come up with a few lines with a treasury rhyme. your best, got a culture waiver from the treasury department. before he met me castro never knew what art meant. shout out to my boys at treasury for all the earthly pleasures me and b hipt due south of miami. that's all the time we have on "the lead." jake thanks very much. happening now as north korea warns the war could break out at any moment. a stunning and scary claim about the north's ability to deliver nuclear weapons. a break in the case of a secret recording in which senator mitch mcconnell apparently discusses ways to attack rival ashley judd. white house press secretary jay carney and jay-z, why they're arguing over a koefgs trip to cuba. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

we begin with breaking news. an extraordinary and chilling assessment of north korea's ability to actually deliver nuclear weapons. a bombshell remark dropped during a congressional hearing here in washington today. it comes as north korea is warning that war can break out, in their words, at any moment. let's go straight to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. tell our viewers what happened on capitol hill today because it's causing quite a stir. >> a military and intelligence revelation, wolf. pure and simple. has north korea made more progress than anybody knew about manufacturing and being able to deliver a nuclear weapon today on capitol hill? congressman doug lamborn republican of colorado had this extraordinary acknowledgment. >> quoting from the unclassified portion, which i believe has not yet been made public, they say,

quote, d.i.a. assesses with moderate confidence the north currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however the reliability will be low. general, would you agree with that assessment by d.i.a.? >> you know, congressman, with the number of caveats you put on the front end of this i'm not going to -- i can't touch that one because i'm not sure now. it hasn't been released. some is classified some is unclassified. let me take that one for the record. >> a top-secret, classified report from the defense intelligence agency, some of the most closely held secrets about north korea's nuclear weapons capability. let's go very quickly to george little the official spokesman for the pentagon and what he had to say to jake tapper on "the lead" a short time ago. >> jake, i think you can understand that i can't get into classified intelligence assessments but we are very concerned about north korea's growing missile capabilities.

>> that conclusion the congressman was reading was unclassified so surely you could elaborate on that, that the north koreans have missiles with nuclear capability even though they might not be all that reliable. >> well, the conclusion in fact may be unclassified but the underlying content is definitely classified. >> wolf, here is what we know. since north korea's last nuclear test, they said that they had miniaturized technology for nuclear weapons. that's really key. that means the technology that can put together a nuclear warhead and put it potentially on a ballistic missile. the u.s. always said it had to believe north korea's assertion about that. even yesterday general dempsey publicly said he had to accept the worst case scenario about north korea's ability to do this. but the capability, if they can do it, the question that we don't know the answer to, does the u.s. believe they've already done it? do they have it made up and

ready to go in their arsenal? i caught up with congressman lamport a short time ago to try to get additional clarification. >> we do not know that they have with any high degree of certainty. we know that with moderate certainty they do have that capability. the reason i'm concerned about this is because the president has offered a defense budget that cuts missile defense by half a billion dollars. my goal in all this is by calling attention to the potential threats that we restore those dollars. >> so any which way you cut this, wolf, you know, is clearly there are some growing indications from the intelligence community, the north koreans are further along than the american public realize. the question is, how far along have they really done it and, again, this notion of moderate confidence. the u.s. still has very little

information about what exactly north korea is up to and how soon they can do any of this, wolf. >> the actual line that the congressman read from this unclassified defense intelligence agency report, i'll read it to you, dia assesses with moderate confidence the north currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. however, the reliability will be low. the reliability of the delivery? that's the only line he released. i understand there's a line before it and a line afterwards which is classified, which may give this spectacular assertion some further contacts. >> that is absolutely correct, wolf. and a very important point you make. the line before. the line after is classified so the context to the american public is not clear. this is highly classified information. all we know is what we see here. i think you just made another very interesting point. moderate confidence about the ability to deliver. i think all acknowledgements are

the north koreans still have a lot of problems with their guidance system. so what they're doing, clearly, is putting the parts and pieces together but how soon they really can make it all work, that is really the key and that is what tonight we do not have the answer to, wolf. >> interesting development. very, very critically important at least potentially. barbara, thank you. just a few moments ago i spoke with the united nations secretary general ban ki-moon. he is here in washington and just met with president obama in the oval office of the white house. i asked the u.n. secretary general about this report on north korea's nuclear missile capability. >> we do not have any independent information to verify but it may be true that they will continue to improve their technology. that will be against the

resolution, security council resolution most recently resolution 2094 urging north korea to reframe from making any provocative measures. >> more of the interview with the united nations secretary general ban ki-moon coming up at the top of the hour here in "the situation room" on our special report, the crisis with north korea. the secretary general also has a specific message that he will deliver to the leader of north korea, kim jung un. he speaks in korean directly to kim jung un. they watch cnn international in pyongyang. you'll hear what that message to kim jong un from ban ki-moon is coming up at the top of the next hour. ban ki-moon as i said met in the oval office with the president who himself had this to say about the latest threats from north korea. >> now is the time for north korea to end the kind of

belligerent approach that they've been taking and to try to lower temperatures. nobody wants to see a conflict on the korean peninsula. >> once again we'll have much more coming up on the crisis with north korea. our special report here in the situation room comes up right at the top of the hour, 6:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. let's move on to other important news here in washington. president obama's budget blueprint has something for almost everyone to dislike. it would raise taxes on the wealthy but also could reduce some medicare and social security benefits. that has some liberals up in arms. let's go to our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin watching this story unfold. what is the very latest, jessica, the reaction to the president's budget proposals? >> wolf, aides here tell me the president is offering a compromise budget. but as you point out, republicans say he does not find

enough savings in social security and medicare and progressive democrats are howling that he touches those programs at all. they say that's not what they elected a democrat to do. progressives are howling the president's budget is a document only republicans could love. >> -- in 2008 he said that he would not cut social security. we want the president to remember what he said and not go back on his word. >> yes! >> we did not come here to cut benefits that people rightfully earned by paying into the system. >> reporter: they're outraged the president proposes slashing $400 billion from medicare over the next ten years and changing the formula for social security so checks could fall by $45 the first year and by hundreds of dollars down the line.

in 2008, then candidate obama pledged -- >> now is the time to protect social security for future generations. >> reporter: now some democrats feel betrayed. >> there are 57 million recipients of social security and medicare out there. all of whom would be adversely impacted by this. and that's why you're seeing not only democrats but republicans rising up in opposition to this proposal. >> reporter: the administration acknowledges the president borrowed republican ideas. the change to social security is -- >> a proposal that emanated from republican leaders. >> you just said it was a republican proposal. so why is the democratic president issuing a republican budget? >> because he's president of the whole country and he believes we need to reach a budget compromise that's balanced. >> reporter: but democrats should not be surprised. this is not a new priority for the president. right after he took office in 2009, he held a summit about

cutting the deficit. >> we cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end. >> reporter: he didn't prioritize this agenda thanks to the financial crisis and the political considerations of a re-election until recently. so now he is pressing it but he's hardly gone over to the other side. this budget is filled with big ticket poverty fighting programs. pre-k education for all kids. price tag $75 billion over ten years. job training and on ramps to work for the unemployed. $12.5 billion over ten years. he even proposes increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour. all government initiatives that usually would make democrats cheer. and many democrats, wolf, are cheering about those programs but many tell me they just find the president's budget bewildering. they say on the one hand he is proposing republican ideas for reforming medicare and social

security. at the same time, he wants to pour billions into government programs fighting poverty. the bottom line here, wolf, they should not be confused. the president has said from the beginning he would like to be a deficit fighter and still find ways to help the neediest. if progressives did not believe it when he said that, it was a case of selective hearing. wolf? >> jessica yellin is over at the white house for us. by the way, later this hour i'll speak with the white house senior adviser to the president dan pfeiffer and get more on this. also a democrat and republican who don't see eye to eye on anything but are both against the president's proposed budget and cuts to social security for very different reasons. we'll have much more on that, much more on this afternoon's very dramatic developments here in washington on the korean crisis. our special report on the korean crisis. remember, the full hour comes up 6:00 p.m. eastern right at the top of the hour. off like a sco♪ ♪ beep beep what? ♪if you set your phone to vibrate ♪

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one of the least likely alliances you'll ever see, one of the senate's most liberal members bernie sanders the independent senator from vermont and a very fiscally conservative republican grover norquist the president of americans for tax reform who is now -- whose no new taxes pledge has been an article of faith for republican lawmakers for many, many years. they're on the same sides right now opposing the president's budget proposals for very, very different reasons. listen to this. let's ask senator sanders, is the president's budget dead on arrival? >> i think that is highly, highly doubtful that the president's budget as written is going to be incorporated into law. and one of the concerns that some of us have with a somewhat different perspective than mr.

norquist is that in 2012, and this is an important point to make, revenue is the percentage of gdp was 15.8%. that was the lowest that it has been in 60 years. the last time we had a balanced budget under clinton in 2000 revenue was a percentage of gdp of over 20%. my concern right now is that you have one out of four major corporations who are paying zero in taxes at a time when corporate profits are at an all time high. if we are serious about deficit reduction, you don't cut social security. you don't cut medicare. you don't cut disabled vets' benefits. what you do is ask the wealthy and large, profitable corporations. some of them paying zero in taxes after making billions in profits. they've got to start contributing to deficit reduction. >> go ahead, grover. what's wrong with that? >> well everything. the reason why we have very low government revenues is so many people are unemployed and income

is growing so poorly for the people who do have jobs. what we did have when the republicans had the house and senate for the last six years, the 1990s, was strong economic growth. they cut the capital gains tax. that gave you the strong revenue coming in. and the republicans didn't let clinton spend as much money as he wanted. his budgets had $200 million deficits as far as the eye could see. >> i think mr. norquist is rewriting history somewhat. he is right in saying that revenue declines when you're in the midst of a terrible recession. >> yes. >> unemployment is high. no question about that. we are in the midst of this recession because we deregulated wall street and as a result of the recklessness and illegal behavior they plunged us into recession and we have to bail them out to the tune of some $700 billion. but he is wrong in suggesting that when you give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country and when one of

four corporations pay nothing in taxes, that that does not have an impact on the deficit. of course it does. >> okay. i'm talking to the senator who opposes the efforts to reign in fannie and freddie that gave us the recession we had. we're now three or four years into the recovery. it is such a lousy recovery because of tax increases and spending too much money and too much regulations and the president's war on producing energy across the country. all of these things give you very bad economic growth. but nobody should allow the congress, this congress, to get off the hook for allowing fannie and freddie to bankrupt so many americans and damage so many homes. that was government policy. it was big government policy. it sure wasn't deregulation. >> it really wasn't. our good friends on wall street just are so honest, so conservative in their fiscal investments they had nothing to do with the deficit and it is that big, bad government that forced them into the derivatives, that forced them to merge, that forced them to

become too big to fail. it's always the government. >> are you unable to say fannie mae and freddie mac? are you incapable of saying those two words? >> the truth of the matter, are you unable to talk about the illegal behavior on wall street? >> i'm certainly opposed to illegal behavior. fannie and freddie used the law to end up making malinvestments and the rest of us ended up paying for them. that gave you the recession. >> no. no. >> now we've had a recovery for three years and it's a lousy recovery because of the policies that you've endorsed. >> well actually, let me tell you something. this senator when he was in the house helped lead unsuccessfully i might say the effort against deregulation. because i believed then and i believe now that when you have a handful of giant financial institutions, and right now, wolf, we're looking at six financial institutions in this country that have assets equivalent to two-thirds of the

gdp of the united states of america. if anyone believes that these financial institutions once again are not too big to fail, they are solely plis taken. the bottom line is when mr. norquist and i disagree, i think you tell the people mr. norquist do you believe that we should abolish social security, medicare? we should make substantial cuts to those programs in order to prevent taxes going up for the wealthiest people in this country? >> my position and the position of the american people is taxes shouldn't be raised. we should reform government spending and reign it in. the programs you have mentioned, social security and medicare, are right now heading for bankruptcy because they're not sustainable because of the policies that have been put in place and the lousy obama recovery in the last four years. we need reforms like the ryan plan which actually reform entitlements so they're still there. under your plans they're gone in a couple decades. >> well actually i tell you what

the american people want. poll after poll with the american people what they're saying is that we should not cut social security but what we should do is lift the cap on taxable incomes. >> we're going to wrap it up right now. i'll give you the last word. >> sure. look. president obama's budget is not serious. it's like the one a year ago which every single democrat in the house and senate voted against. it's a political document but the democrats didn't even vote for it last year. if the president actually wanted to pass anything in his budget he would have lined up the democrat votes in the senate first. it's just for show. he didn't actually write a budget. he plans to work with. again -- >> we have to leave it there. grover norquist from americans for tax reform. senator bernie sanders a good discussion. serious discussion. i hope we'll continue because these are critically important issues for millions and millions of americans. thanks to both of you for coming in. >> thank you.

one of president obama's senior advisers is standing by. dan pfeiffer is over at the white house. i'll ask him about this opposition to the president's proposed cuts to social security. the opposition coming in from democrats and republicans. stand by. # was gone for so long... ...but he'd wait for her forever and always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. ...to help keep his body as strong as a love that never fades. iams. keep love strong. now you can keep love fun with new shakeables meaty treats.

. we're following the dramatic breaking news from washington up on capitol hill today. the united states congressman said point blank that north korea in his words may have nuclear weapons that could be delivered by ballistic missiles. representative doug lamborn quoted an assessment by the u.s.

defense intelligence agency. that's over at the pentagon. at a house intelligence committee hearing he said dia assesses with moderate confidence the north currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. however, the reliability will be low. that assertion from a united states congressman. let's discuss this and a whole lot more. dan pfeiffer is joining us from the white house right now the senior adviser to president obama. i know the president met today with ban ki-moon in the oval office. high on the agenda of course north korea. our interview with ban ki-moon coming up at the top of the hour. give us the latest from the president. what does he think about this crisis right now and specifically about the assertion quoting an unclassified line from a dia report? >> well, wolf, i'm not going to comment on that specific assertion. what the president has said about this is that this is part of a pattern of behavior from north korea we've seen many times. provocative actions.

it is incumbent upon north korea to step back, meet their international obligations, and do what they say is their number one goal which is economic development which can only happen if they do essentially the opposite of what they're doing right now. >> you spent a lot of time with the president. how would you describe his involvement right now with this issue? it clearly is a crisis. everyone recognizes it. is it dominating his thinking, on the sidelines, what is your sense? >> he is obviously following this very closely. he is kept up to date by the national security team and he is -- like everyone is concerned about this but he understands that this is an issue of regional, you know, north korea is a threat to regional stability. we've taken the steps we need to take to protect the homeland, protect our allies, and our brave men and women serving in the region. >> the president yesterday unveiled his new budget for 2014 and it's got a lot of stuff in there obviously but some liberal democrats. your base whether labor union leaders like richard trumka at

the afl-cio, bernie sanders, the independent senator from vermont. they are pretty upset about the way he wants to change the inflation factor for social security recipients, for medicare, and for other areas. they think this is a horrible, horrible idea. what do you say to them? >> well, first it's important to understand the context here. what the president did is he took the last offer that he presented to speaker boehner during the fiscal negotiations in december and included it in his budget. that includes some provisions like the one you're referring to here that are things republicans specifically asked for to be included in any fiscal deal. the president wanted to demonstrate he is serious about trying to resolve our problems but also we don't have to choose between deficits and job creation. we can do both. but it's a compromise. you'll have folks on both sides who aren't going to want it. >> what is the president going to try to do to reassure some of the liberals out there who are disappointed he is tinkering with social security? they say he promised he wouldn't do that and they think this is a betrayal. >> well, i would say that this

is part of a compromise and the president doesn't view his budget as some sort of allah cart menu where republicans can take certain provisions and try to pass those. it is a comprehensive plan. we will only have this sort of change you're talking about under two conditions. one, it is part of an overall deal that includes tax reform that raises revenue by closing loopholes that benefit the most wealthy and, too, we put in specific provisions to protect the most vulnerable. >> how did the president's dinner go, the second outreach, the charm offensive they call it. i know the budget, the economy, jobs, that was high on the agenda at dinner last night and lasted almost three hours. give us the president's reaction. is he more encouraged that some sort of grand bargain can be achieved? >> well, he thought it was a good dinner. it was a wide ranging discussion. we talked about economic issues including the budget but also guns and immigration and the other issues before the senate right now. his view of this is that there

are certainly some folks saying the right things in the republican side who seem to be willing to be part of what he calls a caucus of common sense. the question here is, is the republican party as a whole going to be willing to compromise? the house of representatives, which views, currently views compromise as a dirty word, willing to compromise? if that is the case we have a chance. he knows it is not an easy path but a hard path. there is an opportunity and that is why he is having the conversations he is having with both sides of the aisle. >> thanks for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. stay right here for our daily special report on the crisis with north korea. at the top of the hour we'll hear directly from the united nations secretary general ban ki-moon with a message for kim jung un in north korea. he speaks to him from here in the situation room to pyongyang directly in korean with that message. you'll hear it first on cnn. ♪

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president obama has certainly made big moves this week when it comes to guns, immigration, and revealing his own new budget. why is he painting with pretty bold strokes right now? let's discuss what is going on? our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. and joe klein is joining us, the political columnist for our corporate sibling "time" magazine. gloria, how much of what the president is doing right now is sort of looking ahead to his legacy? >> everything. >> now that he is in his second term? >> everything. second terms are all about legacy and you just mentioned what's on the president's agenda. obviously immigration reform is a big legacy item for him. he didn't expect gun control to be one. but it is certainly becoming one particularly after newtown. and then of course on the budget. we saw the president this week, i think pretty promising, i think joe thinks so too, which is that he set out a budget that actually touches the third rail of american politics, social

security, medicare, and actually says, you know what? you got to deal with these entitlement programs. angering his base. in the second term, presidents have to sometimes choose between their base and the history books. i think he is going for the history books. >> i remember bill clinton did that in his second term as well. >> welfare. >> a lot of people remember. joe, you've written a new column in "time" magazine and you actually go out on a limb and think things are going to work out for the president. he might actually get that so-called grand bargain with the republican leadership in congress. a new budget deal, a new economic proposal. >> well, yeah. wolf, it's always good to speak to my siblings by the way. no. i think i've been speaking to members of the senate especially. the big change here is that instead of trying to knock his head against the wall in the house dealing with john boehner and the tea party people again and again, he is going through the senate this time. and there are a bunch of republicans in the senate who would be willing to compromise,

you know, on a deal that was reasonable. some new revenues and some entitlement reform. i actually thought that what we saw yesterday which was like, you know, a bologna explosion from both sides attacking the president's, you know, the president's plan, was a very good sign. i think most of the democrats eventually will come along. some may not. but if they don't, that'll make it more, you know, a more credible plan for republicans. make it easier for moderate republicans to vote for it. i think we have a possibility. the other major, huge faction is that when you talk to members of congress, gloria, i think you probably have had the same experience, they're beginning to get a lot of pressure from the business community, which wants to see this thing settled. >> they want to see this thing settled and also want to see immigration reform settled. >> absolutely. >> i think, so there is a lot of pressure from all sides here and i think what you're seeing also

is the president having dinner with all these republicans last night for example, deciding that, perhaps, if he can deal with the senate and get enough votes on something in the senate, then he can put some pressure on the house. >> i'll start being encouraged when i see the president having dinner with a whole bunch of republicans from the house of representatives as opposed to the senate. >> not that far along. >> we'll continue this conversation. a quick thought, joe. go ahead. >> wolf, he doesn't need to have a discussion with an awful lot of republicans in the senate. we have already seen this year that you can pass tax increases with 30 or 40 republicans breaking away from the tea party that's shackling them and joining a majority of democrats. >> joe klein from "time" magazine. gloria of course is from cnn. sibling cousins. guys, thanks very much. just ahead, a break in the case of a secret reporting with senator mitch mcconnell and aides discussing ways to undermine a potential rival the actress ashley judd.

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there is a break in the case of a secret recording we told you about this week. the one where senator mitch mcconnell and campaign aides were caught discussing how to undermine potential rivals including the actress ashley judd. cnn's jim acosta has details. >> reporter: according to an official with the local democratic party in louisville two members of the liberal group progress kentucky were behind the secret recording of a strategy session at senate

minority leader mitch mcconnell's headquarters in february. >> they were there. they overheard this salacious conversation and decided to record it. >> reporter: conway tells cnn he is not sure why members from the group were there in the first place but told him they were right outside the room. he adds their account of what was revealed matches the recording released by left leaning magazine "mother jones." >> i assume most of you have played the game. >> the recording features mcconnell and his campaign team going through opposition research on potential opponents including actress ashley judd who has since declined to run. >> jesse can go in chapter and verse from her autobiography about, you know, she suffered some suicidal tendencies. >> one told me about it and i ran into the other one and asked him about it and they told me about it. the same weekend that it happened. and i didn't really pay any mind to it until the "mother jones" story broke. when i heard the "mother jones"

tape it was the exact same things that they told me was discussed. i put two and two together. >> as it turns out the same group named by conway was singled out by mcconnell at a news conference tuesday. >> well, as you know, last month my wife's ethnicity was attacked by a left wing group in kentucky and apparently they also bugged my headquarters. >> reporter: in response to the mcconnell campaign's allegation the headquarters was bugged the fbi launched an investigation. a source close to the campaign says agents pulled the building's surveillance footage. >> they were here for about an hour. they checked out the office, took a lot of pictures, examined our personal devices. and they, i believe, swept the office. >> reporter: retired fbi agent tom fuentes says the case will likely hinge on whether the conversation could be overheard. >> the investigation is going to have to determine if the individuals are being truthful that they overheard this conversation out in the hallway or near the elevator and the

people in the meeting were speaking in such a loud manner that they had no trouble not only hearing it but recording it with enough quality to be able to replay it later. >> reporter: conway says he believes the two activists used something as simple as a smart phone to make the recording. not a bug. >> this is not watergate as our senior senator has described it. >> reporter: as for progress kentucky cnn has tried to contact the group but our calls haven't been returned. meanwhile, the mcconnell campaign says it is disturbed by the allegations of the group's involvement and democratic party officials in louisville stress they had nothing to do with the reporting. wolf? >> i suspect this saga will continue. jim acosta, thank you. jay-z raps about going to cuba forcing a clarification from j.c. that would be the president's spokesman jay carney.

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the recording star's jay-z and his wife beyonce were criticized for lawmakers for visiting havana in the last few days. jay-z released that rap song in response. listen. ♪ >> the white house press secretary, jay carney, responded to those lyrics earlier today. >> i guess nothing rhymes with treachery.

it's a song, donovan. the president did not communicate with jay-z over this trip. >> let's discuss what's going on in our strategy session. joining us or cnn contributors, democratic strategist paul begala and anna navarrnavarro. what's going on here? >> as you know, wolf, in pop culture, nothing crosses my radar unless they do a diet with the great willy nelson. but i'm into snoop. jay-z has yet to do that. so i had to go to twitter. deann suggested i say the country has 99 problems, but jay-z isn't one. we have a cultural exchange there. it's good for artists to go to cuba. and good for cuban artists to come here. i think the right wing attacking

jay-z for this is silly. >> and the treasury department has to sign off on these visits. a lot of americans go as tourists to cuba. do you have a problem with any of this? >> i frankly have a problem with the way he's reacted to it. look, wolf, havana is no atlanta. cuba's not cancun. it's not disneyland, it's not st. part's. it is an island 90 miles from the coast of florida and the people are living under a dictator ship that has lasted 54 years. i live here in miami. i am not a cuban-american, but i can tell you that i've lived and grown up around cuban-americans. there are so many people in this community who are direct victims, people who have been in jail 20 years, 25, 28 years as political prisoners in cuba. i have friends in this community who are the children of people that were executed in firing squads by the castro regime. so what you see these people

doing is representing those people that have felt so much pain. and to trivialize what's going on in cuba, i think is just not the right thing. it would have been nice if jay-z and beyonce had spent some time with one of the dissidents, or visited somebody who's been in jail, if maybe they had spent some time with the people that have suffered, and they're suffering there and could have come back and told a little bit about what's going on in the real cuba, what they saw is not the real cuba. it's the tourist cuba for people with dollars. it's not a funny song. not funny at all. >> marco rubio is a cuban-american. he called the regime, the castro regime over there a cruel repressive and murderous regime. go ahead, paul, what do you think? >> senator rubio is right about that. the castro regime has for half a century been cruel and repressive and whatever else he said. they have a terrible human rights record. it doesn't mean we shouldn't have artists going over there.

my goodness, the people's republic of china, as he points out, jay-z, points out in the song saying the mike is made in china. another cruel repressive anti-democratic regime. yet we have full business exchanges with them. even when the soviet union was at their worst, we had cultural exchanges there. jay-z is an artist. as i say, not at the level of willy nelson, but the kid's got some talent. but it's good for an american artist to go there and show them what freedom and freedom of speech is all about. maybe it will catch on even in cuba as well. >> maybe it, maybe it won't. guys, thanks very much. good discussion as usual. jeanne moos is coming up next in t"the situation room," and that will be followed immediately by the special report of the korean crisis, and the new worries that north korea may be much further along in developing nuclear-tipped missiles. mily time. this is my family. this is joe. hi joe! hi there!

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the guy laughing is the cameraman, and the hands handling the spoon belong to odden's owner. if you think the cameraman's laughter is contagious, just imagine being there. >> i was basically crying behind the camera laughing so hard. >> reporter: at least he could see the action his roommate and the dog's owner, ashland parker, was underneath the green jacket with her head covered. >> she was kind of crouched down, hiding behind odden, and her arms were reaching around odden. >> reporter: the dog himself was wearing a white shirt and vest for this shoot at home in spokane, washington. what inspires someone to make a dog in a suit eating peanut butter video? the answer is two dogs dining with much better manners. these two waited patiently for their dinner and actually used silverware to eat, not to mention napkins. they even fed each other. the video that inspired ashland and trefin was uploaded over two

years ago, when viewers cried fake. the masterminds put out another video revealing their technique. ashland and trevon decided to remake the doggy dining classic using pea fut butter, and the rest is canine cinematic history. as one commenter posted, i'm watching a dog in a suit eating peanut butter. what am i doing with my life? and what did you do with the leftover peanut butter? >> it's actually back in the fridge. >> reporter: waiting for oddin the german shepherd, if case he wants seconds. careful what you eat out of their fridge. we prefer peanut butter and german shepherd, forget about peanut butter and jelly. peanut butter and jelly. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

i'm wolf blitzer. this is "the situation room" special report. north korean crisis. happening now, we're following breaking news. a chilling new claim about kim jong-un's ability to launch a nuclear attack even as his regime threatens war. from the white house to the situation room, ban ki-moon joins us this hour. he'll deliver a direct message to kim jong-un in pyongyang. and we have secret film coming in from north korea. it shows smugglers forming an escape route for the poor and starving citizens. we begin with breaking news. north korea warns war could break out at any moment. there may, repeat, may be new reason to fear that its threats of a nuclear attack are much

more serious than we thought. it's a stunning new development, even as kim jong-un could order at least one missile to launch literally at any time. let's bring in chris lawrence. he has the very latest. chris? >> wolf, several pentagon officials just told me they were completely caught offguard by the fact that this revelation was put out there in an open hearing. look, the holy grail for north korea has always been being able to take a fu clear bomb, which we know they have, and making it small enough to fit on the end of a missile. this assessment suggests they may have learned how to do so. kim jong-un has threatened a nuclear strike, and revelations from a new intelligence report show he may be capable of following through. >> the north currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. >> reporter: a congressman quote from an assessment which suggests north korea may be closer to marrying nuclear weapons with the missiles to

deliver them. >> whatever it takes to miniaturize it to the point where it could be placed on top of a missile. there is some degree of confidence, moderate confidence by the defense intelligence agency that that can be done by north korea. >> reporter: the revelation came as president obama publicly appealed to north korea to end its belligerent approach. >> and to try to lower temperatures. nobody wants to see a conflict on the korean peninsula. >> reporter: if true, the revelations give new weight to north korea's threats. >> translator: our arms are ready to fire and the exact coordinates are input to the warheads. once we push the button, it will be fired and the strong holds of our enemies will be turned into a sea of flames. >> reporter: the u.s. believes north korea has at least once musudan missile on the launchpad. they said after initially raising the launcher, they lowered it thursday. but they're not sure if kim jong-un is backing off or

testing it first before firing. >> i don't think really he has much of an end game. >> reporter: the director of national intelligence said kim is trying to get recognition from the united states. >> north korea's a rival on an international scene, as a nuclear power. and that that entitles him to negotiation and to accommodation. and presumably for aid. >> now, this assessment does say that the reliability of any such weapon would be low. it probably references north korea's continued problems with accuracy. getting a weapon that can actually hit what it's aiming for. but it does suggest perhaps a meaning behind some of the recent moves by the obama administration. including bolstering missile defenses on the island of guam and putting and installing -- planning to install new missile defenses in alaska.

wolf? >> pretty chilling stuff. chris lawrence at the pentagon. thans very much. ask ju just a while ago i spoke with general ban ki-moon. he met with president obama in the oval office today on the agenda, very high on the agenda, north korea. i asked ban ki-moon what he knows about north korea's nuclear capabilities. and the secretary-general of the united nations ban ki-moon is joining us here in "the situation room." thank you, mr. secretary-general, for coming in. >> it's a great pleasure to see you. >> always nice to see you. you've just come from the white house, the world bank, you met with the president of the united states. let's talk about north korea. the key question is, have they miniaturized their nuclear weapons to the point they could endanger south korea, endanger japan and others in the region? >> we do not have any independent information to verify it. but it may be true that they

will continue to improve their technology. that will be against the security council resolution, most recently 2094. clearly we've asked north korea to restrain from making provocative measures in regard to nuclear weapons. >> the security council resolutions and sanctions imposed on north korea aren't working, clearly. >> sanctions are working, but it needs the full cooperation from all member states. >> and they're not cooperating, north korea. and as a result, when i say they're not working, north korea's continuing to flaunt those united nations security council resolutions. >> the most recent security council resolution 2094 is a very comprehensive, and i'm sure that either by -- >> how long will it take for it

to bite? >> i do not have any idea. but it is very important that the whole member state of the united nations should fully cooperate in implementing this resolution. >> you just came from the oval office, where you met with the president of the united states. are you on the same page with president obama, as far as north korea is concerned? >> we are on the same page, and i was very much assured by president obama that we will take very firm, but measured response to that. i have asked him to take such measures in close coordination with the republic of korea government, the south korean, and also with the strong engagement of neighboring countries, particularly china. at this time, china can play a

very important, crucial role. >> is it playing a crucial role right now? is it being helpful is this. >> is it helpful? when you heard that the president in south korea would not allow any such things to happen in the region, and when i spoke to foreign minister wan recently, he made quite sure that china does not want to -- any eruption of uncontrollable situation at their doorstep. >> you're from south korea. you're a former foreign minister from south korea. you've gone through a lot of crises with north korea. not just with this current young leader, but his father, his grandfather. is this crisis more serious, different than others? >> this crisis seems to be much more heightened crisis. but at this time, we should take the firm, but measured

positions, not to fall into traps of north koreans, what they are ratcheting up this attention. it's just to frighten south korea and other allies. and i was very much encouraged by president obama. he just assured that the united states will respect the treaty, the obligations and commitment for the republic of korea. >> the pressure is building in south korea to develop its own nuclear weapon, to combat north korea if necessary. what do you say about that? >> i don't think it is the general views of the south korean people, the south korean government has assured and committed to continued accreditation of the korean peninsula in their joint declaration with the north korean 1992. i'm sure that south korea will continue to abide by that declaration.

>> are you ready to go to pyongyang and meet with kim jong-un? >> i have made it consistently clear that i am ready to visit the dprk when and if my visit is helpful, and in close coordination with the concerned parties, particularly the republic of korea and the united states. >> stand by for more of my interview with the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon. the u.n. secretary-general delivers a direct and powerful message to kim jong-un. i asked him to deliver that message in korean, knowing that they watch cnn international in north korea. at least the elite, the elite government officials and the military do. you'll hear that message in korean. what he has to say to kim jong-un, that's coming up this hour on our special report, the korean crisis. up next, though, we have secret film from inside north korea. very dangerous escape route for people who are starving. and the former president

bill clinton once called the korean border the scariest place on earth. gun fights, kidnappings, other dangers in the dmz. great first gig! let's go! party! awwwww... arigato! we are outta here! party......

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hundreds of thousands killed over the last two decades, possibly even millions. what little we know with the country's starvation horror comes from defectors. ak us angus walker talked to one of them. >> under the cover of darkness, smugglers cross a frozen river from north korea into china. taking enormous risks, and food and fuel back to their impoverished country. the footage shows an armed soldier who's been paid to cover their tracks at first light. bribing the border guards and following in the smugglers' footsteps is how people escape from north korea. now, in hiding, in south korea, this woman defected shortly after kim jong-un came to power. we've protected her identity, because she had to leave some of her family behind.

fighting back tears, she tells me she got out, risking death if she was caught, so she could live. >> translator: my family had decided to commit suicide, because the three days we didn't have anything to eat. we decided to starve to death. we said, let's die. but then i wanted to survive. i sold the house for 30 kilos of rice. >> reporter: millions have little food. this footage smuggled out was filmed last month. reports from inside north korea suggest food prices have tripled in a year. >> translator: to survive, i had to eat grass. people picked grass and leaves. they used them to make soup. >> what do you think of kim jong-un and what do you think of what he's threatening to do? >> translator: kim jong-un is trying to be more extreme than his father. and trying to distract the north korean people from their own problems and complaints.

>> reporter: south korean pop in north korea, on a smuggled dvd, the sights and sounds of the 21st century. for those trapped in time this a thit mare. it's a glimpse of another world so near and yet so far away. >> angus walker is joining us now from the south korean capital. you've actually been there to north korea a couple of times, angus. what's your assessment right now? how close are we to this crisis spilling over into actual military hostilities? >> well, i think if kim jong-un launched a missile aimed at south korea, japan, or u.s. targets, then he would be effectively committing suicide. so i think the north koreans will be trying to do something which will capture the world's

attention. that's what they want. they want attention. they've launched missiles before. they've launched missiles which have flown over japan before. i think what we're looking at, though, is if they launch a missile, what type of missile is it. almost to the day, a year ago, i was standing in the main parade ground in pyongyang watching a new type of missile being wheeled past. the massive military parade that went on a year ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birthday of kim il-sung, the founder of this dynasty that rules north korea. there's an argument whether the missiles were genuine or not. but if they are three-stage rockets that could fire -- have a range of about 2.5,000 miles, that would be a gang changer in this region. >> angus walker in south korea for us. thank you for that report. thank for joining us. on capitol hill, lawmakers are trying to figure out kim

jong-un's next move. i spoke earlier with the house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers. mr. chairman, thanks very much for coming. >> wolf, it's great to be here. thanks for having me. >> does the u.s. and south korean allies, the japanese, are they still bracing for north korea to launch a missile, or a series of missiles within the next few hours, or days? what is the latest assessment? >> anytime somebody like this who has capabilities to launch a missile makes those threats, you have to take them seriously. so yes, i think u.s. forces are on posture to deal with that, same with the japanese, same with the south koreans. and the unpredictable part of this is you see a little bit of a different behavior with the chinese. they've got this on-again/off-again relationship with the north koreans over time. about 65% of their foreign goods come through china. they are taking a little bit of a different turn here, which is

a positive thing against north korea. so you have the japanese on edge, the u.s., the south koreans, now you see the chinese taking a little bit of a different posture, wolf. i looked at that as a good sign to start trying to unwind this thing. >> are there any indications that kim jong-un and his top military leadership are seeking to tone things down, or is it still seem to be ratcheting up the tension? >> i think he sees there's an internal to north korea advantage for him to continue to do this, to try to solidify himself with his military base. and north korea is one of those countries with an army with a country, not a country with an army. so he needs to solidify that base so he can continue to solidify his power across the country. i think he is feeling pretty emboldened by all these activities. the fact that they sunk a ship in 2010 and did some artillery fire earlier than that that killed south koreans with no

response, i think makes him feel emboldened to continue ratcheting this up until some common sense, or at least external pressure kicks in to have him ratcheting down. i think he's going to continue to do this. i even believe, wolf, that he may even be looking for a minor skirmish as they have in the past, in order to thump his chest and show that he is this new military commander, and defender of the people of north korea. >> how good is u.s. intelligence on what's going on in north korea? >> never as good as you want it to be when you're the chairman of the intelligence committee, i can tell you that. we have a little room to go. we have some indications, but we're a long way from having that comfort level about fully understanding across the board about not only with military intentions, but what the leadership intentions are. again, our intelligence folks are doing great work under tough circumstances. and we continue to try to improve that posture. >> does it make any sense to send a high-level emissary to

pyongyang? >> you know, i'm not sure. you don't want to reward bad behavior, especially saber rattling at the level he's doing now. so i would be cautious about that. what i'd love to see is china shut down their southern border with north korea, and shut off both luxury goods and the black market for fuel. that would have a huge and immediate impact on the regime in north korea. if we could get them to do that, i think we could start -- then start negotiations on how they unravel it. because that pressure would be so immediate, and so real, and it would be felt, as i said, almost immediately. >> the chairman of the house intelligence committee, mike rogers. congressman, thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. >> still ahead, a former north korean spy finds a new life right here in the united states. she talks to us about the crisis and the deadly price her husband paid when she defected. plus, it's the world's most

heavily armed border. right now tension's soaring along korea's demilitarized zone. welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business

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happening now, a direct appeal to kim jong-un to stop threatening the world. the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon delivers that message from here in "the situation room" to pyongyang. this is a cnn exclusive. former north korean spy who fled, says she knows firsthand what the regime is capable of. and she believes war in fact is coming. horror stories from the border, why the line between north and south korea has been called the scariest place in the world. i'm wolf blitzer. and this is t"the situation roo" special report, north korean crisis. get back to the breaking news this hour, a chilling new assessment of north korea's ability to launch a nuclear attack. a united states congressman quoting from a new pentagon intelligence assessment. he says kim jong-un's regime currently has nuclear weapons

capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. there are still a lot of unanswered questions about all of this, but some south koreans already are developing a potentially dangerous plan to protect themselves. they want nuclear weapons of their own. cnn's kyung lah is joining us with more on this. what's going on, kyung. >> reporter: remember, wolf, this is the country that feels like they have the biggest bull's-eye on it in the region. it is supporting a disturbing sentiment here in south korea, ta the only way to stop kim jong-un is for this country to have its own nuclear arsenal. seoul may seem reserved amid growing threats from north korea, but there's a growing rage beneath this calm. south korea's not powerful enough, says this woman, if we

have nuclear weapons, it would be better for our stability. a sentiment echoed loudly by a prominent south korean politician. speaking on international peace in washington, he minces no words to the american audience -- we want our own nukes. >> telling us not to consider any nuclear option is tantamount to telling us to simply surrender. let us try to prevent the unthinkable by thinking the unthinkable. >> reporter: the call defies a long-standing principle to limit the nuclear club. one south korea heated for decades under the shield of america's nuclear umbrella. there's been no policy shift from the government, but from the people, public sentiment is shifting here in south korea. two recent national polls show that two-thirds of south koreans believe they should have their own nuclear weapons.

that's a sharp rise from just a few years ago. so, what changed? a tax from north korea that claimed lives. 46 sailors were killed when a torpedo sank a south korean warship in 2010. and a surprise artillery attack on the yongbyon island. they say kim jong-un seemingly uncontrollable ramp up as a failure of western diplomacy with no long-term solution. phillip says more nukes is a dangerous proposal for global security. >> it is not going to enhance south korea's security. it is going to make south korea less safe. i think it's not going to prevent north korean provocations, and in the larger respect, it is not going to add to the ability of south korea to

deter a large-scale attack from north korea. in fact, what will happen is that there will be a regional arms race. >> reporter: armed south korea, japan will follow and then china responds. a region that would tip even more out of balance and out of control. so these incremental steps that north korea appears to be making to continue its own nuclear arsenal and nuclear testing, wolf, having an impact on south korea, the region, and thereby, the united states. >> kyung lah in seoul, south korea for us, thank you very much. nowhere is the tension with north korea more evident than the so-called no-man's land that divides north and south korea, what they call the demilitarized zone, the dmz. tom foreman is here with a closer look. what do we know, first of all, about the dmz? >> the first thing that anyone needs to know, wolf, is there simply is no more heavily guarded border anywhere on the

planet. 160 miles long, two and a half miles wide, the demilitarized zone is ironically bordered by hundreds of thousands of troops and heavy weapons. former president bill clinton called it the scariest place on earth. and david benbow who served there in the late '60s said hardly a week passed without gunfire over the border. >> it was the scariest place i've ever been. especially the night ambush patrols. they were the scariest. >> reporter: serious clashes have occurred in recent years along the border zone, but talks of gun fights, kidnappings and secret tunnels go back decades. in 1976 two u.s. army officers were leading a work crew to cut down a tree when north korean soldiers attacked and killed them with axes. in 1994, a u.s. helicopter accidently crossed the line and was shot down. the co-pilot died and the pilot was released only after intense negotiations.

hundreds of lives have been lost and even when the guns are silent, north korean troops crowd the dividing line. in benbow's time they steadily blared propaganda. >> we were told to go home and we were going to die. >> reporter: troops call a single fairway near the dmz the most dangerous golf course in the world. but it's no joke, when dignitaries like hillary clinton visit, north korean soldiers stare through a window just across the border. a ready and constant reminder that the world is very different only inches away. military analysts have pointed out many times over the years that the tension along this border, wolf, and the forward positioning of all those troops and all those armaments that anywhere else it would be seen as imminent war. it sa most unusual place and a reason why it's so hard to read

their intentions at a time like this. >> when i was a white house correspondent for cnn during the clinton administration. i must say, you look at the faces of the troops on both sides, and they're pretty scared. that picture we just saw of hillary clinton, that's pretty dramatic. >> extraordinary. everybody who goes there seems to tell the same tale. >> tom foreman, thanks for that report. stul ahead, the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon, he ushs a direct awe peel to north korea's kim jong-un from here in "the situation room." this is the cnn exclusive. we'll also get reaction from cnn's christiane amanpour, and fareed zakaria. they are both standing by. she plays beautiful music, but she's actually a former north korean spy. and she's opening up to us about the regime, and its military threats. the humble back seat. we believe it can be the most valuable real estate on earth.

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the united nations secretary-general speaks generally to kim jong-un in korean. es are trying to come back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet...

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♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. now a cnn exclusive. ban ki-moon making a direct appeal to north korea leader kim jong-un in his native language. the it happened during my interview with ban ki-moon. listen to this. they're watching you in pyongyang right now on cnn international. if you have a chance to speak directly right now to kim jong-un, you can make a statement, make some -- a request from him. what would you say to him? >> i would strongly ask him to, first of all, refrain from taking any such provocative measures, which is clearly in violation against the security

council resolution, against the international community. i would strongly urge him to deter war, to enhance the living standards of his own people when they're suffering from this economic difficulty. >> one final question, secretary-general. look at that camera right over there, speak to kim jong-un in korean. [ speaking in korean ] [ speaking in korean ]

>> secretary-general, thank you so much for coming in. let's hope this crisis with north korea eases. >> thank you very much. we're joined now by cnn's chief international correspondent christiane amanpour, the anchor of amanpour on cnn international, also fareed zakaria, the host of cnn's fareed zakaria gps. christiane, that was pretty powerful, i thought, when i asked him to speak in korean directly to kim jong-un, and he made that appeal. what did you think? >> well, i don't know how that's going to go down in pyongyang. it will be interesting to see. but i think one of the things that's very, very important right now is it breaking news about what the defense intelligence agency has been saying. and it's very interesting to me that general dempsey in that testimony on capitol hill said that he had not seen that report. and i find that really interesting. i'm also interested to know, and i don't think it is, but whether

it is the general consensus by the whole u.s. intelligence community that this so-called warhead, or weapon can be sent on a missile. i spoke to one of the top-level scientists, one of the only americans who goes into pyongyang regularly, not just into pyongyang, but into the nuclear facilities, and he says that he does not believe that they have the ability to put a warhead on a missile right now. that whatever they have is quite primitive. and that's why they keep testing and that's why they keep testing the missiles. but he does not believe one can be delivered by a missile. not even to south korea. he told me that if they were going to threaten south korea with any kind of nuclear device, and they probably have about four to eight plutonium devices, he thinks, that would have to be delivered by truck, plane or boat. he does not believe they have the ability to put it on any missiles right now. but they are perhaps working on that in order to deter the

united states. wolf? >> fareed, i think these -- this new dia assessment is pretty chilling. but let's get back a little bit to what ban ki-moon told me. he said he would be willing to go to north korea and speak directly with kim jong-un, and when i asked him to speak in korean to the north korean leader, you heard what he had to say. he made that direct appeal. i suspect that kind of gesture is precisely what the north korean leader kim jong-un would like to see, to get that kind of respect, if you will, despite the provocative steps he's taken in recent days. >> oh, clearly this is a search for legitimacy, credibility. but wolf, ban ki-moon said something very interesting. remember, ban ki-moon is a former foreign minister of south korea. so he has dealt with this issue essentially for all of his professional life. he said we should work for peace and unification on the korean peninsula. this has been the traditional view. but when he said it in korean in

that powerful, passionate appeal, it made me realize part of the problem here, any kind of unification is going to take place on the korean peninsula entirely on south korea's terms. south korea is one of the richest countries in the world now. north korea's arguably one of the three or four poorest countries in the world. so the north is in danger of being swallowed up by the south. and they know it. so when ban ki-moon makes this gesture and says, let's work for peace and unification, perhaps to the north korean regime, that sounds like the end of their regime. you know, the odd thing about north korea is, it is really in a struggle for survival at some level. the nuclear weapons, the international attention, all this warmongering. this is all some kind of search for what will allow a deeply, deeply repressive, brutal, cruel regime that has failed its people to somehow survive. so they might have listened to

ban ki-moon and seen that as more of a threat than we realize. >> interesting. both of you stand by for a moment. we're going to have more on the north korean crisis. fareed is standing by, christiane is standing by. we'll get back to them in a moment. also coming up here in "the situation room," the musician, this musician living in the united states right now, she is actually a former north korean spy. so is this woman, convicted of blowing up a south korean airliner. and now they are both, yes, both, they're speaking out to us about the north korean crisis. so...how'd it go? well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. you've mastered monkey-style kung fu? no. priceline is different now. you don't even have to bid. master hahn taught you all that? oh, and he says to say (translated from cantonese) "you still owe him five bucks." your accent needs a little work.

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you can't predict when bad things will happen, so help protect yourself with adt. isn't your family worth america's number-one security company? call and get adt installed for just $99. and ask about adt pulse, advanced home management here today. adt. always there. our state department reporter is now reporting, quoting a senior administration official here in washington as saying there are no indications that the missiles that north korea has apparently already readied for tests, those specific missiles are armed with nuclear materials. the latest assessment from the intelligence agency at the pentagon, they believe north korea does have, and they say this with moderate confidence,

does have a capability of delivering ballistic missiles with a nuclear weapon. although once again, elise reporting that the current missiles that may be ready for a test are not specifically armed with nuclear missiles. let's get quick reaction. fareed and christiane are still with us. fareed, what do you make of all this? >> i think christiane put it right when we talked earlier. every other intelligence assessment suggests they can't put nukes on their missiles. the warheads are too heavy. the missiles would misfire. but it is important to point out, wolf, they keep trying. so, you know, this is an ongoing story. this is not one we can say with absolute confidence. they've had three nuclear tests. they had a whole bunch of missile tests that were spectacularly unsuccessful. last december they shot a missile that could have reached the philippines. so they are constantly trying. they seem to accept trial and

error and failure. so this -- even if this one doesn't work, what you see is a regime that is constant ri trying to get, you know, get one of these things to work at some >> well, i think so, too. and the scientists, the most plugged in scientists believe that is the aim of this regime. it's to continue to test missiles, delivery systems, more nuclear tests, try to do what they have to do because it is becoming consensus believed that north korea wants to be taken seriously as a nuclear weapon state. and to be dealt with as other countries that have nuclear weapons and that, you know, the u.s. and the world now accepts whether it is pakistan or india or whatever it might be. so that seems to be where experts believe north korea is headed. so then the question is what do you do about it? how do you contain that kind of thing? and how in the words of the scientists i've been talking to, do you make sure you don't build more of them, better bombs and proliferate the bombs.

so, you know, they're on that way. i'm afraid to say, it reminds me of iran even though iran claims it doesn't have nuclear weapons. it is saying to the world that it will be taken seriously as a nuclear power. it wants the right to enrich and no amount of discussions, sanction, anything else has changed that equation right now in iran or in north korea which is way further ahead than iran with actual, you know, bomb capacity even though it has not, according to the best estimates and the best analysis, it is not yet been weaponized and put on missiles. >> good assessment from both of you. we'll see you back here tomorrow. the story, obviously, not going away. please be sure to watch "amanpour." it airs week days at 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. eastern. and also tune in to fareed zakaria gps on sundays here on cnn. a former north korean spy

predicts war will break out. she's living in the united states now after defecting. she says the regime executed her husband. she talks to us next. we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ it's lots of things. all waking up. ♪

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once she worked for the regime and now a spy who defected and is living in the united states. she is speaking out to our own brian todd. tell us what happened. >> she describes a regime she believes will push us into conflict, a group of leaders she says who have little regard for the safety of their own people or even themselves. as sabers rattle on the korean peninsula, a woman has a sense of foreboding from half a world away. but she has a perspective that few in the west can comprehend. she's not only a north korean defector, she once worked in the intelligence service ash, a spy whose mission was to catch drug dealers. she knows what this regime is capable of and says this about the current crisis. >> translator: i believe that the war will break and i believe that by 99%. because when you think about

this, the psychology of the people, they're thinking that oh, i survived, you all die. it's not that. you're going to die and i'm going to die as well. that's what they're thinking. >> reporter: another former north korean agent says she thinks kim jong-un is using provications to compensate for youth and inexperience. >> translator: he is struggling to gain complete control over the military and win their loyalty. >> reporter: she was cone victimed of blowing up a south korean airliner in 1987. she was captured alive whether she didn't bite her cyanide pill in time. she was sentenced to death in south korea but then pardoned. >> translator: north korea is using a nuclear program to keep the people in line and put south korea and the united states for concessions. this woman who defected in 2000, occupies her days in ways you wouldn't expect. these days she makes a living this way, playing concerts on

the a string instrument. she is politically active, though, and she says that comes with a price. residing in north virginia, she's engaged in protests in the u.s. against the north korean regime. in new york in 2010, while protesting the sinking of a south korean war ship, she says two north korean agents threatened to kill her. when i asked if she feared for her life -- >> translator: i do feel it's unsafe. i feel it's not safe. however, actually i don't regret what i do. because i feel that it's what i have to do because what they're doing is definitely wrong. although i have to look around and fear for my life, everybody has to die. >> despite the intimidation, she vows to continue protesting but always with keen sense of what happened before. her first husband who is also a north korean officer was executed, she says, after her defection. wolf?