and john roberts, that meeting will take place on the dmz we expect in the next hour or so. president trump: we made tremendous strides. only the fake news says they weren't. if you look at where we were 2 1/years ago. i think i can say the hatred that everybody had for everybody. and where it was going. i said that if president trump's term was for some reason extended through any method including having a successor that thought the way that administration thought, you would be right now at war with north korea. jon: history expected to unfold overnight in the united states. president trump announcing he'll

meet with north korean leader kim jong-un at the demilitarized zone that divides north and south korea. i'm jon scott from new york. president trump extended the invitation via twitter. we have learned the north korean leader has accepted. there is a lot that can come out of this historic meeting at the dmz. what might it mean for future u.s.-north korea relations. reporter: he's downplaying expectations of what might happen this afternoon. he says it's just a step. in describing it could be a very important step. you have got to go back to what your previous guest was talking about, the hanoi summit where there was heady expectation that

kim jong-un was going to put on the table to sort of deal that might get him relief from sanctions. it might indicate a tangible step. he was going to shirt and dismantle then' nuclear facility. this is something south korea was pushing for a long time of and president moon discussed in that press conference. it may lead to the lifting of some sanctions. so kim came to the hanoi summit and put that on the table thinking he was going to get relief from sanctions. but in the run-up to that we learned that something like that was not going to be enough. president trump was going to ask for more and indeed he did. he said jong bong is just a part of it.

he said we need the biological and miss isle program as well. kim said i am not going to do that. so trump got and walked away. he had come to hanoi with what he thought was a deal. and he walked away empty hand. so this is a bit of mirnding fences to try to get the dialogue happening again. your former cia guest was saying what you have got to get happening is dialogue between the working groups. that would clue the u.s. side and others as well. we just got a note marine one is wheels up to the dmz. it's about 30 miles northwest to get to the joint security area. the dmz is 160 miles long across

the bordered between north and south korea. but in that area the joint security is narrows down. there are long blue buildings where north and south korean officials would get together. and they built what they call the peace house where moon jae-in met with kim jong-un. you have got to the get the working groups back together again to talk about the steps that can be taken toward denuclearization. if that doesn't happen, then this meeting was nothing more than a photo-op. but if president trump and moon jae-in can say let's get people talking again. let's put aside the ill feeling of what happened in hanoi. you know the american position. you know what you have to do. here is what's going on in south

korea, the economic miracle that happened here. we want to leave you in power in pong yong. just get rid of your weapons. maybe if they can get that message through and say you are going to be safe as far as we are concerned. there could be factions in north korea. but as far as the international community goes, if they can get that message through to kim jong-un maybe it be be more than a photo-op.

you will have an interesting journal entry. my next guest says kim jong-un is being restrained by the internal politics in north korea. how much latitude does kim jong-un have to swing some kind of a deal with president trump? >> nobody knows. we have seen the story how he had his lieutenants executed by piranhas. when a dictator is executing lieutenants, you make a lot of

enemies. jon: the south would have much like to be reunited with the north, it would not? >> that's their stated policy. but think about what happened with east germany and west germany. that was an enormously expensive and economically difficult period for west journal any. it would be largely so for south korea. everybody wants to pay lip service to korean unification because it's a high risk strategy. china will not tolerate a western ally on the yalu river. everybody is invest in seeing kim jong-un succeed in transforming the north korean

economy and making a semi peaceful state in the family of nations. jon: china would see u.s. troops based in the country to its south because there are troops in south korea. >> the best case scenario is a reunified korea. let's not underestimate the economic magnitude that a reunification of core h -- of a korean peninsula would mean. for china, it one sift it be neutral. but what is realistic in the near term is north korea is semi prosperous. the member of the family of nations, not an outlaw state. but there are no western troops on the yalu river.

jon: what did you think of the president's remark that had president obama continued in office or hillary clinton had wouldn't election that there would be war with north korea right now. does that seem to you a plausible scenario? >> it's hard to know. between 1995 and 2008, the united states had given north korea $1.3 billion in aid. at the same time that accelerated their nuclear weapons program and missile programs. so that hasn't worked. in this case president trump has done something different. the north korean ministry hasn't figured out how to calibrate their foreign policy. at the same time we are willing to talk to you. this is in stark contrast to

what the policy of four previous administrations are where we won't talk to you but we'll give you money. the north korean hierarchy is trying to figure this out in having a new 30-something-year-old leader. jon: there are further enforcement actions the united states can take to make life for the kim regime and north koreans more difficult. >> absolutely. sanctions are more than economic pressure. they are that to be sure. but they are also a means of communication. to communicate to the kim regime where the read lines are, what they can and cannot do. it's a form of language, too. jon: the criticism of the president, president trump, that this will amount to nothing more than a photo-op.

is there something that can be accomplished here? >> i slayer -- i agree with the fact that it may be nothing more than a photo-op. but significant is something different. there is politics inside of north korea and pyongyang, too. kim jong-un is a young leader and it's not clear how secure his control over the north korean military is. if you want to deal with somebody, sometimes you have got to give them a little bit of room, got to give them a win at home. the politics aren't just in the west, they are in the north, too. jon: they they see their leader meeting with the most of powerful man in the world, that acrews to his benefit. >> possibly. it's the north korean elite whose incomes and lavish lifestyles deperson on kim

jong-un's ability to deliver. that's the base of his power. jon: if you were advising president trump wrote what advice would you give him? >> build that personal relationship. build that trust. during obama administration we had to talk qaddafi out of his nuclear program in libya. qaddafi was killed and dragged through the streets. the north koreans are very, very aware of this. they are afraid of it, too. we need to make sure they understand we are going to give them space. the carrot and stick approach. they will be given space to survive and thrive. that didn't have during the obama administration with qaddafi. jon: president trump is in the air right now on board marine one.

we believe moon jae-in is with him. they are headed to an historic meeting along the demilitarized zone that separates the two koreas. we believe there will be time spent and a hand shake with north korean leader kim jong-un. that should be coming up soon. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast...

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jon: 17 minutes after 1:00 object the east coast. it's 17 minutes after 1:00 in north korea. the president is making his way to the demilitarized zone where he'll meet with kim jong-un. it's expected to last just a few minutes and be nothing more than a handshake, but it is a meeting. from a national security

perspective, how important is it that president trump once again meets with kim jong-un no matter how short this meeting is? >> i would take issue that this is simply a photo-op. i think this is far more than that. the president is delivering a clear message to kim jong-un and that fragile reliance. the message is clear and simple. there is a binary choice. north korea can chook economic progress or face economic pressure and sanctions. by going to the demarcation zone the president is making it clear he's ready and the door is open for negotiations.

jon: gordon chang says kim jong-un doesn't care that his people are suffering. >> i think it le son of the soviet union is important. when the soviet union opened up, they ultimately collapsed. i'm sure kim jong-un is very aware of the risk in his own country. but at the same time i think kim jong-un has to be aware it's untenable to carry on as he has. he has not as strong a regime as

many might think or many would love to project. he need relief from the sanctions. jon: there are other sanctions that could be imposed or sanctions that could be enforced. the united states could put the screws to kim jong-un more than it is. >> kim jong-un is testing us. he's trying to get maximum economic gain while giving up the least possible. i don't think kim jong-un fears an invasion from the united states. before north korea had nuclear weapons we had no interest in launching such an attack. and the deterrent is so strong i don't think it would happen. but i think what cub * is nervous about potentially is some traitors in his own midst, the fifth column could launch an uprising against him. without weapons of mass destruction he would be unable

to deter the united states and our allies and maybe even china from become involved and supporting his rivals. the president is trying to infuse some energy into those negotiations which some of the previous guests emphasized is what we need. jon: president trump by meeting withrun is saying to any who might threaten him. this is my guy, i like him, we have a relationship. leave him alone? >> i think the president is definitely making the point that he's there to do a deal with kim jong-un. and there are a lot of factors at play and it's extraordinarily difficult that has been made worse through years of foreign policy errors on our part. six party talks that went nowhere. china and do not have our best interests at heart.

they would like for the united states and our are military to be removed from the korean peninsula and reduce our influence significantly. so the president is up against a lot here. but i don't know if you can argue with his approach. it's not like we have achieved our goals with other diplomatic approaches in the past. jon: president trump has saluted president xi of china for his help in the past in dealing with north korea. but you are suggesting north korea does not have the u.s. interests at heart when it comes to north korea. you have to wonder how vigorous those efforts on the part of president xi have been. >> i think it's a balancing game for everyone. i think china is nervous if tensions rise between the united states and north korea, that would be the impetus for the united states to be more

involved in the korean peninsula. that would be the impetus for to us up our military deployment in the region and become more aggressive and china doesn't want that. i think china's ultimate goal is to prey on north korea. they are unable to do that as much as they might like because of these sanctions. china and russia are positions themselves in the dee event a deal gets -- in the event a deal gets done. jon: dan hoffman. thank you. seoul, south korea is not have far from the dmz. that's one of the dangers.

there are artilleries that could rain down on seoul and that's what the leaders are worried about. marine one should be on the ground in 8 minutes near the dmz, then it's a 10-minute car ride to the place where this history-making event will take place. we'll have that for you live. [farmers bell] (driver) relax, it's just a bug. that's not a bug, that's not a bug! (burke) hit and drone. seen it, covered it.

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dividing line between north and south korea and there we expect there will be a handshake with north korea's kim jong-un. joining us now, judith miller, aned a junk professor at the manhattan center for policy and research. this has taken place in a whirlwind. president trump sent out an invitation by tweet yesterday. president trump is going to take him up on that invitation to meet at the dmz. >> i think this is an important step. a symbolic one, but still important. if you believe jaw jaw is better than war war, we have not had any serious working level meetings with the north koreans since the breakdown of the hanoi summit. this is an opportunity to get those meetings back on track.

it could be much more than a photo-op. it could be much less than a break through. but in any he vint's an historic handshake. jon: season is say the president is stretching out his hand to a guy who hasn't lived up to expectations thus far. >> has vladimir putin lived up to expectations so far? yet we continue to meet and continue to do business and continue to argue about the things we disagree with. kim is the head of north korea. if north korea is ever going to denuclearize, it will be up to him and the national security establishment, the party that supports him. he's just as untested a leader as donald trump was when he took over. so you have two unpredictable

unusual, unorthodoxed men leading countries. what we do know is the two previous efforts to denuclearize with two great nuclear agreements completely fell apart. the north koreans cheated. no one has any illusions about who we are dealing with. how authoritarian the regime is. how brutal it is. but the goal is to denuclearize north korea. if president trump can make headway on that he won't do any worse than any other president has done. it's a evening as all of your commentators have said. i'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because this could be progress if we can get nose working level talks

back in action. and frankly as someone who stood on the dmz and been at the table that separates north and south korea and sees guns pointing at iesm other. -- pointing at each other. and to see a handshake would be significant in my view. if only for a moment, if only symbolic. it could lead to something more and i'm still hopeful it will happen though i'm sceptical north korea will denuclearize. let's talk about south korea's president moon jae-in. he's the one who sort of gets ignored in all of this coverage. he leads a nation that is an economic powerhouse. it's the barling of south asia.

what does he get out d it's the darling of south asia. what does he get out of the reduced tensions with the north? >> he gets tremendous benefit he has been a prime mover to revive the sunshine policy in the hopes north and south korea can end their enmity and do business together again. when the hanoi summit fell apart he took a terrible blow. this for him is a vindication of his policy. he as president cannot run again but his party has a great deal at stake and he has a great deal at stake in terms of his legacy. he has to be the happiest man in this entire group. because what it says is that his voice has been heard, and donald

trump is absolutely substituting for him. a year ago he was standing on that spot shaking hands with kim jong-un. so i think for south korea, especially because relations with donald trump have been so tense at times. the united states says south korea isn't spending enough for putting our troops there. it's been tough on trade. so this is very positive for him and his approach. jon: the two men seem to be very affable. they spoke glowingly of one another at the news conference that began the last hour. >> yes, that, too is a change. if you look at the polls, the gallup poll shows south koreans are enormously high on the united states.

80% of south core rians think the relationship with the united states is a good thing. only 44% in a most of recent poll said relations with donald trump and trust in donald trump was high. that's the lowest it's ever been. so you see the challenge here with respect to south korea. our most offal life along with japan in asia. a great dice at stake for all three parties. and of course china which has no real interest in seeing he unification or a particular warming of relations between north korea and the united states or north korea and south korea. jon: joining us from seoul, south korea, fox chief white house corresponds yernlt john

roberts. in this day and age we expect to see live coverage of every big event every moment in time. we understand marine one hat land inside the -- has landed inside the landing zone. the two presidents will be traveling by car at that meeting spot. but we haven't seen any video of it yet. we haven't seen it yet. describe to us what's going to be going on. reporter: one point of clarification. the blue house is actually the prime minister's -- the president's residence and where he does his official business. peace house is the name of the building at the joint security area. the press pool that follows the president is on the ground there. and we use technology that uses cell phone notes in order to be

able to bring you live pictures. we used to use big satellite trucks. it's impractical. so we use live views that hook up to cell nodes. as you can imagine the cell service isn't particularly great. so they are having transmission problems at the moment. where president trump is going initially is to the observation post. many presidents from ronald reagan through to bill clinton and george bush and barack obama have gone to that observation post, it's a military outpost where you can look across the dmz into north korea. president trump will go there first to look at the dmz, then he'll go to the joint security

area where moon jae-in and kim jong-un met last year. the border is a 16-inch slab of concrete against a small roadway. we don't know which leader will step over it first. because it's a heavy tourist area, maybe the cell service is better at the joint security area than the observation outpost. we have our fingers crossed we'll be able to see live pictures of this. but if we can't, it will only be a matter of time. the president says he won't stay there that long before that material is brought to you. we may see it live or it may take a couple hours for them to get back. jon: i'm curious. why a tourist area?

it's been described as one of the scariest places on earth. reporter: the dmz if you try to cross it is one of the scariest places on earth. a north korean defector tried to cross over the border at the joint security area. he was shot several times as he was trying to cross the border. he was actually drags into south korea by a south korean soldier who was stationed there. it's still a dangerous area and sometimes closed off to tourism and sometimes it's open. you are able to go up there from seoul. there are bus loads of cowerrists who go up there. it's the one place where south korean soldiers stare straight into the eyes of the north

korean soldiers. as long as the tensions aren't too hot, you can go up there. but when tensions ratchet up, you are not able to. i have been to the area near the observation post with president bush? 2000, 2003. that was at the time when south korea was blasting across the music to north korea. it was a you are veal experience to be up there. an area behind different many heavily militarized on both sides. the dm zirkts self, the -- the dmz itself is not militarized. but on both sides it is. it's an eerie feeling to be there staring across the border into north korea. things may be beginning to change. wouldn't it be great if they did. maybe today's meeting will go

some distance to take things down the road toward change. we are hoping the press pool will get a signal and be able to bring us live pictures. but we'll bring you those in the morning. in seoul, south korea it's sunday afternoon. the presidents we understand are on the ground at the dmz. and we should be seeing pictures of this momentarily. president trump we understand is about to shake hands with north korean chairman kim jong-un. also in attendance, noon joy in, the president of south korea. joining us live from washington, d.c. bruce clinger, the former characteristics a deputy division chief for south korea. this is a country, north korea that has given the united states and its leadership fifth fifth -

leadership fits for decades. >> i have been covering north korea for 26 years. we had 8 international agreements with north korea because they cheated or failed to live up to their commitment. but that doesn't mean we don't try. but we have to have a more go tailed comprehensive agreement with north korea than any of the ones we had before. they have always been vague with a lot of loopholes. hopefully the president will press kim jong-un to enable these working-level meetings where that kind of detail could get through. jon: we are seeing live pictures from the dmz of the motorcade bringing president trump and

president moon jae-in of south korea to the demilitarized zone. he's on the north korean side of the border. pictures are a little bit broken. as you heard john roberts describing. these are broadcast using cell phone towers. and the technology is not always as strong as we would like it to be. but pretty good pictures coming us live from the demilitarized zone between north and south korea what has been described as the scariest place on. talk to us a little bit about that. what is it like to be standing on the southern side of the demilitarized zonal? >> it's very tense. especially if you have north korean guards pieing in the windows when you are in the blue house that centrals the military demarcation line.

but recently the two koreas had a comprehensive military agreement to reduce tensions. they have unarmed guards on the north and south side of the area. it was the u.s. threatening a preventative attack on north korea. i worked north korea in '93-'94 in the cia and we may have been closer to a conflict then. there he is. our first view of president trump live at the dmz. following just behind-him you see the south korean president moon jae-in. these two leaders will be meeting the north korean chairman kim jong-un.

but first they will take a look at this overlook that looks over the demilitarized zone. we won't be hearing them unfortunately. but you are getting what appears to be a tour from the american military personnel. we do have some microphones. let's listen. >> that's the number one [inaudible] the back side of the mountain. it is, sir. it is.

as far as the safety concern, just past that complex. [inaudible] jon: the cameras are moving to get ready for the president's next visit at the demilitarized zone. you heard interesting things from the american military base commander who seemed to be telling the president about the

artillery pieces and rockets from north korea aimed at south korea. they would rape fire down on seoul in the. >> i vent of hostilities. joining us, bruce clirng who worked at the problem with the cia for a number of years. those rockets, conventional military forces. and i believe he described them as low tech. but very effective and very frightening if you are worried about the possibility of war between north and south korea. >> the world is focused mostly on the nuclear threat to south korea as well as u.s. forces and citizens there. but there is also a large conventional threat. north korea has a million man army. there is a lot in the

demilitarized zone. the caisson heights can reach seoul without having to move forward. so not only do we need to focus on the nuclear missile threat, we need conventional force reductions before we sign a peace treaty. jon: tell us how far it is from the observation post where we just saw president trump and president moon jae-in where they will exchange hand shakes with run? >> it's very close. it's observation post post along the demarcation point. it has a good vantage point at the joint security area as well as into north korea. that's the purpose it has there.

onrsh talk about the. jon: talk about the relationship between the u.s. and south korea. >> the u.s. and south korea has different views about how to apreach th of d how to approache north. south korea has been pushing an engagement policy. president moon has been pushing for exemptions from u.s. sanctions far more than the u.s. is comfortable with. i think that is a bit reduced because president moon realizes the u.s. is not going to allow the exemptions until north korea takes section toward denuclearization. to try to bring about or reward good behavior, those things have, you know, its behavior has

changed for a brief period of time and it's usually reneged on the assurances it has given us. >> there is a long long list of the 8 international agreements with the north. but south korea has had hundreds of interkorean agreements as well as providing $7 billion to $9 billion under liberal presidents. and that didn't produce political or economic reform. it didn't moderate north korean behavior. they still had skirmishes along the dmz and west of the koreas. north korean officials told me they have nuclear weapons because they claim they are afraid we'll attack. and no amount of economic benefits will compensate for that peer of the u.s. attack. but the u.s. provided assurances

we won't attack them with nuclear weapons and that also didn't moderate their nuclear program. jon: president trump meeting with some of the u.s. military personnel stationed there. and on the left of the screen you can see president moon of south korea. he's getting the lay of the land from the american forces there. he bragged about the fact he'll be meeting with some of the troops stationed there. and there are 30,000 of them. now we are back live with moving pictures, but it does tend to freeze because the cell phone towers that are providing these pictures are not exactly the most of reliable. but this will be history in the making as an american president shakes hand with the north

korean president kim jong-un. the president might even set foot on north korean soil to do so. it's a handshake, a photo he's said to have much want. the president want it, bruce. ways tonight for kim jong-un? >> he's focused on sanctions relief. in the hanoi summit he was focused on sanctions relief. it seems all the other issues such as a peace declaration and improving relations are designed to induce concessions from the u.s. or international community. so the sanctions certainly have been mor d more rigorously implemented. but it does show we have more we can do. unfortunately we have been reducing our military exercises with south korea, at least 11

exercises have been canceled. so that either has or with degrading ally capability. we can't lower the shield before the threat has been reduced. jon: there is an arm cities that ended the korean war, but the two countries remain technically at war despite the armistice. why not call it a peace agreement. >> the south koreans are pushing for piece negotiations. if it doesn't achieve anything, you don't want to do that. it won't guarantee north korea will give you something in return. it won't guarantee north korea

won't change its behavior. we provided many security guarantees. also there is a danger of a slippery slope. if you shine a declaration it could lead to the peace treaty which would remove united nations command and calls for additional reductions or reductions in u.s. forces there before we reduced the north korean threat to the south. jon: we have a couple of cameras at the dmz. let's listen to see if we can catch some of the sound between president trump moon and president trump. -- between president moon and president trump.

[inaudible] jon: it's difficult to hear the exchange of word between president moon and president trump. earlier the president said relations have improved between the united states and north korea. that's welcome news to the ears of president moon of south korea. he would like to see his country get back together with the folks in the north who have been so long separated. but that could be years and decade away. president trump wants to make

history today, and we expect we'll be seeing that shortly. these pictures do break up or freeze from time to time. but it's amazing we are able to bring them to you at all. an american president visits iting the demilitarized zone. moments from now we expect he'll step to the line that separates the two nations and shake hand with kim jong-un, the leader of north korea. the two obviously have met before in singapore and hanoi. but the hanoi summit crumbled without any substantive agreements. it was thought there wouldn't be any more meetings. but now this. let's listen.

[inaudible] *

. jon: you heard president trump

saying tensions were at a boil when he came into office. he said things have calmed down quite a bit between north and south korea and the u.s. and north korea as a result of the die local has had with kim jong-un. the northern korean leader. kim jong-un is apparently waiting there on the other side of the demilitarized zone. he's going to have a brief handshake and perhaps a few words with president trump. this the result of a tweet the president sent out yesterday. offering to meet or have a handshake with kim jong-un. when you think about it. more than 65 years of acrimony and anger between the u.s. and the north, that border has been in place since 1953 when the armistice was signed that ended the battle between the u.s. and

the north koreans as well as the south koreans fighting along side of us. the cameras are struggling to get into position for what comes next. we think what comes next is the meeting between president trump, president moon and chairman kim of north korea. our next guest, joel rubin, deputy assistant secretary of state under president obama. president trump made comments earlier about how former president obama wanted to meet with kim jong-un and the president said kim refused the invitation. you are giving us some background on that earlier. let's get back into that now. >> sure, jon. back in the context, president