tomorrow night's show. that's all for us tonight. that's all for us. ""ac 360"" starts at 11:00. now let's "get to the point." i'm wolf blitzer, this is a special report. north korean crisis. north korea may -- may be ready to launch. the u.s. is tracking missile movements that could push the region closer to war. he's armed and dangerous, we are taking a closer look at what may be driving kim jong-un to make brazen threats and defy the world. and dialing it down, the obama administration addresses concerns that its response to this crisis has only made matters worse. so one of the world's most dangerous regimes right now and

now north korea it is on the brink of war. u.s. officials fear it may be planning a missile launch soon. the reports have been amping up every single day from a nation under the thumb of a young and unpredictable leader. kim jong-un is armed with a nuclear program, and this hour our correspond ecents are looki at the threat to the united states and the world. and president obama's response. and christiane amanpour and fareed sa carious will give us a global view. let's begin with barbara starr who is watching this unfold. it is pretty intense. what's the latest, barbara? >> well, the talk has been hot rhetoric for days now and now new information about a possible missile test by north korea that poses a new threat. it's one of the most alarming

signals yet that kim jong-un is exercising his military might. classified imagery and intercepts confirm that north korea has moved up to two mobile missiles, launchers and fuel tanks to its east coast. the concern? kim jong-un is planning to test missiles that could threaten the region with little warning. >> the reaction time is much less when you have mobile launchers. >> reporter: the missile called the mausadan can hit guam or even the alaska's coast. the test could send a missile over japan. u.s. warships armed with their open missiles would have to quickly react if it looks like japanese territory is threatened. >> if the missile is mobile, we have to be following it constantly, or be lucky enough to surveil all of the area where it could be.

>> reporter: u.s. intelligence satellites are scouring north korea's coast line for signs of a launch. especially here, and there they be a hidden launch pad officials say. the ultimate concern is that north korea has progressed in trying to put a nuclear war head on top of these mobile missiles. it already has enough material for up to half a dozen nuclear bombs. but some experts warn the u.s. shouldn't get over excited about kim's threats of war. >> he and his advisers must know that they will not -- this will not work any longer. they're not going to be exacting any concessions from the united states or anyone else. >> reporter: now, still, the u.s. and the allies hope that pyongyang will issue one of these standard notices to commercial aviation and shipping before it launches a missile towards japan. warning everyone to stay out of the launch or the impact area.

looking for that notice, that's going to be the first sign that a launch may be eminent. wolf? >> let's hope that doesn't happen. let's get the administration's reaction. brianna keilar has more. >> reporter: well, white house officials are down playing there's any new level of concern here. they're more concerned at this moment they say north korea has been on the radar for a while, particularly since december with that ballistic missile test that was successful. but i'll tell you the discussions here on north korea are very much in overdrive. one senior administration official telling me that top officials from the state department, the defense department, intelligence officials have been meeting for really much more frequently in the last week and a half in the situation room, so north korea becoming the most pressing foreign policy issue at the moment for the administration,

wolf. >> brianna, stand by. pentagon officials are gaming out north korea's next moves right now. we're doing the same thing in our virtual studio. tom foreman is there along with cnn military analyst general james spider marx. walk us through this. >> sure. all eyes are on that east coast of north korea. why, general, would they do this missile placement there? two possible missiles there, why? >> tom, the east coast is closer to the united states presence and the allies. they didn't put it on the west coast because they're not trying to threaten china. >> simple enough there. let's bring in the model of the type of missile we're talking about that barbara mentioned a moment ago. this is designed to be used by soviet sub marines. the iranians have a version of it. there's no fins on it, but let's talk more about it. one of the keys is the mobility.

why does that matter so very much? >> this is a mobile missile system. it can go anywhere and can launch from any location. all it needs is a piece of level terrain and within minutes, this thing can launch. >> let's talk about the capability of this. while we'll bring in the stats on this. fairly big and a lot of different ways in which it can be presented, yes? >> tom, this is 40 to 60 feet in length. it has a payload of 2 1/2 tons. we do not anticipate it has a nuclear war head at all. we think it's high explosive. >> so high explosive is a concern there. when you talk about a high explosive about this, the range, what it can hit. as barbara pointed out, you're talking about maybe 2 ierk,500 . if it's two stages it might be able to get that far. not so much at one stage. it becomes somewhat less reliable. even best case scenario, they launch this california has nothing to worry about.

>> the mainland of the united states is not at risk, hawaii is not at risk. possibly the west coast of alaska. what is at risk is korea, japan and certainly down in guam very much so underneath that umbrella. >> and guam matters. >> that's where the united states air force has a b-52 bomber and it's used in the defense of the peninsula. >> tens of thousands of troops in other areas. one last question. if this in fact launches there, whether or not north korea says it's a test, what happens immediately with all off forces -- >> tom, when that missile launch, it's picked up from our satellite in space. it is tracked by sea, land and air force radar and it will determine that totally automated system will determine the attitude, the asma and location of where it's located. >> computers are tracking it.

this is by the way an inershall guided missile. they'll know if it's headed to any u.s. or allied target. a ship, land, anything. >> that missile will be taken out by a high altitude, antiballistic missile system. it will be gone. >> so many, many steps of where the missile may be, but the response no matter what they say would be the same. wolf? >> would be intense indeed. guys, thanks very much. let's bring in our chief international correspondent christian amanpour. also joining us fareed zakaria. what's motivating all this tough talk from kim jong-un and his generals in north korea? >> i think it's anyone's guess. everyone is trying to psycho analyze him in the past couple of weeks. some say he's trying to prove

himself to his own people, perhaps even prove himself to those who may be pulling the puppet strings. who knows? what we also know, i spoke to a professor who is the last to have gone in, and he said he's very confident they do not have the nuclear capability as the general said to threaten either south korea or the united states. they could perhaps deliver some kind of war head to south korea, but not on a missile. maybe by plane. maybe by ship or truck. but they don't have that ballistic delivery capability. also, if they restart the plutonium reprocessing plant, it would take six months. i went in there in 2008, i watched them disable it. it was a honeymoon period and then it comes to where it is right now.

they said it could restart within six months to a year. >> those were the good old days. not so good right now. fareed, the fear is that there could be a miscalculation. even though no one thinks north korea is suicidal, they know they would be destroyed if they were to do something drastic. the new government in south korea responded. who knows what would happen. >> that's right, wolf. the problem is imagine that one of the missiles is launched. ka-8 missiles. they don't have nuclear warheads small enough to put on them. so they would be high explosive. but they're launched into the sky. we have destroyers that have radars that track them. we fire our own missile, to intercept and destroy it. then the north koreans feel they have lost face. they have to do something. they start attacking south korean patrol boats. you see, that's the danger. nobody wants this to happen. i think the obama administration

has explain -- is playing this just right, which is at some level bluster. you don't want to overreact to it, and then you have a it for at the game. you have to deter the north koreans but you can't play into the game. because they're -- somewhat irrational. they don't have good command and control one has to assume. there could be a miscalculation. >> does he really think he can get concession, kim jong-un, money from china, from south korea, from the united states, by this tough talk? >> it's a pattern that's happened over the last decades with this regime. they do believe they can. they have been able to do the extortion policy in this regard. nobody wants to let that happen right now. the united states is now saying, you heard barbara starr say at the state department, they want to dial back. they want to perhaps give some

kind of diplomacy and outlet. what they will probably not be doing over the next several weeks is the joint military games continue between the south koreans and the u.s. probably won't be showing some of the noir -- more demonstrable shows of force. like marine amphibious landing on the coasts. if they do, that could be an issue. but i think the diplomacy is the problem and they haven't had real diplomacy between either the obama administration or the bush administration and this is what's having a major problem. >> is it time to send some sort of diplomatic envoy to pyongyang on behalf of the president of the united states? >> well, the bush administration actually did try diplomacy. they signed two agreements with the north koreans. the problem is as christian point out, they cheat on them. there's only one country with whom diplomacy would work with north korea and that's china. chinese provide 50% of their food, 80% of their fuel. there are people in china who

literally open the tap and allow north korea to survive. the problem is that the chinese have never thought that they could put the real pressure on the north koreans without danger of the regime collapsing. so for the chinese, they worry about this stuff. they don't like -- you know, the unpredictability of this regime. they don't want to see a north korean chance. what does that mean? it means millions of refugees into china. more importantly, it means almost inevitably the unification of the north and the south, on south korean terms. here's what you'd have on china's border, a very large korea, with seoul as the capital, with 40,000 american troops, a treaty alliance with the united states and nuclear weapons. >> it's a complex, complex situation. but it's perilous right now. we'll continue this conversation. also, a broader look at north korea's military and massive firepower. the danger goes much deeper than simply one missile test. and later, from the nba to

north korea, did dennis rodman's recent visit have any influence at all on kim jong-un?

the north korean leader, he's the reason this is so uncertain and so dangerous. he's young, virtually unknown, this is his first major test in the arena. and we have more from seoul, south korea. so tell us what we know. >> reporter: well, to the outside world he's the offspring of a tyrant, more imagine that man, developed by north korea's twisted propaganda regime. he's the third of the kim

dynasty. a man not yet 30. in charge of the ballistic missiles and the world's fourth largest army. but kim jong-un is an enigma and a dangerous one at that. the youngest son of kim jong-il he had a privileged upbringing while millions of north koreans starved. attending a boarding school in switzerland under a false name. a classmate remembers him as a shy teenager. >> he was very quiet. he didn't speak with anyone. he was competitive at sports. he didn't like to lose. >> he liked basketball and football and video games. his father had served a long apprenticeship before taking over the kingdom. but kim jong-un became a general in his 20s without serving a day in the military. when his father died in 2011, kim jong-un became supreme leader and the propaganda machine went into overdrive.

>> they had been trying to establish his expertise, he speaks eight language, he's a military genius. >> reporter: and a leader with the complete backing of the military. in the first public remarks as leader he spoke of the heart break of a divided korea, but there was also a warning. >> our military has become a powerful military. able to handle any kind of modern warfare with complete offensive and defensive capabilities. the foreign powers are not the only ones with monopoly on the military supremacy. >> reporter: but he also promised no more famine. >> it is our party's firmest resolve not to let our citizens go hungry again. >> reporter: as he has consolidated his rule, kim has tried to promote his youthful side. attending a concert with disney characters and a youth festival watching basketball with dennis rodman.

king jong-un has also married. his young, attractive wife was announced to the media. he has also reinforced north korea's military first policy. with the successful launch of a ballistic missile in december and another underground nuclear test in february. and the biggest and most dangerous gaffe is that we simply do not know, wolf, what is happening inside this young man's mind. wolf? >> a lot of technical information, we the world knows, about north korea. but inside stuff, that's a problem. we'll get back to you. seoul, south korea, only 30 miles from the demilitarized zone from north korea. and the conventional military is heavily equipped, capable of inflicting immense casualties and damage on the millions of people below the demilitarized zone.

let's go back to tom foreman, and spider marx for more on this. >> there's a tremendous amount of power in the young man's hands. let's talk about this nuclear capability first. what do we think they have right now? >> tom, we think they have eight bombs. they probably have the material for 12. but we don't think these are weaponized. they haven't been married up with a missile capability to launch at some place else. >> as long as they're not able to be delivered well, they're not weaponized. >> correct. >> they have a tremendous amount of rockets and missiles. talk about this. >> the korean people army was trained by the soviets and the chinese communists so they rely on volumes of artillery fire. so they have a massive amount of artillery and surface to surface missiles. we'd see those at the beginning of the conflict. >> a lot has been buried since

the military conflict. >> right. >> when the cease-fire was signed back in '53, 1953, is where a lot of the units remain today. >> and beyond that, there is this question of the sheer number of people that they have. for really quite small country, massive army. >> they have the fifth largest military in the world. over a million men under arm. that's on the active component. the reserve component has 8 million folks that's about the largest reserve component military in the world. they could be mobilized at a moment's know it's the. >> are they considered to be well trained? >> the active component is very well trained. when you compare the military to the population the military has a much higher level of nutrition and training so they're prepared. >> a couple of other things, they have a navy, so to speak. they have an air force. they have submarines. but we don't think of those in the traditional ways. >> let me talk about the air force for a second. the primary concern for the air

force is for the insertion of the very large, over 100,000 special operations forces. now, the navy can insert special operation forces through the midget and the sub marine craft that they have and they have sleeper units that can disrupt the united states command. >> even if you get past the nuclear question here, there's a formidable military force in north korea right now. wolf? >> that's huge indeed. could cause enormous, enormous destruction and disaster. guys, thanks for that report. still ahead, an administration insider on president obama's north korea's playbook and what's worrying hip right now. life in north korea as i saw it when i was there during another time of crisis in the region. upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they

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happening now, north korea's dangerous new military moves. one miscalculation by either side could be a disaster. national security insiders tell us what they're learning about the u.s. response. thousands of americans are at risk on the korean peninsula right now. we'll explore american's stake in a region that could literally explode at any minute and kim jong-un's new pal. did the former nba star dennis rodman have any influence on the north korean leader or on his plan of attack? i'm wolf plblitzer. this is "the situation room special report, the north korean crisis."

the obama administration is trying to calm the explosive situation in north korea. as we reported, kim jong-un may be gearing up for a new missile launch soon. take a look at how he's ramping up tensions in the region. tensions began to skyrocket in mid february when north korea went ahead with its third nuclear test. a furious u.n. security council imposed punishing new sanctions and the u.s. began planned war games with south korea and the north said it was pulling out of the agreement that ended the korean war. direct threats against america intense if ied. north korean tv aired a video simulating an attack on the white house and the capitol building. in a show of force, the u.s. added nuclear capable b-2 stealth bombers to the military drills with south korea. then, kim jong-un put his forces on stand by to strike the u.s. main land, guam and hawaii. he declared a state of war with

the south. the u.s. stealth fighter jets joined those war games in the region. and the threats went nuclear. north korea said it would restart a closed plutonium reactor. and the regime claimed its plans for a nuclear attack on the u.s. were ready to go. the u.s. has ordered missile defenses to nearby guam as fears grow that north korea may be planning a launch soon. we have assembled our own security council here in the situation room including some of the more knowledgeable folks about north korea to try to break all of this down for you. joining us is tommy vitor. and christopher hill, a former u.s. ambassador to south korea. he's now dean of the school of international studies at the university of denver. and retired u.s. navy admiral william fallon. he served as head of the u.s.

pacific command and admiral fallon, what worries me the most is the miscalculation that can trigger an all-out war. are you concerned about that? >> i think it's prudent to be concerned and certainly pay close attention to this. but i believe this thing may be a little bit overhyped right now. >> tell us why. tell us why. >> well, the first thing is his ability to strike the u.s. i think is mostly talk. there's a possibility that some of his missiles might be able to range alaska or possibly u.s. territory or bases closer in. but unlikely, they have never demonstrated an ability to get anything to fly as far as the u.s. it took them many years to get the one missile that we call the taepodong 2 to fly. i think the rhetoric is not helpful, of course. i think this is a lot of the same old stuff out of the playbook that his father and

grandfather used. it's unfortunate. you've got to wonder what he's up to and what the real motivation is, whether he's trying to act strong in front of his military people or, again, what's worked in the past in some instances is to act outrageously and then demand some kind of concession and move on. but it is a time to be very attentive. i think the u.s. has made some prudent moves. we have a significant missile defense capability. i think our people are up to the task and from what i can see, i don't get any daily intel reports anymore, but it looks to me like we have taken the appropriate precautions. >> where does diplomacy, ambassador hill, fit into this? the u.s. has indirect contacts with the south korea, japan, china. where should the u.s. be engaged right now in trying to ease this crisis? >> well, i think there are basically two tracks. one is with our allies, south

korea and japan. i think it's been very important that we reassure them and that we not pull back on these annual exercises. so if there's an air component to these exercises, we need to go through with that. because we really need to assure our allies. that's one track. the second track is of course with china. china, they may deny they have a lot of leverage with the north koreans, but they do. and there's a lot more they can do. a third possible track might be with the north koreans. but they have kind of started this dance and i'm not sure it would be in our interest to be kind of approaching them. i think you would leave in their mind that we're somehow worried or afraid or somehow blinking. so i think we need to be very careful in how we would deal directly with the north koreans. i would rather see much more of an effort with china. >> tommy, you know him back when he was a candidate in 2007, 2008, president obama made it

clear he's willing to talk to the despots without preconditions. dennis rodman came back from north korea saying call him, call kim jong-un. is that something that the president would consider? >> huge thank you to dennis rodman for delivering that message. i think the president has expressed a need to have talks with them. but they can't be in this propaganda and continued nuclear development, continued tests of intercontinental missile technology. so, you know, i agree with what the admiral said. i think any time you combine long range missile technology, efforts to develop a nuclear program that's something you have to take seriously. but the bottom line, the united states has been working on missile technology for years. they'll put 14 more interceptors on the coast. and there are additional military ships in the region as

part of regularly scheduled military exercises. but this is something we're well prepared for. i don't think your viewers should worry there's an immediate homeland threat. the north koreans simply haven't indicated or tested some of the weapons that would give them that capability. >> everybody stand by for a moment. i want to go to the white house, our correspondent brianna keilar is standing by. are they worried about the escalation that's been going on for the past few weeks and whether it's gone too far? >> reporter: well, wolf, a lot of talk among the white house officials that they want to see things de-escalate. they also insist that this sort of show of force has been a necessary deterrent to show kim jong-un if he's going to make good on his threats, there will be consequences. i will tell you the pentagon officials have been a little more candid with cnn. they say after accusing north korea of amping up its rhetoric,

they're afraid they may have done the same thing. worried that muscular displays of u.s. military might might have pushed north korea too far, the obama administration is changing its tone and says north korea should too. >> he has also been saying all the way through that this does not need to get hotter. that it can -- we can change course here if the dprk will begin to come back into compliance with the international obligations. we'll begin to cool things down. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry is leading the effort to dial back the discord, sources tell cnn. while behind the scenes at the white house, the tension to an increasingly north korea is in overdrive. a senior administration source says top officials have been meeting more frequently in the situation room for the last week and a half. deputies from the president's national security council, the

defense and state department, the cia and the joint chiefs of staff among others are at the table. victor chaw was a top adviser to president george w. bush. >> i think they're watching very carefully the situation. i think they're watching to see if there are military maneuvers on the ground in north korea that's accompanying all this rhetoric. >> reporter: now, don't expect north korea to be leading the headlines any time soon though, wolf. the new president park will be here next month visiting with president obama. their first visit. it's certainly expected i would say that north korea as it does at times may act up and try to steal some of the attention during that time as well. >> thanks very much. let's go back to our guests for further analysis right now. there's a new government, ambassador hill, in south korea. and president park she's tough. if there's some sort of provocation, i suspect unlike

her predecessor she might respond right away and that could escalate a dangerous situation. >> well, she's tough, but i think the times have changed in what. and this north korean bluster is pretty serious. the north koreans might feel they can get away with some incident, whereas as you suggest i think the south koreans would hit them back pretty hard. there does appear to be some shift in their rules of engagement that as local commanders seem to be empowered to move back at them, rather than phone home to seoul. i think it's kind of a dangerous situation. and as we look at the various paths of this crisis, i think this kind of inadvertent conflict could be the most serious. >> as you know, admiral fallon, two years or so again when i was in north korea the north koreans did bomb an island. they killed a whole bunch of south koreans. they attacked a south korean warship that killed a lot of sailors. the south koreans at that point

did not retaliate, but i suspect if they did those kind of things again the situation could explode. >> wolf, i think it's noteworthy that within the last week or ten days, there was an agreement reached between the u.s. and republic of korea. i don't know the details of it, but it sounds to me like it was a heightened effort to consult very closely in the event of some untoward incident or unpredictable activity on the part of the dprk. you know, we work very, very closely, have for many years with our south korean allies. there's a well integrated plan, lots of discussion and exercises for many years. we worked very well together. there's high level of confidence between the two militaries. and i think again this is a time to certainly be very attentive to take a prudent precautions, which i believe we're doing. and to consult very closely with our allies in the region because

this is fundamentally a regional issue. >> tommy, you have worked with the president for a long time when you were at the national security council. give us a little flavor how he deals with an emerging crisis like this. >> well, i mean, the first thing i'd say, wolf, is that these problems in north korea didn't emerge just recently and this is something he's been working on for a long time. bolstering the defense system is vital. the tempo picks up. the deputies committees will meet more regularly and the president will receive regular briefings about the issue in other venues. i don't think that the white house is on high alert right now as a result of these actions. it's something they have been aware of and working on for a long time. in the long game here, i think it will be conversations with the chinese because the united states can, you know, work to get more sanctions on north korea. and do a variety of other

efforts to increase diplomatic pressure. but the chinese which have turned the screws a little more they could have a real impact with north korea and they need to stop letting them get away with these temper tantrums. >> thanks very much. guys, we'll continue this conversation. if cooler heads can't prevail and shooting actually begins, many important u.s. targets could be within range of north korea's guns and thousands, tens of thousands of u.s. troops coming up this hour. pictures from my own rare visit to north korea.

north korea isn't the only country doing some serious military muscle flexing right now. a pair of u.s. stealth bombers have made the round trip from their base in missouri to south korea and back. plenty of other u.s. firepower is deployed much closer to north korea and could become targets. cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is joining us with more on what's going on. what are you seeing, what are you learning? >> reporter: well, wolf, you have thousands of american troops stationed just about 15 miles south of the dmz and you've got all of north korea's heavy armor and artillery aimed right at them. 25 miles. it's the magic number as far as american troops are concerned.

some of north korea's massive artillery can fire up to four mortar rounds a minute. 25 miles away. >> the u.s. forces that are near the front are probably doing to be within range of the artillery. >> reporter: about 10,000 american troops are deployed to paces around camp casey, just 15 miles from the dmz. others are concentrated at osan air base. they flew long-range bombers like the b-2. but the risk to those deployed closer will change. the u.s. will move them to another base south of seoul. >> that means that the bulk of u.s. military forces in korea are not going to be necessarily be within range of the artillery strikes at the beginning. >> reporter: farther out in the western pacific, the u.ss decatdecatur

was deployed and then it will intercept the rockets and destroy them. the first reinforcements can come from one of the many american paces in japan. home to the navy's seventh fleet and more than 100 aircraft. some 2,000 miles away, north korea threatened a nuclear strike on guam. now the u.s. is deploying a land-based missile defense system. somewhat easing fears of an attack on the u.s. territory. >> though i'm heartened to see the improvements in defense posture, i am concerned. not only as a governor, but as a man who has a wife and children and grandchildren here. >> you know, those are some of the same concerns that husbands, wives and children here in the u.s. have for their service members who are stationed over there in south korea. one of the big advantages that the u.s. has is how quickly they can reinforce troops. within two weeks, they can double the size of the combat aircraft and triple the size of

u.s. ground troops in the area. >> yeah, in guam, there's almost 6,000 u.s. troops who are based there at any one time. not very far away indeed. chris, thanks very much. north korea only has two direct neighbors right now. south korea and china. the saber rattling has nerves on edge in both countries. let's get the latest from our correspondents in the two capitals. starting with cnn's jim clancy in seoul. >> reporter: the south korean capital could become ground zero if there were to be a conflict here on the korean peninsula. the people who live here know that it's not the nuclear arms, it's the conventional weapons that are possessed by the north that could reduce this city or parts of it, at least, to ashes in a short period of time. older people tell me that this is the most tense time they can remember since the end of the korean war some 60 years ago. younger people say we can't

relate to it, we are post-war. they do not believe that kim jong-un is going to attack the south. they believe instead that what he wants to do is to blackmail south korea, to get the money, to get the food aid in order to keep his dictatorship afloat. jim clancy, cnn, seoul. let's go to david mckenzie right now in beijing. what's going on over there? because everyone seems to think china could play a critically important role if the government in beijing decided to. >> reporter: well, wolf, it's a smoggy day in beijing and the mood is dark in china with the close neighbor and long-time ally ratcheting up with that rhetoric and making moves potentially for a missile strike. the key may be china, wolf, with china having a lot of influence over pyongyang as they could literally close the tap, the fuel and food taps and even the conventional military ties between the two countries. a lot of frustration here in

beijing with north korea in recent months particularly with the missile strike. that missile test and nuclear test. their frustrations might be boiling over and they could be pushing for north korea to get to the negotiating table. wolf? >> david mckenzie in beijing for us, thank you. i was in north korea just two years ago. stand by for a rare look. plus, we'll assess the impact of dennis rodman's improbable visit with the north korean leader. [ male announcer ] shaq versus pain.

shaq 1, pain 0. [ male announcer ] new icy hot advanced patch with 50% more medicine. pain over. for all of north korea's threats and the military power, its people don't have much. they live under a very difficult

conditions. i got a rare look inside the secretive nation when i travelled there at the end of 2010. well, thank you so much. during my six days at north korea, i didn't see a whole lot of color. unless you count the propaganda posters. we visited in the winter, when buildings often go unheated. in this school, it's so cold in the classroom they could see their breath. even today, top leaders like kim jong-un often wear overcoats indoors. why the hardships? because so much of their limited money goes to the military. according to the cia, north korea industry is crippled. and there are chronic food shortages. >> basically, it's a starving country. its overall, always there looking for where is our food, something to eat? >> reporter: starvation reportedly killed up to two million people in the 1990s. this 24-year-old defected from north korea six years ago. >> translator: you can see dead

people everywhere on the streets. >> reporter: in this satellite photo, south korea is blazing with lights at night. but north korea is pitch black, except for the capitol. that capital pyongyang is the home of those with good salaries and impressive offices. we are on top of the world's tallest stone tower. it is majestic to see what's going on. you see the bitter cold, freezing snow. the buildings are really impressive to see what's going on. here in the north korean capital. but one thing we noticed, not a lot of people with cars. there's not a whole lot of traffic here. it's icy, the streets are icy, snowy. you see a lot of people shoveling and there you see the hammer and sickle of the communist government, manifestations of the communist philosophy. the subway is clean and orderly. although the lights don't always stay on. it's very deep underground.

it doubles as a bomb shelter. and it's filled with propaganda pictures and even patriotic music. all right. we're moving now. in spite of all the propaganda analysts say, the population may be getting other glimpses of the world. >> young generations somehow, skillfully they're adapting, using the internet, and finding the information. they're finally asking, north korea is not paradise on earth. it's actually hell on earth. but why are we living like this? >> up next, a wild card in u.s. relations, the former nba star, dennis rodman.

the north korean leader kim jong-un has met with one u.s. citizen, the retired nba star, dennis rodman. they watched basketball together. they ate sushi in february. >> his country like him -- not like him, love him. love him. guess what? i love him. i love him. the guy is awesome. >> rodman was there for an hbo series. fareed zakaria is a producer for "vice" which is part of our sister network, hbo. i don't know about you, but you can't make this stuff up.

>> you can't make this up. he wanted michael jordan. michael jordan decided not to be part of it. >> he declined. >> partly this tells you to add to the complexity of the story, this 29-year-old boy, kim jong-un, is probably not running national security strategy. the guy is a few months in the job. this is a military dictatorship. he's fully in control of basketball policy for north korea, but national policy is probably being controlled by a senior general. >> he's the son of kim jong-il, the grandson of the founder of north korea, so the power he has potentially is enormous. >> enormous and it unifies the country and it keeps the regime intact. but probably behind the scenes there are people actually pulling the strings which makes it more complicated because there are probably multiple centers of power here. >> where do you see this going, bottom line? >> bottom line, i think it will be deterred. i think they're trying to get attention and concessions. the obama administration is probably not going to do it, so