♪ good sunday morning to you. so glad to have you. i'm christi paul. >> i'm martin savidge. it's 8:00 and terrific to be with you. the story of two manner detainees released by north korea. this morning they are waking up on u.s. soil. >> there were smiles. there was a lot of joy, a lot of hugs. these are the first pictures that you are seeing here that we're getting of kenneth bae and todd miller as they stepped off that plane in washington state.

they were both detained in north korea after being convicted of crimes against state and sentenced to several years hard labor. we're seeing it through the screen, ana but you saw it person to person so to speak. help us understand what it was like in that regard. >> reporter: it was really an emotional moment. we saw a lot of joy, so much gratitude expressed as those two men, 46-year-old kenneth bae and matthew miller stepped offer that airplane and into tarms he of their loved ones. this moment they were anticipating for months and years, in the case of kenneth bae in prison for two years in north korea and matthew miller was detain in april he was detained for about seven months. both men had been convicted of hostile acts against the government of north korea. they were both sentenced for hard labor and we understand that one of them was supposed to get 15 years.

of course kenneth bae and matthew miller was so serve a six year sentence. he just begun their sentence when they mysteriously were released. everybody is grateful that they are now home. i want you to listen to what kenneth bae had to say last night. >> thank you all for supporting me and standing by me during this time. and it's been just amazing blessing to see so many people being involved, getting me released from the last two years not to mention, only mentioning for thousands of people that have been praying for me as well. i want to say thank you all for supporting me and lifting me up and not forgetting me. it's been amazing two years. i learned a lot. i grew a lot. lost a lot of weight. good weight.

i stand strong because of you. >> reporter: it was just so great to hear his strong words, his spirit and he even cracked a little joke there about losing weight in a good way. we heard from ken neneth bae's sister as really the family spokesperson on behalf of her brother, work sewing hard and tirelessly to secure his release. here what she had to say. >> we finally are here. my brother is home. all of our hopes and prayers for this moment have finally come true. we are so thankful. >> reporter: she went on to thank a whole list of people and communities and everybody that they could really think of. and ask for continued prayers for people of north korea. the family we did not hear from was of course matthew miller's

family who were also there at this airfield as they greeted both men coming off the plane and they chose to have their private moment as a family. they are from california. it's unclear at this moment what their plans are today but as we heard from a u.s. official both men are free and really free to do as they wish. martin and christi. >> amazing to watch the release of bae and miller come a less after jeffrey was released. >> people are asking what's the significance of this happening right now? cnn's paula hancock has more for us from seoul, south korea. >> reporter: a top secret mission in the dead of night. the top spy chief for the united states arrives in pyongyang, carrying a letter from the u.s. president. he leaves one day letter with two former prisoners. no conditions and no strings attached according to the u.s. so why this sudden humanitarian gesture from north korea? >> clearly they crave having

this high level attention so, obviously, they are pleased that general clapper came. >> reporter: another suggestion kim jong-un wants to show he's still in charge. other experts believe pyongyang's recent charm offensive including a high-profile visit to seoul, technically enemy territory is a pr exercise to improve its image. the trigger, the united nations inquiry on human abuses titled the report of crimes against humanity. >> it showed a lighter side to the international community because although there could be legal sanctions or criminal proceedings against north korea, north korea is very much conscious of its reputation. >> reporter: the release of kenneth bae and matthew todd miller comes after two weeks after jeffrey fowle won his freedom. two things are certain. this decision came from the top

and it was made for a reason. pyongyang released a statement claiming that the u.s. president had made many requests and also an apology. now if that's the case, this domestically is propaganda gold for a leader who wants to remain and show that he's relevant on the international stage. paula hancock, cnn, seoul. >> so now we're joined by gordon chang. he's live in toronto. >> gordon, thank you for being with us. you heard paula hancock's reporting. no conditions, no strings attached according to u.s. officials. i heard you earlier say you think there's a charm offensive, that might have been part of the motive for north korea here to release these two men. charm who? elaborate on that for us. >> yeah. north korea wants to charm the international community specifically russia, japan, south korea and now us. the reason is about a year ago there was a rupture in their

relations with their primary backer which was china. so north korea needs to replace the support that it's been getting from beijing and where better else than the united states. >> you know, this place is so mysterious, north korea and kim jong-un disappeared for a while, he's back, you get this release. could his disappearance and the release now be related? >> you know, i'm sure they are related it's just that outside of a very small circle in pyongyang we don't know. i think kim jong-un has lost power since he's been in office after taking over from the death of his dad in december of 2011. i think you have new players on the scene in pyongyang and they are pushing the country in better directions. now i don't know how substantial this will be, now enduring this will be, but nonetheless we do see an opening. so this is intriguing. north korea is doing things it hasn't done before. releasing people without getting anything in return.

i think that's very significant. >> you know, they still have a pretty dismal human rights policy. they are still building their nuclear arsenal. do you expect any changes in regards to those, two pretty controversial topics. >> well, certainly with their nuclear program we're not going to see any change. they are full steam ahead. not only developing plutonium and uranium bombs but long range ballistic missiles to deliver them and a report from the general who is command of u.s. forces in korea send the north koreans can miniaturize their nuclear weapons. other human rights record we might see some, a little bit of improvement because they don't want to be referred to the international criminal court but apart from that the regime is not going to change because it can't change. especially can't change now when you have a young inexperienced leader who is very insecure. >> all right. we will all be watching very carefully to see if this glimmer

of hope turns into something more substantial. thank you for your insights, gordon chang. president obama meanwhile -- this is certainly interesting timing, he's headed to asia. we'll take a look at how crucial this trip is to the united states. i have the worst cold with this runny nose. i better take something.

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. president obama is on a plane this morning head to asia for a week long trip pep boarded air force one earlier today,

took off from andrews in maryland. >> his first stop is in beijing for a apec summit. he'll head to myanmar on wednesday morning. friday he will, friday evening he'll be in australia for the g-20 summit. we want to bring in douglas brinkley a historian at rice university and he joins us now from austin, texas. good morning to you. let's talk about the importance of this trip starting with the first stop china. things have been tense recently. what do we expect from that visit? >> well tense to put it mildly. this is not going to be a historic trip. this is a richard nixon going to meet the leader. you're really looking here now try to get china to cooperate with us on a few things like fighting ebola, china saying they are going to build a hospital in liberia, which is good news. so some things on the medical

front and dealing with climate change. you know, issues. so maybe the president can have private talks that will lead to something but i'm not at all hopeful we'll get much out of this trip. >> douglas, i don't think anybody can dismiss the fact that the timing is very interesting, that he's going asia and have these conversations. north korea, most likely is going to be on this agenda and this coming right after the release of these two americans. what do you make of that? >> well, that's a good point. i think they might be able to talk about north korea and get some things done. it looks like the president has a minor foreign policy success right now with the prisoner release and so perhaps you'll be able to find a way to get the north korea situation bogged down a little bit. china showed some interest in keeping north korea, you know, kind of a little calmer and not being a rogue player on the world stage. i'm sure that will come up in the talks too. what's most alarming china is

already dissing president obama before he arrives. this is a bit of unusual behavior and more tension on cyber issues, for example might being talked about, copyright issues. it is an important trip but i just think the agenda will be very crowded with other world leaders there and i just don't know how much one on one time the president is going to get with china's leadership. >> some may be due to the democratic, i guess the setback that they suffered in the election and lame duck president could be viewed that way. but let me ask you about president obama, brisbane and maybe the opportunity to meet with russian president vladimir putin. do you think they will in some way actually come face to face? >> i think so. i think right now you have to see barack obama has got to make foreign policy his hallmark. you don't have to worry about congress as much when you do it. we got to get people to help us in the world fight terror.

look at isis, what's going on in iran. mikhail gorbachev said yesterday there's a new cold war amiss. we don't need a new cold war. obama and putin need to find some common ground and i think that will be occurring here in the next two years. >> does seem like a new cold war. thank you for joining us this morning. thank you, sir. we get you caught up on the morning read and talk about iraq. u.s. air strikes near mosul targeted isis leaders. war planes attacked a convoy in a series of strikes. it's not clear whether the group's top commander abu bakr al-baghdadi was in that convoy. >> germany celebrating this. the tearing down of the berlin wall 25 years ago today during a ceremony a few hours ago german chancellor angela merkel but flowers on the wall.

1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the cold war. some icy weather. it's edging towards us, folks. jennifer grey, how bad will it be? >> it's coming for sure. we're seeing already winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings in place for folks in the northern plains and towards the midwest. minneapolis you're included in this. in fact could see some of the greatest snowfall totals of this entire storm. as this front moves down the south we'll see a swath of snowfall anywhere from minneapolis all the way through the dakotas and back through billings. minneapolis could see eight to 12 inches and that's most likely going to be the trouble spot where the highest amounts are, the biggest city is minneapolis. by the time it gets to chicago you should stay mainly dry. maybe a little bit of rain and snow mix, but we are expecting chicago to stay pretty dry and the points south as well. temperatures look at this. in the teens. you're not going to get above

freezing for most of the week in rapid city, minneapolis, same for you. temperatures will stay in the 20s and 30s and then chicago not quite as chilly but temperatures don't get above freezing, maybe hitting hat freezing mark on thursday. it won't hit atlanta or the northeast as much. we'll see temperatures fall just a bit. this morning chilly across much of the south even the northeast, 47. in d.c. the same in new york but these are the temperatures the next couple of days. obviously, those areas to the north are going to be bitterly cold guys over the next couple of days. >> ouch. jennifer thank you for the heads up. >> much appreciated. >> the president is ready to add to his team. >> he has a nominee for the next attorney general. who is she and what are the chances of confirmation. that's up next. right under this tree. ♪ (man) some things are worth holding onto.

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. all the news coming out of north korea yesterday overshadowed what's a big deal. president obama nominated loretta lynch as the next attorney general and he called the brooklyn attorney tough, fair and independent. >> lynch promises if confirmed she is going to be all that and even more. >> the department of justice is the only cabinet department named for an ideal and this is actually appropriate because our work is both aspirational and grounded in gritty reality. it's both ennobling and

profoundly challenging. >> we want to bring in cnn chef political correspondent candy crowley. what do you think the president picked lirj lynch? >> a coup of reasons. i think, first of all, she has been confirmed twice by the senate. now very different position. she will still undergo some pretty rigorous questioning but she has been confirmed for previous positions by the senate. i think also this is -- she's not an insider person with president obama. he's under fire right now for, you know, depending too much on an insular group. she doesn't have, you know, close ties with him particularly. i think also that it's a signal the president wanted to send about the continuation of how they view eric holder's tenure which is the fierce protection of civil rights and justice for all. i think she certainly has a

reputation for that, certainly has been a tough prosecutor and so i think there's also a message in what the message of the justice department is. i think those three reasons, you know, particularly when we're coming up to ferguson and what that grand jury may or may not do, and i think that, you know, it's just a strong signal. >> candy, real quick who will you have on the show, big week, obviously. tuesday had something to do with it. >> it is. we brought four members of the 2015 congressional class who were just elected, see what their questions are, what their hopes are. we're going pair them up with four members of one member of the senate and three members of congress who will be joining us to tell them what life is really like on capitol hill. >> interesting. candy crowley we'll be watching. stay here for "state of the union" with candy crowley at the top of the hour. >> a woman battling cancer went from her chemo treatment to a country concert. and she got an unforgettable

gift at that show. we have the video of that very emotional moment. next.

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welcome back. it is time for the good stuff. >> you know it's got to involve garth brooks. never fails. good guy. good stuff. garth brooks fan got the surprise of her life on friday after she held up a sign that caught the singer's eye. >> got up this morning, garth tonight enjoying the dance. >> he traveled from iowa to enjoy the show. garth noticed the sign during the performance of "the dance." when he had security pull her up to the front of the stage so he could serenade her. >> he even gave her one of his guitars and a kiss. we should point out brooks has a personal connection to the disease. his mother and sister both died from cancer. what a way to bring that

together. >> garth brooks is automatic. he's a great individual. >> he really is. big, big heart that man. so glad that you joined us. make great memories today. >> "inside politics" with john king starts right now. thanks for being with us. voters give republicans full control of congress, sent prsident obama a blunt message. >> to everyone who voted i want to you know i hear you. >> the talk of getting along is immediately tested by white house plans to take sweeping executive action on immigration. >> you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself. >> it's like raving a red flag in front of a bull. >> after six years of distrust is there any hope for deal making. >> we're going to make him squeal. >> as the 2014 republican wave mean a thing as we shift