i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, a possible peace-- israel announces a cease-fire in the 11-day war against hamas, spurring hopes for an end to the deadly conflict. then, view from south korea-- the country's foreign minister discuss how to engage with the north, as the biden administration recalibrates u.s. policy. and, the cost of uncertainty-- demand for workers in the u.s. leads to calls for legal status for erica's undocumented workforce. >> what we've basicay done is created a second class citizen that is ripe for abuse and exploitation. i think we need to rectify that issue and bring in immigration reform. >> nawaz: all that and more on

tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas.

moret kendedafund.org. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public brocasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: a cease-fire is at hand in the war between israel and hamas.

word of the truce came tonight from israel, and hamas quickly agreed. if it holds, it would end 11 days of fierce fighting that killed at least 230 palestinians and 12 israelis, and wrecked gazan cities. again, john yang begins our coverage. >> yang: israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's security cabinet approved the cease-fire a late-evening meeting, joining hamas in accepting an egyptian proposal for a mutual halt to hostilities, without preconditions. earlier, the pace of combat appeared to slow as behind-the- scenes diplomacy and u.s. pressure intensified. israel did unleash a wave of aitrikes on targets across gaza and says it destroyed a rocket launcher belonging to the militant group. but parts of towns throughout gaza were reduced to rble 14-year-d amira isleem's home was struck by a missile.

>> ( translated ): what happened was we were in the sitting room, the missile hit us, there was a lot of smoke and we did not see anything. >> yang: a neighbor said he didn't know why the home was targeted. >> ( translated ): we were sound asleep, and had no idea about this, we suddenly hear a blast, and the house flew, we rushed thinking it is on r house, but realized it hit our neighbor's house, abu khalil isleem, who works here in shifa hospital, who has nothing to do with anything, nor do we. >> yang: after an eight-hour pause in hamas rocket attacks, they hit the israeli city of sderot just beyond the border. a woman whose parents' home was struck by a rocket is skeptical of an enduring peace, given the history of short-lived ceasefires. >> ( translated ): i do not want a ceasefire, because i know what this will lead to, this is not the first ceasefire, we had so many ceasefires like that, and this always happens again, i do not think this ceasefire will help anything.

>> yang: before tonight's announcement calls for a truce grew louder german chancellor angela merkel: >> ( translated ): we stand for israel's right to self-defense and that's why it is right that israel is taking massive action. but on the other hand we want to contribute to diplomatic attempts to secure a long-term and sustainable situation in the region. >> yang: the world health organization called for a pause in israel's bombardment of gaza to allow a convoy to bring in covid vaccines and other medical supplies. inside israel, opposition leader yair lapid lit into prime minister benjamin netanyahu. in a lengthy facebook post, lapid said that “the army succeeded, the government failed” and that netanyahu missed an opportunity to strengthen israel's relationship with the united states, calling it “a first-class policy failure.” in washington, those ties appear toe fraying further among progressives as vermont senator bernie sanders today introduced a bill to block a 735 million

dollar sale of u.s. weapons to isel, an effort that faces long odds. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> nawaz: all of this has put pressure on president joe biden. our white house corresndent yamich alcindor joins me now to share her reporting. tell us about the viewrom the white house on all of this. 11 days of fighting, a cease-fire, what role did president biden play in getting us to this point? >> i should say president biden is speaking right now at the white house. and what the president is really laying out is th fact there is going to be a cease-fire starting in two hours. and white house officials stress president biden was engaged in increasingly pointed, diplomatic talks behind the scenes, quiet they say, no grandstanding. but he was stressing to prime minister benjamin netanyahu that he expected a deescalation, and that a cease-fire needed to happen. you saw over the week, really, the language from the white house changed. they were still saying that israel has the righto defend itself. but they were also saying this needs to stop, that israel had

major military objectives, and they were able to protect their people and that now they needed to seek peace. white house officials here are saying president biden played a major role here, and there are over 80 engagements, with president biden talking to benjamin netanyahu about five times i'm told, including twice today, but also with all sorts of white house officials at all levels talking to their counter-parts in israel to send that message. >> nawaz: we also ow the president has been under pressure from people in his own party, saying the.s. needs to do more to protect the human rights of the occupied palestinians. this has been a rising tide among progressive democrats. what has that done, if anything, to influence the president's view? >> this is a cease-fire with no clear winner. the fundamental question is what happens now and how do we go forward? that's the question president biden is going to have to contend it. of course, as you said, there are shifting politics in the democratic party. we see increasingly sympathetic lawmakers saying there needs to be more done to protect palestinian civilians, many of

them-- hundreds of them-- killing in the 11-day back-and-forth worth between israel and rawms. there are big questions here for president biden. white house officials stress because he used to be the chair of the senate foreign relations, because he was vice president, that he brings the experience needed, as well as a long-standing relationship between him and prime minister benjamin netanyahu. they have known each other for decades, that that will be what he's leaning on. but these politics in the democratic party are not, of course, just shifting on israel. they're shifting on all sorts of other things-- climate change, black ves matter, policing, racial justice. all of those things are tied up into what happened here in the middle east and the noise we heard from both theemocrats, as well as republicans. it's also,sh, telling, that democrs, including senator bernie sanders, ey included resolutions halt an arms sae between the u.s. and israel and that tells you how much democrats are really willing to put the real teeth to what they're saying, to put action to this new sort of view of the middle east. that said, i talk to white house

officials who say president biden has been working with the middle east for a long, long time. he has long-standing ideas about how peace can be brought there, and he's going to be leaning on... going forward. >> nawaz: the priority the administration expected to field in this administration. they did not know, of course, in any way, this conflict would break out. what do you know about how within the biden administration they were able to handle thiss, as soon as the fight dignity break out? >> white house officials say this is why president biden, they think, is the best president to be handling this, because part of being president, one official told me today, is there are always going to be problems. there is always going to be chaos. this, of course, was not top of the priority when president biden came into office. he was talking about covid. he was talking about the economy. he was talking about racial justice. but here the middle east came, this conflict came, not out of nowhere but it was a surprising thing that he had to deal with early on in his presidency. and at a tell me that this really shows that he's able to some ways really juggle all of the things going on, including,

of course, unexpected gas pipeline attack he had to deal with last week. what they're saying is this isg in he will have to put on his agenda, something he has to think through. his predecessor had actions in the middle east that increased tensions, some people feel, and the white house is going to try to come and have this quiet diplomatic effort. they say it's a break from the way his predeceor handled ings but it's the way they think he will be able to get more done in the middle east. >> nawaz: yamiche, awe mentioned, he has faced increasing pressure from his own caucus, not just on this issue but a host of other issues, as well. we saw when he was recently in detroit, come within talib pressured him to dmore, for the u.s. to do more. is there any sense this could have a shift in the white house policy moving forward when it comes to the middle east? >> i have been talking to white house officials all day about that specific issue: does the

president feel like he's going to be pulled to the left by the people, including increasingly loud progressives lycra she'da talib, who are willing to make noise, and as an american country, we need to have more support for palestinian people. i was told that rasheeda daleb brought up his grandmother, and said we need to be worried about the civilians living in gauze, a, and we need to have i dierent tact towards it when the united states is approaching them. white house officials say that's not what is going to change president biden's mind. they say it's going to be conversations, it's going to be talks with the prime minister. it's going to be one-on-one information that he gets from the prime minister to really understand what is at hand here and how he wants to approach this. they again continue to talk about the fact that he has been someone who has known prime minister benjamin netanyahu for so long, and that he will be looking at this in that way, looking at this through the lens, in some ways, the lens of

an elder statesman who is now president. >> nawaz: yamiche, as you speak to us from outside the white house, inside, as you mentioned, president biden is talking on this very topic. we want to share a brief clip of what the president had to say. >> folks, i just spoke with prime minister netanyahu. earlier today, i spoke to mr. al sisi from ei didn't want. he has agreed to a mutual cease cease-fire to begin in two hours. the egyptians have now informed us that hamas and the other groups in gaza have also agreed. >> nawaz: that was, ofourse, president biden adessing that historic cease-fire after 11 days of fighting in the middle east. yamiche alcindor, our white house correspondent, joining us from the white house tonight. thanks, yamiche, good to see you. >> thanks.

>> nawaz: in the day's other news, the world trade organization appealed to governments and companies to spread covid vaccine production to the developing world. the agency's head said manufacturing doses africa and latin america is vital to containing the pandemic. so far, africa has less than one percent of the world's vaccine production capacity. latin america has just 2%. president biden today signed the new covid hate crimes act. it had passed congress with bipartisan support after a spike in anti-asian attacks. at a white house ceremony, the president spoke passionately about fighting hate and not being complicit by doing nothing. >> every time we are silent. every time we let hate flourish, we make a lie of who we are as a nation. i mean it literally. >> nawaz: a leading anti-asian hate crimes group has reported

6,000 incidents in the u.s. since the pandemic began. new claims for unemployment benefits have hit a new low during the pandemic. the labor department says 444,000 americans filed claims last week. that's down 34,000 from the previous week, and it continues a steady decline since the year began. the u.s. house of representatives today approved nearly $2 billion to beef up serity at the capitol in t wake of the january 6th insurrection. the measure passed by a single vote, with most republicans saying the bilwas too expensive and unnecessary. some liberal democrats also voted against additional security. it includes new, temporary fencing and a quick-response force. prospects for passage in the senate are unclear. meanwhile, it's also unclear what the senate will do about creating an independent commission to investigate the capitol assault. the house approved it last night, but in the evenly divided senate, minority leader mitch mcconnell is opposing the bill. majority leader chuck schumer accused g.o.p. opponents today of kowtowing to former president

trump. >> even now, five months to the day after he left office, the republican party is still so terrified of donald trump that they are apparently willing to abandon the truth and safety of our democracy to the future. >> nawaz: in last night's house vote, 35 republicans joined majority democrats backing the bill. that came despite the opposition of their leader, kevin mccarthy. he argued today there's no need for a commission. >> you've got two committees in the senate alreadyoing their investigation, i believe, in two weeks, they'll already have their report back, even though pelosi wasted all this time. you've got the architect of the capitol given $10 million to study what we need done here to protect it. and then you've got the justice department, rightfully does a much better job than we could ever do. >> nawaz: the issue could come to a head in the senate next week. the u.s. and china faced off the u.s. department of homeland security is closing two detention sites for migrants amid accusations of abuse and inhumane conditions.

one is a jail in massachusetts where there've been complaints of excessive force and overcrowding. the other is a georgia facility where migrant women alleged a gynecologist performed unwanted procedures on them. both sites are under federal investigation. and, on wall street, stocks managed a rally after a three- day slide. the dow jones industrial average gained 188 points to close at 34,084. the nasdaq rose 236 points, nearly 2%, and the s&p 500 added 43; one percent. still to come on the newshour: how to execute the president's economic agenda with commerce secretary gina raimondo. why the demand for workers prompts calls to grant legal status to undocumented immigrants. south korea's foreign minister on the push to engage with the north over its nuclear program. plus much more.

>> nawaz: there are good signs for the economic recovery today. jobless claims are at their lowest levels since march of last year. hiring is on the rise and with that come more questions about the need for special pandemic unemployment benefits. many republican governors across the country are cutting those federal benefits, which provide another $300 a week for recipients. we look at this now with gina raimondo, the secretary of commerce. madam secretary, welcome to the newshour. and thank you for making the time. despite those numbers, we should point out there are a number of firms and businesses across the country who say they cannot fill jobs. we hear stories from a restaurant owner who says he's about 30 short. he has to turn business away. another business owner who is actively soliciting referrals from customers. what can you say the administration is doing to help those siness owners? >> thank you. and, you know, we hear-- we hear those stories as well. and we have an open ear to them.

it seems to us, from listening to people and looking at the data, that the biggest reason, or one of the biggest reasons for this is that either people are still afraid to go back to work, or it's hard to find child care, or their kids school is still closed. so to that end, what we are doing, what the administration is doing is a terrific job vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible. and the president's reshue package put forth a great deal of money for schools so they can reopen safely, as well as child care to give parents a hand to pay for child care and help child care centers reopen. the pandemic unemployment insurance was a life line for people when they needed it most. and now what we need to do is just really make these investments in order to help folks be able to get back to work safely.

>> as we mentioned, there are a number of governors taking the steps to change the unemployment benefit rules in the hopes that it will speed along and accelerate the process of people going back to work. if the data starts to show that's what's happening, that cutting those benefits means people are going back to work faster, is that an argument to roll back those additional federal benefits? >> i hesitate to say that because that is one factor and one data point. as we were just saying, more people are getting vaccinated, more schools are being opened, more child care centers are being opened. so that, i think, is probably an even bigger impact. you also see, in many states now, governors are coming out providing bonuses to people who go back to work. connecticut, i just saw colorado. they're saying if you go back to work, get a job, wor for a month or two, the state will give you a bonus. i think that's a terrific idea because the truth is, it's more expensive to go back to work now, especially for child care. i think we just-- i don't think

we shouljump to the conclusion based upon a anecdotes that it's pandemic unemployment insance that is leading to fol struggling to get employees. >> naw: there has been, we should note, a mass exodus of women in particular, from the workforce. female participation is at the lowest rate in over 30 years. some people project those numbers won't rebound until 2024. so what specific steps is the administration taking to help women get back to work? >> this is a problem we all need to be focused on. and i really hope-- shame on us if it takes us until 2024 to fix this. number one is child care, and the president's rescue package and his jobs package includes huge investments in child care, in providing universal public pre-k.for every 3- and four-year-old, providing tax credits for folks who have kids.

they cannot emphasize enough how important that is for women to get back into the workforce. secondly, schools, job package and rescue packageincludes a great deal of money so schools can reopen safely-- emphasis on "safely--" so people feel comfortable sending their kids back to school. the other thing the president is calling for a $400 billion investment in the care economy. women will not be able go back into the workforce and be oductive if they can't get reliable, high-quality care for their elderly loved ones or disabled loved ones. and so like it or not, the fact is, child care and care of loved ones falls disproportionately on women. so we have to shore up our caregiving systems in america i we're going to unleash the full productivity of women, which is half of our workforce. >> nawaz: you mentioned the president's plans.

you have been meeting with senate republicans this week about the americans jobs plan. i think president biden said he wants to see progress on that by memorial day, which is only 10 days away. we haven't seen any new details or top-line costs on that. when should we expect to see those? >> we are hard at work. the president has been very clear with us, his team, to stay at the table, negotiate, operating in good faith, try to find common ground. and so that is what we are doing. we met again just two days ago. i expect we'll be meeting again, you know, maybe tomorrow or over the weekend. we're just-- we're going to stay at it, and see what we can come up with. >> nawaz: do you expect progress by memorial day? >> i hope so. i'll leave it at that. >> nawaz: i want to ask you about other part of the economy. consumers across the country have seen a spike in costs and prices of some goods. the administration has said, the federal reserve has said this is temporary. but last week's consumer price hike was one of the biggest we've seep in years. so what if you're wrong? could you possibly be missing some of the early warning signs

of a real inflation? >> okay, so, first of all, of course, it's always possible to be belongbut we have tools to deal with inflation. the fed has plenty of tools to deal with inflation, as they have used effectively for a long time. but secondly, as you dig deeper into the price index, it really is the case that a few areas are seeing big increases in prices, which is driving the whole index. and those increases are driven primarily because of what we saw through covid. so, for example, rental car prices are through the roof. well, we had a semiconductor shortage, which is stalling the production of cars. so not surprisingly, everybody is buying a used car, and as a result, used car prices are way up. lumber, lumber prices are through the roof. well, you're seeing a massive

surge in demand for housing due to covid, and, not surprisingly, the lumber supply can't keep up. so we monitor this constantly. there are tools to deal with inflation. but at the moment, there isn't a lot of data to suggest widespread inflation is a problem. >> nawaz: very briefly, madam secretary, you mentioned the semiconductor shortage. we know president biden has put forward $50 billion to try to shore up american production. but that will still take years to try to meet what the demand is. what kind of additional disruption do you think tech and auto industry should expect? >> i just got off of a meeting where i was talking to a dozen or more semiconductor companies. we're looking at everything available to us right now, doing everything possible to become more efficient, become more transparent about supply and demand. but i cannot emphasize enough how important it is for congress to pass the president's proposal immediately, because this is

long-term problem. to answer your question, this is here to stay for years, and we have-- we're at the beginning of a journey to try to fix it for the long haul. >> nawaz: that's u.s. secretary of commerce, gina raimondo, joining us tonight. thank you for your time, madam secretary. >> nawaz: the pandemic has exposed much, including our reliance on undocumented workers in essential jobs. paul solman exples what's at stake for his latest report for "making sense." >> reporter: in affluent mount kisco, a new york city suburb: undocumented immigrants for hire. at the train station. at henry's deli. and at neighbors link, a non- profit that serves the newly arrived. they line up at 7:00. contractors, even just homeowners, soon follow, like tony arce. >> trees came down on my

property so i'm moving firewood from one side of the house to the other. >> reporter: and he's spreading mulch; a two-person job, for which only one worker was available. >> he wants $17 an hour today. >> how many hours you gonna work? cuantos horas? >> reporter: in the end, no deal. pool company owner chris carthy: also out of luck. >> it's a labor shortage across the country. >> reporter: even at neighbor's link? >> i come here every blue moon to pick up those extra few hands for excavation and we can't get anyone. >> reporter: and so the nub of the economic argument for letting some 11 million undocumented immigrantalready in the u.sremain legally. >> so let's just be clear that immigrants are coming to this country because of our thirst for this workforce. >> reporter: carola bracco runs neighbors link. >> they are taking on jobs that often complement the workforce that was born in this country because of the fact that they're willing to do these jobs. >> reporter: jobs in agriculture, construction, landscaping, cleaning.

and who's busing tables at restaurants, washing dishes, cooking? >> this is the apron with the logo >> reporter: this man, whom we've decided not toame, has worked in restaurants for 20 years, since slipping across the desert from mexico. >> a couple of restaurants in nhattan also, i used to work in the airport, j.f.k.. >> reporter: catering for american airlines. in 2008, he moved up to trump national westchester golf club. were there many other undocumented people in the club? >> a lot. i would say 30% of the employees, maybe. maybe more in the grounds, kitchen, wait staff, maintenance. we, we're pretty much all over the club. illegal people. >> reporter: did people know that you were undocumented? the people who hired you? >> yeah, yeah, they know. >> reporter: how do you know they know? >> this is the card that they tell me is too fake for accept

it. >> reporter: how could they not have known, he says, given that they noted the obvious inauthenticity of his i.d? >> so i gotta get another one. i gotta spend another $45. >> reporter: both bought on the street from people hawking fake i.d's. >> all you have to give is the picture and they do threst. >> reporter: now this man lost his job at trump national westchester in 2019, after news reports of having hired undocumented immigrants. at the time, eric trump said the company planned to check workers' status in the future. but in his decade at the club, this worker had risen to banquet chef, selfie-ing with the likes of baseball legends pedro martinez and mariano rivera, and earning as much as $70,000 a year, between the club and odd winter jobs. couldn't they have found citizens to work for that kind of money? >> i guess no. because it was days that i started at 6:00 in the morning and i was in the club until

midnight, nonstop. so i guess not everybody do that. and sometimes i was mad, of course, because this is too much. but at the same time i feel like i got my, my hands tied. if i say something, they might be fire me, they might say something to the authorities that, you know, ice in this case. >> reporter: because you're always at risk, yes? >> yes, yes. we are at risk every day >> reporter: so, economic argument number one: the undocumented do jobs nobody else will. okay, another point: somewhere between 50 and 75% of undocumented workers pay taxes, says the non-partisan congressional budget office. >> i got all the taxes that i been paying since i'm in this country, since 2002 until 2020. i got to pay taxes like a normal person, ke a person with

documents. >> reporter: so they contribute to the economy in production and in taxes, which pay for benefits the undocumented can't use. >> medicare, section eight, they don't qualify for food stamps, a whole variety of services that they don't qualify for. >> reporter: undocented immigrants provide yet another economic advantage, for those worried about soci security's finances. so you paid social security. >> yes. every single year since day one. >> reporter: will you get social security when you get older? >> i don't think so. because, you know, no documents, no social security. >> there is a large fund that the social secury administration has that are benefits that will never be paid out to the people that paid the funds in. >> reporter: so that's pretty much the case for legalizing the undocumented. the case against? >> illegal immigrants clearly cost taxpayers far more in benefits than they pay in taxes. >> isn't it time for washington to prioritize the american

people? >> reporter: dan stein, who runs the federation for american immigration reform, insists that the undocumented do not pay for themselves when you consider, for example... >> the social safety net, the cost of the social safety net, education, publischooling, >> reporter: worse still, he says, they drive down wages. >> the percent of americans who are in the labor force is at an all time low. one of the reasons is systemic illegal immigration. employers prefer to hire illegal immigrants over american citizens because they're pliable. they'll do menial jobs for very low wages. they prefer them. >> reporter: but i talk to employers all over theountry and they say we cannot find people to do the jobs we need to have done. that's not true? >> employers are constantly crying that they have a labor shortage. why? because employers like the labor market dynamics of hiring illegal labor. >> reporter: i put stein's argument to carola bracco of neighbors link. isn't there a good argument that undocumented immigrants drive down wages?

>> wage theft is actually a big issue as it relates to undocumented immigrants. >> reporter: but regardless, she says... >> if there weren't undocumented immigrants doing this work, employers wouldn't be able to find anybody to do that work. >> reporter: and if you deported them... >> you would find a significant reduction in our economy. what we've basically done is created a second class citizen that is ripe for ase and exploitation. i think we need to rectify that issue and bring in immigration reform. >> reporter: reform that would legalize the undocumented, that is. but to dan stein, that wou... >> justify lawbreaking and illegality. employers have an obligation, like everyone else, to respect the law. it's a cornerstone of citizenship. >> repter: the kind of citizenship to which trump national's former banquet chef aspires. but, he did break the law. which raised a final question. how come you feel comfortable talking to me like this?

>> i'm not 100% comfortable, but somebody has got to say something. and hopefully mr. biden saw this interview and like give us a chance. why not? i guess that's the whole reason, to show every single american that we not bad people. that we try to be good. and thanks to this country, i think we, we do. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, paul solman. >> nawaz: earlier today, i spoke with south korean foreign minister chung eui-yong. president biden meets tomorrow with the country's president moon jae-in. the two leaders are in very different points of their terms. biden, the newly-elected president, and moon in his final year. they will try to capitalize on the wiow by making progress on north korea. the biden administration recently announced its policy towards the north. it's an approach that offers

incremental sanctions relief in exchange for nth kor making steps curtailing it's nuclear program. it falls somewhere between the strategies of presidents obama and trump; the latter of whom sought to engage north korean leader kim jong un directly. north korea may top the agenda, but the two are also eected to discuss an increasingly assertive china. my conversation with foreign minister chung began on the topic of negotiations over north korea's nuclear program. >> north korea is a very unique system of governance. there is only one person who can make a final decision, which is the supreme leader, kim jong-un. so we thought a top-down approach was more effective, and we tried it, and it didn't work, as we had expected. so mae this time, we can have a combined approach. >> nawaz: a bottom-up approach than top-down. they have said they have a

middle ground, we might say, between obama's strategic patience and trump's grand bargain. do you think that that's sufficient, though, or do you think the u.s. needs to be more forward-leaning to see some progress? >> yeah, i think it is more forward-leaning. it is a more realistic approach. at the two plus two meeting we saw last march, wm agreed to engage north korea on a fully coordinated strategy. if you continue to engage north korea on the same footing, i think we will be able to make a more substantial progress in the future negotiations. >> nawaz: but why do you think this is more realistic? why do you think this approach will see success, where previous approaches happened? >> well, first of all, the u.s. government decided toonnue to maintain tonight newty in the

negotiations. based on the progress we have made so far, between the u.s. and the prk, and also between the two koreas, including the declaration of april 2018, between president moon jae-in, and . >> that 2018 agreement you mentioned some call it minimalist, the weakest of all reements signed between the u.s. and north korea. both sides would work toward the complete denuclearization of the peninsula, but it doesn't define what that means. does that mean the u.s. is held to the same limits as north korea? >> in 1992, the two koreas issued a joint declaration of denuclearization of the coran

peninsula. they described it like this, both koreas will not contest, will not produce, will not receive, will not purchase, will not deploy, and will not proliferate. so these are the very clear definitions of complete denuclearization of e korean peninsula. >> nawaz: do you have the same agreement with the u.s. > by using the word "complete denuclearization" north korea was very well aware of the definition of complete denuclearization. >> nawaz: do you think it would accelerating from there were higher level meetgs sooner? >> well, yes. well, yes. we believe higher level engagement is very efficient, especially with the tp.r.k.,

because of the political system there. there are a few peop in the government who can make a responsible and final decisions. so it is better to engage them directly. >> nawaz: are you encouraging president biden to meet directly with kim jong-un? >> well, if possible, yes. but it's not time yet for the top leaders to meet. i think we need to do more groundwork before top leaders meet at this time. and i know the united states is now reaching out to north korea, and we hope north korea will respond to this initiative. >> nawaz: is that what you're working to help facilitate at the meeting between the two leaders? >> well, this is the united states' initiative, and we are closely cooperating with the u.s. >> nawaz: let me ask you about the timeline. i should mention, it's fair to say president moon is under

internal political pressure back at home. he just suffered a series of major electoral defeats. he has one more year in office. is any of that political pressure adding pressure to make something happen on the north korean front? >> the recent political difficulties we are facing in korea is not much to do with policy with north korea. it is the people's concerns about the covid9 pandemic situation. we have been relatively ccessful in containing the pandemic, but we lag behind most of the advanced countries in vaccination, and we are still having a couple of hundred new cases on a daily basis. so people are concerned about this trend. but, the fact we have secured enough vaccines to administer vaccinations twice the size of the population, but most of the

ccines have yet secured are arriving in korea in the latter part of the year. >> nawaz: one more question on north korea if you don't mind. part of the bden strategy pears to be maintaining sanctions. do you think that's possible given that there are so-- the tensions are so high between the u.s. and china right now? >> both countries are very important to korea. the united states is our only treaty ally. and china is our largest trading partner. and we think the stable relationship. between china and the united states is essential for peace, prosperity, and stability in the ture, and beyond. and we hope the u.s. and china will find ways to cooperate. >> nawaz: minister chung eui-yong, minister of foreign

affairs for south korea, thank you very much for joining us. >> well, thank you for having me. i really enjoyed this. it's been my pleasure. >> nawaz: now, to life on the ground for palestinians and israelis, caught in the crossfire of war. here again is john yang. >> yang: night after night, israelairstrikes light up gaza's sky. morning after morning, palestinians living in the densely-populated strip of land search through the wreckage. >> when you lie in your bed, you just start to think and know that you may not wake up or if you wake up, you will be under rubble. >> yang: fikr shalltoot runs gaza programming for the u.k.- based group, medical aid forle saentiedical services have come to a halt. according to the u.n., israeli airstrikes have damaged at least 17 of gaza's 76 hospitals and

medical clinics. >> all of these services is interrupted not only because of the destruction of tse centers, but also because the lack of safety. the roads are destructed in gaza and the people are hesitant even to move outside because they are risking their lives. >> we feel like a war zone. when you lookt the sky almost every evening, every night, it's unbelievable. if you want to go to disneyland, it may look like fireworks, but we are not in disneyland. >> yang: miles to the north in tel aviv, technology executive eitan singer worries about his children. this week air sirens warning of >> i have a small daughter, a little daughter and i tell her that this is israel. this is a tough neighborhood. sometimes we have conflicts. sometimes people do not agree with our side. we will try to always do dialogs in talking rather than fighting, but when people are or countries or terrorists are fighting us, we defend. >> yang: for almost two weeks,

hamas has fired thousands of rockets into israel, damaging israeli homes and property. at least 12 israelis have been killed. last week, hamas rockets killed two women in the southern israeli city of ashkelon. in return, israel has struck gaza with artillery and airstrikes, killing more than 200 palestinians and leveling apartment blocks as they seek to blt hamas' military capabilities and disrupt a network of tunnels that israelis say is used to hide fighters and move weapons. just this week, a child, bleeding but alive, was among those pulled from the rubble after an airstrike that killed her mother and four siblings. she'd been trapped for seven hours. the 11-day conflict has aggravated gaza's worsening humanitarian situation. the territory faces an indefinite blockade from israel and egypt and an unemployment rate near 50%.

the u.n. says more than 70,000 gazans have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began. many have found shelter in u.n.- run schools. israeli airstrikes destroyed water pipes serving more than 800,000 people. and 60000 students are missing class after israeli airstrikes damaged their schools. refaat aljareer is a professor of english literature in gaza city where he lives with his wife and six children. he spoke to the newshour by phone after his building lost power. >> as a father, and an educator in gaza, i fear for everything-- for the repeated aression to come from israel, the fact that i can't provide safety and security for my kids. we don't like to go out to the shops, even downstairs, because you don't know what's going to happen next. we decided five, six days ago to try to ration, to eat as little as possible, two meals instead of three. so if it goes even crazier than

this, we can stay longer with what little food we have. >> yang: president biden has publicly supported israel's right to defend itself from hamas rockets. yesterday, though, the white house said that in a phone call the president told israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu that he expected a “significant de- escalation on the path to a ceasefire.” shortly afterward, netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the military opetion. but tonight in israel, his security cabinet approved a unilater cease-fire. >> yan palestinian-american diana mushtaha is a senior a the university of houston. this semester she is living with family in gaza. every night they sleep in their windowless apartnt corridor. mushtaha is critical of u.s. military aid to israel. in fiscal year 2019, the united states provided more than three billion dollars in aid. >> i love my country. i love both of my countries. but right now, one side of me is

literally fighting the other. it hurts to know that our tax dollars are paying for what i'm seeing here. >> yang: she says her younger cousins can tell how far away a strike is from their apartment. >> even the kids, they they've started to distinguish between oh i heard that one from the right area. oh that one was far. and they'll reassure each other that that one was far. don't worry, don't get scared. >> i believe that israel don't want to hurt children and women. >> yang: less than half a mile from the gaza border dani rachamim lives with his wife on an israeli kibbutz. he says the fighting has prevented him from tending to his farm. but he supports the israeli army and believes they are rightfully targeting hamas fighters. >> they want to hurt the hamas, the hamas terrorists, but i know for sure everyone in israel knows that the hamas hide behind

the children to protect themselves. i believe that our army is a moral army. but in war things happen. >> yang: in 2019 the newshour's ryan chilcote spoke with him about living so close to gaza. >> has the stress of living here affected any of your kids? >> yes. little daughter, she's in post-trauma. >> p.t.s.d. >> when there is a siren, she has all her body shaking for a long time. >> yang: speaking from his bomb shelter now, rachamim acknowledged the discrepancies between gaza and israel. >> when my child were much younger, yes 12 years old, 13 years old. i told them, you know, we sit now in our bomb shelter, you know, that there is no bomb shelters for the children in gaza. they were in shock.

>> yang: back in gaza, alareer says he worries about his family's future, but he says he believes their aspirations are shared by communities worldwide. >> we believe our struggle is part of a global struggle, the historical struggle around the world of the indigenous peoples around the world. we share the struggle with our brothers and sisters with black lives matter and those people suffering from systematic and institutional discrimination. >> yang: and now with a ceasefire, both gazans and israelis can catch their breaths, assess the damage and see how long the quiet lasts. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> nawaz: it is an award of a lifetime; this year a virtual kennedy center honors spotlighting midori. jeffrey brown spoke with the world-renowned violinist for our arts and culture series, canvas.

>> brown: for the violinist midori, finding her way into bach and other great composers isbout continuing to look and listen anew. >> i see different things. i see things around me changing. i see different scenery. i see things that are different that i hadn't noticed before, but it can't be different the music was already written. but suddenly i notice different things and it's me noticing it. and i'm always so excited by this process. and it's the process that actually gets me to continue. >> brown: it's a process that began as a child, when the world first got to know midori, in some ways the quintessential "prodigy" story: a japanese-born daughter of a violinist mother, her firsteacher; soloist at age 11 with the new york philharmonic at a new year's eve

concert led by conductor zubin mehta; recordings, perrmances all over the globe, including one at 14 at tanglewood with leonard bernstein, in which she broke two strings on her violin but continued without missing a note. it was front page news in the "new york times," which marveled at her poise. but midori herself took it in stride. >> i gss as a 14 year old i thought, well what's the big deal? i broke the string. not the first time, not the last time. >> brown: was the attention as a child something you wanted to ignore, something that didn't interest you? >> i think i was always just taking things as they came and also when the strings broke, i took it as it happened, but that's basically very much the way i have lived my life. >> brown: the kennedy center honor speaks directly to that: not just the music-making but a

life of advocacy on behalf of its transformative power. at just 21, she started the organization, “midori and friends”, to bring music access and education into new york city public schools, now reaching some 75 of them. you' said something i found very interesting: that you didn't decide to become a professional musician until you were in your 20s, and yet you already had a renowned career. what does that mean? >> it was very, very important. it was a decisive point that i made a conscious decision to pursue a career. it also meant that i would actually become much more aware of the responsibilities of having a career and wh that meant. and now we talk so mucto our younger musicians abouhow being a performer doesn't mean that it's about standing up on stage and performing and that's

it. it's not. and that's when i recognized when i decided that i wanted to take on the career that there was so much i wanted to do, i needed to do, i was expected to do. that recognition, i think, somehow made a click in my head. >> brown: more projects followed: working with young people throughout asia, and with community music groups and youth orchestra around the u.s., including outside major urban centers. >> as a youngster, i never made a choice, i never felt like i had to give up something because i had to practice. that was never the case. but it was more after i decided that i wanted this as a career that i decided that sometimes i need to make choices. sometimes it would mean that i would not be able to accept an engagement because i was committed to visiting a group of

people and sharing the music or teaching about music or talking about music, advocating for music. >> all my programs are based in the idea, this belief that music can bring people together. >> brown: the recording and performing continue: including beethoven with the festival strings lucerne, and, especially exciting to her, commissions for new works with contemporary composers. >> i keep sharing this idea with the students and youth orchestras. we're the agents that are able to bring this out to the world and can share this with others. we're the ones that are giving life to this new music. and to be able to work with living composers to work with contemporary compositions, new ideas about how to make sound, how to produce sound, new

concepts about music-- these are just absolutely exciting. >> brown: and your own life at this point isn't complete unless you're doing both-- playing music and doing all these projects around the world? >> i can't imagine my life without my projects, no, no i can't. it would be, yeah, it would be very strange. but i also can't think of my life without performing and without practicing. for me, life in music isn't just certain things. it's just everything together for me. >> brown: with pandemic restraints now easing, midori is eager to perform live, and has dates lined up domestically and abroad through the summer. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> nawaz: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.

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