. for over 60 years, this strategy of being ready to fight tonight has kept the peace. but north korea has never had the ability to directly strike the united states — until now. on november 28th, north korea again shocks the world. in the middle of the night, it launches a new missile. this one is huge,

much more powerful than anything pyongyang has launched before. large enough to carry a nuclear warhead all the way to washington, dc. two hours later, president donald trump tries to sound calm as he absorbs the news. thank you very much. as you probably have heard, and some of you have reported, a missile was launched a little while ago from north korea. i will only tell you that we will take care of it. we have general matters in the room with us and we've had a long discussion on it. it is a situation that we will handle. in the days that follow, america's most advanced stealth fighterjets start landing at bases in south korea. it is now perhaps only months before north korea will be able to hit america with a reliable nuclear—tipped missile. former state department officials

like david straub say this fundamentally changes the equation. whether we will be content to continue just containing north korea as we've done when they can actually hit us is the big question. and it's a very difficult question. because there is no way that american leaders can know for sure whether north korea will never use those weapons against the united states. even if we don't provoke them in any way that we regard as provocative, we can't be absolutely sure they won't someday attack us. what would it mean for america to go to war? in south korea, i am on the road to the demilitarised zone. the four kilometre wide strip of land that separate south korea from the north. this is the most heavily fortified place on earth.

the south has hundreds of artillery pieces pointing north. the north has thousands pointing back. this recent north korean propaganda video shows its massed artillery in action. for south koreans living close to the demilitarised zone, this makes for very uncomfortable viewing. the little town of hwacheon is just six kilometres from the dividing line. in any new conflict, people here would have only minutes to evacuate. this place was built about five years ago, underneath a mountain, and it is absolutely vast. it's 100 metres long, 20 metres wide, and so big

it's got its own echo. listen to this. hello! the shelter is designed to take over 2000 people. if they can make it in time. this 86—year—old woman is one of the few still living here who remembers the last korean war. are you worried there could be war again now? translation: of course i'm worried, but what can i do? it's up to the government. if they say i should die, i'll die. and leave, then i'll leave. a much bigger target for north korea's artillery is the south korean capital, seoul. half the south korean population lives in the greater seoul area. 25 million people. andrei lankov is a long—time seoul

resident, and professor of north korean studies. so 25 million people is within the shooting range of the north korean artillery, which is located that direction, roughly, say, 20, 30 kilometres from here. and if we have a conflict, the city will be attacked by the conventional weapons, which will lead to thousands of casualties in the first few minutes, many more in the first few hours. if it happens, most likely the south koreans will strike back and there is a second korean war. a second korean war would be bad enough. but this time it could go nuclear. that thought brings horror to the people of this place — hiroshima. when that happens for you here... this woman still remembers vividly the sunny morning of the 6th of august, 19115.

she was eight years old. yes, every time i come here, you know, by the river, i remember it quite well. so many people died in the river. those like keiko, who survived the world's first atomic attack, are worried the world has forgotten the true horror of nuclear war. we have to avoid, stop. america will use their power to attack north korea, because not only korean people north and south, and the chinese, we japanese, everybody will be involved. even though they don't use nuclear weapons, but they will have

a very big casualty. this year, kim jong—un has repeatedly shocked the world, taking giant leaps towards his goal of a full nuclear arsenal. he is now threatening to carry out an atmospheric nuclear test over the pacific ocean. if he did, president trump might feel he has no option but to order a military strike. the president is following his instinct. and his instinct, if he's challenged, as he has been by the north koreans, is, as he says sometimes, he's a counterpuncher, to punch back. this could go bad very, very quickly. and it could go very bad very, very quickly. and a lot of people can die very, very quickly. winston churchill once said that meeting jaw—to—jaw is better than war. but pyongyang says it

will not talk to america until it accepts north korea is a legitimate nuclear state. washington is adamant that will never happen. and, with each new test, the pressure on the american president to act grows stronger. hello. it's been one of those days for many parts of the british isles, with some late sunshine across the north, but many of you in england and wales will have had something not dissimilar to that. it bucked up quite nicely eventually of northern scotland, that sort of thing circulating further south as this band of weather has slumped its way all too slowly for many of you, i'm

sure, further to the near continent, leaving behind a scattering of showers in the far north. overnight, we will complete that process just about, pushing away the bulk of the cloud and rain from southern counties, but there will be something of an overhang of cloud across the far south—west. under clearing skies, a bit of frost developing, especially in the countryside. not overly cold tonight, but it could be cold in central and eastern parts on monday morning, with the chance of a bit of mist and fog. it's this ridge of high pressure that we do ask for the first couple of of the week, but it's not without its own problems. monday, bar the odd patch of mist and fog, some of that quite dense and fog, some of that quite dense and lingering for a time in a few spots, it's a decent day for the a fairamount of spots, it's a decent day for the a fair amount of cloud and rain in the northern isles of scotland and through western parts, but the mild air here. further east, despite the

sunshine, you are looking at four or 5 degrees. through the evening and overnight, look how extensive this fog becomes. we have real concerns, even at this distance, for central, southern and south—eastern england, and parts of east anglia. as you saw from that earlier chart, there are pockets of fog possible in other locations. let's have a look at tuesday morning. mild to start across the far west, but once you get used of wiltshire, moving up towards east anglia, through the midlands, that's where we have got the real concerns at the moment would parts of wales, northern england, across the solway and either side of the central belt, and the odd pocket in northern ireland as well. there are a lot of people on the move at this time of year, and if that is your chosen time... that prospect extends through the day in some locations and, if you're fog lingers, it will put a real dent

in the temperatures pulled out west, a bit of cloud but the milder temperatures. this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at five. a british diplomat has been killed in beirut. the foreign office says she worked for the department for international development. six people have died in a serious crash on one of birmingham's main roads. police say it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash. the government wants to lower the age for automatic enrolment in company pension schemes — from twenty—two to eighteen, in a move to offer more people financial security in retirement. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. some news just

some newsjust coming in. a