/12/18 06/12/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: we are very proud of what took place today. i think our whole relationship with north korea in the korean peninsula is one to be a much different situatition than it hs in the past. and we're going to take care of a very big and very dangerous problem for the world. i want to think -- think chairman kim. amy: after an historic summit

singapore, president trump and north korean president kim jong-un have pledged to work comtordete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. it marked the first and the leaders of the two country have ever met. after the summit, president trump announced the end of u.s. war games with south korea admitting the exercises have been very provocative and inappropriate. we will air highlights from trump and kim's remarks. kim jong-un: we had an historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind and we are about to sign in the store documente worr change. amy: we will go to singapore, to washington, and to chicago for the latest. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump and north korean

leader kim jong-un have wrapped up in historic summit in singapore where they pledged to work toward a complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. the summit marked the first-ever meeting between a sitting u.s. president and north korean leader. following the historic many, president trump announced the end of u.s.-south korean wardens. we will stop the workrkers which will save us a tremendous amount of m money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along likeke it should. but we will be saving a tremendous amount of momoney. plus, i think it is very provocative. amy: that was president trump speaking at a news conference early this morning. it was his first full news conference in more t than a yea. trump p also expressed h hope fn end to the korean conflict. pres. trump: an extreremely bloy conflict ravaged t the kororean peninsula. cap wawas people died in the coconflict, including tens of thousands of brave americans.

while the armistice was agreeded to, the war never ended to thths day.y. never ended. but now we can all h have hohope thatatt will soon n end, and i t will. have to define not the future. amy: after the headlines, we will go to singapore for more on this historic meeting between president trump and kim jong-un. in a major immigration decision, attorney general jeff sessions announced monday that domestic violence will no longer be grounds for asylum, a far-reaching shift that could affect thousands of women fleeing nder-b v particularly from central america. sessions overturned a precedent set in a 2014 immigration appeals court ruling that had granted asylum to a guatemalan woman named aminta cifuentes, who had fled to the united states after being brutally abused by her husband for years -- beaten, kicked, burned with acid, and punched so hard in the stomach when she was eight months pregnant that her child was born prematurely and with bruises.

he told her it was pointless to go to the police because "even the police and judges beat their wives." she did go to authorities, who recommended she leave him. but when she did, he tracked her down, raped her, and threatened to kill her. she then fled to the united states, where she finally won asylum. but on monday, attorney general jeff sessions overturned the precedent set in her case, ruling -- "claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by nongovernmental actors will not qualify for asylum." immigration lawyers have condemng, thich could d have sweepeping cts no only for women fleeing domesticc violence, but all people fleeing gang-based violence. karen musalo of the center for gender and refugee studies a at the university of california hastings college of the law said -- "what this decision does is yank us all back to the dark ages of human rights and women's human rights." this comes as "the washington

post" reports the honduran asylum seeker who died by suicide after border patrol agents forcibly separated him from his three-year-old child had come to the united states with his fily fleeing violence. the honduran consulate says marcñoz o antod his family fled honduras after muñoz's brother-in-law was murdered. ter they arrived in the united states, they voluntarily surrendered to border patrol agents and said they wanted to apply for asylum. but when agents told muñoz he would be separated from his son, he appears to have had a panic attack. the agents then ripped the boy out of his arms and transported muñoz to a texas jail, where he was found dead by suicide the following morning. a newly published open letter signed by over 1000 mental health professionals has condemned the trump administration' separating children and parents at the border, writing -- "we cannot afford to forget that there is a history of separating children from their parents -- during slave auctions, during the forced assimilation of

american indians, and during the holocaust. to somehow convince ourselves that this systematic traumatization of children has no bearing on the lives of these children and no impact on the legacy of our country is to be living in an alternate universe. and to not care about the impact these policies have on these ch is to succumb to the worst potential of humanity." in a major voting rights case, the supreme court has ruled 5 to 4 to uphold ohio's decision too aggressively purge voters from the rolls. the ruling allows ohio to purge voters from m the rolls if theyy haven't voted inin recent elections and don't respond to a notice from election officials. a 2016 reuters survey found nearly 150,000 people were removed from the voting rolls in recent years in ohio's three largest counties alone. a handful of cases have similar voting laws. the ruling to uphold ohio's decision to remove voters' names

is part of a nationwide battle over voter suppression efforts pushed by the republican party. on monday, scores of people were arrested in front of the supreme court as part of a national day of action for the new poor people's campaign. they are protesting poverty and racism. this is reverend dr. william barber speaking at the rally just before he, too, was arrested. >> how many the understand how the supreme court justices get on the court? they get nominated by who? >> the president. >> how do senators get into office? you understand why voting suppression is an labor issue? it is not just a black issue, it is a labor issue. it is support people's issue. because if you suppress the vote, you undermine the ability to elect people. if you undermine the ability to elect people come you get people elected that will give you a

regressive supreme court. you cannot separate voting rights from labor rights. is that the black folk are all better be fighting for of r rights. amy: religious leaders, led by nine reverend liz theoharris, who were arrested at the supreme court and have been held overnight in jail by capitol police. they were among dozens of people arrested in nationwide protests staging a moral revival, 50 years after martin luther king, jr.'s original poor people's campmpaign. in dowowntown boston, prototests blococked traffic toto demand a higher minimum wage. in libya, washington, -- in olympia, washington activists , erected tents to protest homelessness and unaffordable housing. in sacramento, california, hundreds rallied outside the california association of realtors' office to protest evictions. monday's actions was the poor -- was part of the poor people's campaign's fifth week of nationwide protests.

there's a major march in washington on june 23. "the washington post" is reporting president trump's daught ivanka and her husband jared kushner raked in at least $82 million in outside income last year, even as both served as senior white house advisers. ivanka trump received nearly $4 million from her stake in the trump international hotel in washington, d.c., $2 million from the trump organization, and $5 million from the trust that oversees her clothing brand. her husband jared kushner raked in a total of $70 million from dozens of companies tied to his family's real estate company, kushner companies. ethics experts say the extraordinary income flow while the two are serving as senior ite house advisers raises concerns about conflicts of interest. in yemen, the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition bombed a new doctors without borders cholera clinic in the northwestern abs

region. doctors without borders said it had provided the coordinates of the clinic to the saudi-led coalition before the strike and that the roof of the building clearly identified i a me the ongoing u.s.-backed saudi-led war in yemen has sparked the world's worst cholera epidemic, with more than 1 million people infected. this comes as the united nations is warning an impending saudi-led offensive on the yemeni port city of hodeidah could have catastrophic humanitarian consequences. this is mark lowcock, the u.n. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. >> 7 million people are completely reliant every month more than seven million on other assistance from human to turn organizations. to thedata is central preserving of life. period the data

were not to operate effectively, the consequences in humanitararn terms would be catastrophic. amy: "the wall street journal" reports the trump administration is weighing expanding its role war in yemen by providing direct assistance to the saudi-led offensive against the port city of hodeidah. in syria, the united nations says n nearly 1 mimillion people were displeded insidsyriria during the first four months of this year, the highest ls ternae conflict began seven years ago. in total, more than 6 million syrians are displaced inside the country, with another 5.5 million syrian refugees displaced outside syria's borders. in vietnam, poliaineetover 100 people protesting against propos s speci ecoconoc zonene amididespreademonstrioions in recendaysys. e protes have foed lalawmaks toto ptpone a te on whether approve new law that wou give foign

invests 99-yealeases oland ininsidehe s speal ecocomic zos. the spspish gogornment has reed to low w a at carrying more than 600 refugees to dock in valencia after italy's new anti-immigrant government turned the boat away, leaving the hundreds of refugees stranded in the mediterranean. the boat is carrying over 120 unaccompanied children and seven pregnant women. in italy, the mayor of naples, luigi de magistris, condndemned the italian government's decision to reject the refugee boat. >> the port of naples is open. whoever prevents a ship from docking in a port to save lives, whoever puts h human lives at risk, not only behaves in an undignified, shameful, and ethically reprerehensible way, t commits a crimeme against h humy and will be called to answer before international tribunals. amy: and the department of education has launched a federal investigation into the university of southern

california's handling of sexuall abuse claims against the school's former gynecologist dr. george tyndall. authorities say school administrators received reports of sexual abuse during pelvic exams dating back to thely 1990's, but failed to investigate these reports until 2016. authorities say d dr. tyndall my hahave seen 1010,000 patients. and d those are e some oththe headlilines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the e war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. jujuan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcomome to a all of our listes and viewers from around the country and around the world. we spent today show in singapore, where preresident trp and north korean president kim jong-un have wrapped up a historic summit pledging to work toward complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. in addition, president trump announced the end of u.s.-south korean war games. the summit marked the first ever meeting between a sitting u.s. president and a north korean leader.

it came just weeks after another for stork meeting between kim and south korean leader moon jae-in, were they agreed to work to formally end the korean war. amy: the summit began with president trump and kim publicly shaking hands. they then met privately for less than an hour with only them and their two translators. this w was followed by a larger meeting with top aides. at the cononclusion of the summ, president t trump and president kim spoke briefly to the press. pres. trump: we are signing a very important document post of pretty comprehensive document. we have had a really great term together, a great relationship. would you like to say something?

kim jong-un: today we have a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind and we are about to sn an historic document. will see a major change. i would like to express my gratitude to president trump to make this meeting happen. thank you. pres. trump: thank you very much. thank you very much. it is fantastic. [applause] pres. trump: thank you very much, everybody. we will see a little bit later. we are proud of what t took plae today. i think our whole relationship

with north kea and the korean peninsula is going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past. we both want too someing. we both are going to do something. we have developed a very special bond. people are going to be very impressed. people are going to be very happy. we're going to take care of a very big and very dangerous problem for the world. i want to thank chairman kim. spspent a lot of time together today, very intensive time. i would actually say it worked out for both of us far better than anybody could have expected. i watched the various news reports. i was a far better than anyone even predicted. this is going to lead to more and more and more -- it is an honor to be with you. thank you. thank you to all of your representatives very much. thank you very much. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> [inaudible]

pres. trump: absolutely, i will. >> mr. kim, would you like to come to washington? [applause] juan: hours later, president trump held a press conference that lasted d er an hour during which he announced the u.s. would end what he described as provocatwar gas off the coast of north korea. prpres. trump: at some point i have to be honest and i useded o sayy this during my campaign, as you probablyly know better than most. i want t to get our soldiers ou. i want to bring our soldiers back home. we have 32,000 soldiers in south kokorea. i would like to be able to bring them back home, but that t is nt part of the equation right now. at some point, i hope it wilill be, but not right now. we will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money. unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. but we will be saving a

tremendousof mey. plus, i think it is her provocative. amy: we will spend the hour on the historic summit. we begin a singapore where we are joined by tim shorrock, who the nation magazine.e summit f tim grp yo and seoul and has been writing about the u.s. role in korea since the late 1970's. tim, this is the end of an historic day talk about the highlights, what your most surprised by, the significance of what has just taken place. >> it was a pretty amazing day. i think the most significant thing i heard -- i just returned about an hour ago. i was at that press conference with president trump. it is the first time i have seen him in action live, and it is allowed -- august pss conference i think is given in hihis presidency. he was enthusiastic. he was cracking jokes. he seemed very, very pleased with himself. the most surprising thing i heard was when he said, we're

going to end the war games. that had not been previously .nnounced yesterday, mike pompeo had said he u.s. was ready to give what he said a very unique security guarantee to north korea also no one was sure what he met. i think it is their what they meant was the ending of the war games, which may have even stunned south korea. i am not clear exactly how much he consulted with president moon jae-in on this. that was one thing i was very surprised by. a stunningte development. overall, the agreements -- very positive. a lot of people have noted it is a little bit vague in terms of really spelling out what denuclearization means and how the steps north korea will take to denuclearize. a president trump seems ready confident that is the way they are moving.

another heart of the agreement that i thought was important was the fact that they're going -- north korea is going to allow u.s. military to resume searching for american soldiers there were killed and missing in north korea. for a long time, until about 10 or 15 years ago, the pentagon was doining this in north korea and working with the north korean government and searching for remains. now this is going to start again. one of the things that is significant about it, it actually pu.s. military personnel in north korea. that is a real change in relationship. the entire way president trump talked about kim jong-un was stunning. that crowd ofk reporters, specially all of these hotshot white house reporters, quite by surprise. the feeleling of friendldlinesse had toward kim j jong-un and the

fact t that kim jong-un greetedd him m in english this morning gd spoke kindly to himim and g gred him. but it clearly looks l like they're moving to a whole new situation between the u.s. and nortrth koreaea. the north korea has been saying for years and years, specially over the last year, they wanted hostile to end its policy. these military exercises work merely a key part of this hostile policy. so removing that seems very important. the fact that kim jong-un committed himself to this on paper with the president of the united states seems quite significant, even though the agreement is kind of vague in sosome of the specifics about hw it is going about. juan: i'm wondering if you could talk more about these war games. the reality is, in the u.s. press, they get very little attention but they are regular features ofe around the

korean peninsula. have beeni have -- raised by north korea as a signal, the threat from the united states that they face and a reason for them building up their arsenal as well. is righght. they have bebeen going on for a long time. the u. did suspend them for a while during the 1990's while the negotiations were going on with president clinton on the earlier nuclear agreement. but in the past two years, these exercises have increased in size and tempo. 2017, last year, whenhe tension was increasingng and the united states and south rerea and two series of exercises in both of them they practiced things like the sort off regime change exercisises. they calthemem decapititation

strikes where they actually practiced going into north korea and killining the leadership. of course, that was seen as a big threat to north korea. last year,r, especially, these were massive involving airircrat carriers, nuclear armed aircraft carrrriers, nuclear submarines, b-52's. but over the past six months as these talks of diplomacy have been going on, they did scale back the last series of exercises. although, what really got these talks sort of jumpstarted in rms te trump and kim was north korea's objection to certain strategic bombers being used by the united states in the last series of exercises a few weeks ago, mainly b-52 bombers that carry nuclear weonons. north korea got very upset about it. they canceled their talks

temporarily with south korea over those strategic bombers. the u.s. backed down and said, ok, we are not going to use them. this is quite a step. trumpet's go to president in this news conference that he just held about an hour before the broadcast. the first extend a press conference he has held in over a year, speaking decisively a abot thosenes. pres. trump: we haveve done exercicises for a long period of time, working with south korea. we called them war games. i call thehem w war games. the amount of f money we spend n that is incredible. korea contributes, but not 100%, which is certainly a subjbject that w we have to lklo ththem aboutut also. the that has to do with military expense and also the trade. a new deal withhave south korea in terms of the trade, but we have to talk to

many countries about treating us fairly. the war games are very expensnsive. we pay for a big majority of them. we fly and bombers from guam. when i first started i said, where did the bombers come from? guam. nearby. i said, where is thereby? 6.5 hours. that is a long time for these massive planes to be flying to south korea to practice and then drop bombs all over the place and d then go back to guam. i know a lot aboutut airplanes.. it is very expensive. i did d not like it. what i i did say is -- i think t is very provocative. i have to o tell you, jennifer,t is a very prorovocative situati. when i see that and you have a country right next door -- so under the circumstances that we are negotiating a very conference of, complete deal. i think it is inappropriate to be having war games.s. number one, we save momoney.

a a lot. number two, it really is something that i think they very much appreciated. amy: that is president trump speaking against the backdrop of the logo of this summit, which is a combination in a circle of the american and north korean flags. this is democracy now! when we come bacack, we will continue with tim shorrock who is right now in singapore and we will be joined by one of the leading scholars on korea, bruce cumings, as well as christine ahn, who is been working on the issue of korea herself for many years. this is democracy now! back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and pere i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

,e are still with tim shorrock who is in singapore, was at the news conference, president trump's first extended news conference in over a year. juan: i want to ask you about the statement that they signed, that the two leaders signed that basically had four general points about committing to establishing new relationships between the united states and the democratic people's republic of north korea and buildin andstableasting peace. oneatf the principles is reaffirming the april 20 7, 2018 declaration whichh is -- came ot of the meeting of the south korean leader and the north korean leader back on april 28. this is basically reaffirming what has already been negotiated, which is working toward an end to the korean war. >> that is right.

i thought that was significant because it does put the two koreas back in the middle of this, the middle of any agreement. say endingation did the war, ending the hostility, and taking steps to end the hostilities. then expanding it to make a peace treaty formally ending the war, which would have to include china and the united statates. i was a littlepris sur they did not actually say they were going to have a peace treaty or announced the end of the korean had led people to anticipate. but i think it is very important this is included. i al want to say, again, in is usef the exercises, of the term "provocative," i almost fell out of my chair when i heard him say that. for those who have been critical of these x assizes, we call them provocative, too, and i know people have been attacked just

for saying that. step.taking quite a bold it is still unclear to me exactly what role the south korean government played in this and how much they were actually ted. somethink just talking to of the korean reporters i was sitting with at the press conference that there is probably a possibility this agreement is going to be very much criticized, especially in the south korea by the right. maybe 20% or so of the voting population. the parties are there and they have been very critical of the declararation. they don't like it. they don't like making peace with north korea. i think this idea of ending the war exercises for them is going to be very,y, very troublesesom. and it is going to be an issue for moon jae-in as well because he has been under attack from the white ring -- right-wing.

it is an opening of critics for trump both from the liberal side and the conservative side. with all the democratic -- senate democrats put out this letter saying unless north korea towardw moving solidly denuclearization, verifiable, irreversible, and so on, that they wouldld oppose the agreeme. i think we're going to see opposition from some senate democrats on this and probably other peoplele in congress. thate is a lot of liberals s don't rereally like the e way ts hahandout in terms of they think trump is abandoning another ally. i think there is a lot to be understood how this came out and how this was worked out if it works out with south korea. amy: in a momement we're going o be going t t congressman ro thena talking about

democratic opposition to the summit. and before we lose you on the satellite, temp, this statement that has been signed, talk about the atmosphere in the room at the news conference, as you are saying, the elite reporters there having so many questions about, what do you mean the work aims will be canceled? but also, overall, does this statement represent something new? has something like this been signed before? has andhing like this signed before, yes. some of the language is very similar to past agreements. not only the 1994 agreement,t, t agreements that happened after that. at the differences you had the two leaders meeting. this was an unprecedented meeting between the president of the united states and the leader of north korea. you've never had a document or the top leaders of the country

signed. that makes it a much stronger agreement. pesons at preress, i mn, half confere is we of human rights. this has become a big concern for a lot of people. why didn't they raise it and this kind of thing. they seem to think human rights should be raised first. and we can see this in "the new york times" today, of otr is about this. i think he's going to be really criticized from the democrat party as well as some republicans for not going after kim jong-un on human rights. i thinink clearly endingng thear and d bringing peaeace is goingo be good fofor human rights. t think t response if f i as it. i think ththere's going to be a lot of political minefield here in the u.s. i expect to see a fair amount of opposition and a lot of criticism.

amy: tim, thank you for being with this directive from the ws cneference, speaking to us from singapore where this historic summit has just taken place. ump'e go back to president 's is conference this morning. the denuclearization is one problem in n north korea. anotother huge problem is the horrible record they have on humaman rightsts. was that discussed at all? is that someththing you wiwill tackle?? pres. trump: yes, it was discussed. it will be discussed more in the future, humaman rights. in greatalso discussssed detail, john, was the fact, you know, anand i must have had d jt --ntless calls and letters anything you can do, they want andremains of their sons fathers and mothers come all of the people that got caught and that really brutal war, which took place, to large extent, and

h korea. for it today, and we got it. that was the very lastst minute. the remains will be coming back. they're going to start that process in italy. amy: that is president trump at the news conference in singapore. i want to bring in christine ahn , founder and international coordinator of women cross dmz, a global movement of women mobilizing to end the korean wa a big day for you, christine. cayou respond to what he is saying here? president trump, many reporters asked questions about human rights. and then he moved into the question of korean remains. >> it was an historic day for ending the korean war. statement that a i thought was significant in the

sense that it starts by talking about peace and prosperity and security assurances to north korea, and then he later noted in the press conference about the war games. i mean used the word "wargames" to define the u.s.-south korean military exercises. then he goes into denuclearization. i think that was a significant shift and showed the pragmatism of president trump in this moment that he understood why north korea was pursuing nuclear weapons as a deterrent against u.s. first strikes. i think that was a significant shift. the last point about the return of family servicemen remains and putting it in the context of humarights i think is significant because when you have an ongoing state of war, havingy does it preclude nations be respected as of human

rights, it is also about an unresolved war that doesn't allow closure to take place. and that is for at least 5000 american families who are waiting for the remains of their fathers. i think about my friend redounds, the executive director of coalition of families of american pow, mia families from the korean war. he talks about how he was on a plane that landed over into john long and that was -- john yang and that was the closest you ever been to his father since he was three years old. families and so there are thousands of american families that still have yet to have closure but there are millions of korean families that still have to have some kind of reconciliation and healing. and the first step to ending the korean war takes as in that direction. this is the first time that i

felt like i could listen at length to what donald trump was saying. it is as if yet a beating heart. the way he is bebeen talking abt the korean war and that this is a war that has languished on for far too long. i think it is a significant step . we have been hearing so much in the media about how this is a thin and a substantial document -- unsubstantial document. this is the first time a u.s. president has set down, shook hands. we saw the dprk, american flag side-by-side. this is unprecedented. i think it is a new day for the korean peninsula but that is why i am here in washington, d.c., because we know contrary to the perception that north korea has been the one responsible for the deraililment of the implementatn of past agreements, we know past presidents, whether it was clinton or bush, not only faced an oppositionn party t that didt want to see the implementation

of the agreed framework -- newt gingrich and the republican party -- but also president bush faced opposition within his own administstration. the hardliners that did not want to see through t the agreement during the six party talalks. i think it is reallyly importan. for now, a peace process has begun. it is now the job of us in civil society, especially women's groups, to ensure our positions, our p points, and thatat we are included in this peace process. juan: christine, i want to ask about the role of kim jong-un. obviously, president trump has gotten all of the attention, but this is a startling turn abo for a leader who was largely isolated in the rest of the world. and in just a few short months, not only send a delegation to the winter olympics to begin the fall, but also had meetings -- too many for the president of china as well as the april 27

.eeting with moon jae-in the role of kim jong-un in this diplomatic turnaround? i think this is been part of the nokoreanlan for several years. we know their policy of the dual track of trying to achieve a nuclear deterrent, to defend the nation against a u.s. first strike. we notice provocative dri have been very much part of that north korean mentality of being under siege. and the second is about economic development. address made this year said we have completed this and now we want to move forward. when a new administration was coming into power in south korea. thanks to the candlelight revolution, that was even

cameited and moon jae-in into power. and that is obviously a huge reason why we're even at that moment, because of the incredible diplomacy of moon jae-in. kim jong-un, as one of the adin russian scholars has said, he is one of the most pro-markrket north korean leades ever. and we know he wants to make significant changes for the well-being of the north korean people. obviously, ending the hostile relations with the united states, the world superpower, is going to be a huge obstacle that inl no longer be in place terms of the sanctions, in terms of the isolation politically, economically, and now with progress toward ending the military hostility between the two countries. a point i really want to make is, with this thing about the family remains. thatat is going to take enormous

coordination. so i think one of the key things that could happen is to facilitate that process, there could be a diplomatic mission, a usmc opened -- u.s. embassy open. that would be e ge and meaningful first step to achchie all of the o other aims of that statement. amy: we're going to take a break and the come back to thisis discussion and also be joined by university of chicago professor bruce cumings and congress member ro khanna who is taking on his own party when it comes to, well, not the opposition they are very lukewarm support of the summit. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan nzalez we are now joined by bruce cumings, professor of history at

the university of chicago. he is the author of several books on korea, including "korea's place in the sun: a modern history" and "north korea: another country." you have been following korea for decades. talked about the statement that was signed today. what you were most surprised by and is this actually a continuation of the past or the first real break with the past am a professor? the first principle about a new relationship between north korea and the u.s. is very important. it is a recognition of the dprk. the u.s. 72 years ago refused to power in the rest of 1946 by kim-il sung. ever since, the u.s. has refused to recognize north korea. north korea has an ideology that

depends on rejecting its own dignity and wanting respect some other countries. i think the first principle of that statement is a very important one if it is implemented. second, donald trump has this kind of innocence. she looks at the korean problem with innocent eyes. he says it is ridiculous there is not been a peace treaty signed. shortly after the war ended in 1953 or sometime in the last 60 years. he is right about that. but i agree with tim shorrock that the most stunning thing was for him to talk about the war exercises been provocative. not to mention stopping them or at least suspending them. when barack obama was president and there was a particular crisis involving a north korean missile or bomb test, he would send nuclear capable bombers to

drop dummy bombs on korean islands. as tim said, the war games often involved attempts to knock over regime, plans ansend the marines in early stagf the war. and these of nuclear weapons in the korean theater. i think it was very important that these war games were canceled, but also quite revealing as a somebody who doesn't owow whole lot about the situation, namely donald trurum, lookinat the situation and saying, wait a minute, this is not only asked itself, but it is also very provocative. i also agree witith chrisistinea ththeatricss of the summit were very important to see the dprk flag right next to the american flag. to hear donaldrump described north korea's l leader as a smat

man, a great man come all of this -- i know there are all sorts of detractors in the united states for trump's statements like that, but he clearly is a person who believes in hands-on getting to know you relationships. and this seems to have worked out well. juan: bruce cumings, i want to ask you, for a lot of our viewers and listeners who don't know the history of this relationship, could you talk me about the level of destruction that the united states visited on north korea during the korean war? also, why in the face of all of the changes that have occurred in asia, normalization of relations with china and vietnam, why korea remained as this one area where the united states held on to the cold war in this sense? >> ttake the second question first, it is an easy one to

answer. you have to have a south korean government that wants better relations with the north and better relations between pyongyang and washington. we did not have that for nine ars. the wind president moon jae-in came in, he immediately would engage with north korea and as christine mentioned, he has been a very important guiding hand in bringing the u.s. and north korea together. receptiventext, a south korean president -- which often don't have and had not had . things are moving forward. not for the first time because this happened in the 1990's, also been engager with north korea, but moon jae-in is very experienced. he was chief of staff to another progressive president. he knows what he is doing. the primaryhat is

reason that the u.s. is now in an engagement process with north korea. what every north korean nose iss a family member killed during the korean war and usually by incendiary bombing the u.s. --ried out with no limits basically, the apparatus of firebombing that was used to l gevean and japanese cities duringng world war ii was redirected to north korea -- which h had 15 or 1 16 c citiesf modest size. they were all just wiped off the face of the earth. official u.s. air force statistics show the percentage sometimesstruction, when under percent to north korean cities, was higher on average than the percentage of destruction in germany and japan during world war ii. plus, napalm was splashed all over the place. churchill even had to send a cable to eisenhower in 1953

saying, essentially, when we invented napalm, we had no idea it was going to be splashed all over civilians. historic estimate out 70of the casualties in the korean war were civilians, compared to about 40% in vietnam. so as president trump said, it was a very, very destructive war and every north korean knows all about it. amy: i want to read read from a letter issued by senate minority leader chuck schumer and other top democrats last week threatening g to maintain oror n strengthen sanctions against north korea if president trump doesn't enensure that the county completely dismantle all of its nuclclear, cmical, and biological weapopon. the letter reads -- "sanctions relief by the u.s. and our allies should be dependent on dismantlement and removal of north korea's nuclclr weapons and ballistic missile programs. any deal that explicitly or implicitly gives north korea sanctions relief for anything

other than the verifiable performance of its obligations to dismantle its nuclear and missile arsenal is a bad deal." but progressives have blasted the letter for its hardline stance. 15 democratic congress members, including california congress member ro khanna, , penned a lettero president trump writing "diplomacy is s the only path to resolve the tensions between our countries." congress member ro khanna joins us from washington, d.c. welcome to democracy now! your response to what has happened today in singapore and to your own party? opposeu think it will what president trump is doing here? with christine and professor cumings, this is a very constructive step. imagine if it were not donald trump there but barack obama there having that kind of

breakthrough. i think there would be a reaction from almost every progressive democrat cheering that on. professor cummings is right. barack obama did not have president moon as a partner to achieve this. president moon has really set the foundation for engagement. and donald trump, to his credit in this instance, has taken that opportunity. my disagreement with senator schumer in that letter is that basically, encouraging the talking points of john bolton saying we should not engage in any diplomacy or make any concesons without complete denuclearization. that is just not realistic. a far more realistic framework thehat wasas advocated in 1990's by bill perry, incremental approach where we need to look at our joint military exercises as the president hasas, where e we neeo ask for the cessatition of testing, and make concessions on

an incremental basis. what ill -- that is think has become of this process. was: is it in your sense it within the democratic party this debate will expand between us hawkish view of how to deal with negotiations with north korea versus those in the democratic party that see, as you do,o, the importrtance of pursuiuing diplomacy? is, i think the american people are going to view this as a constructive step and a success. i think the democrats risks looking like we're being acceptably partisan by attacking the president from the right. so i am hopeful that more and more democrats will speak out. it is fine to criticize the president on saying he could have been more prepared, he could have had were experts in the room, there should have been greater preparation before the summit. no one is saying donald trump

has handled this perfectly. what i rather have barack obama be t the representative for the unit is a for bill clinton? absolutely. what i rather bill perry been a coming the president then mike pompeo john bolton? yes. at the reality is, this is the leadership and democrats are going to have to basically choose do we want to encourage john bolton and -- in a neoconservative you o or encoure the president's instinct to follow what has been recommended, a framework toward negotiation and peace and criticize it where we don't think it is perfect? i think i'm quite confident most democrats, at least in the house, will approach.he engagement amy: south carolina republican senanator lindsey grahamam respd to the letter penned by senator schumer and other top democrats by asking them to agree to authorize military force against north korea. here he is speaking on nbc -- on abc. >> a letter to president obama regarding the iranian nuclear efforts, but i am brace this

letter. it is a very tough thing to accomplish. here's what i would say to my democratic colleagues. i appreciate you telling the president what a good deal would look like but the country needs you to back the president of to get that deal. here's the question for my democratic colleagues. if diplomacy fails, will you support my efforts to all the right use of military force as a last resort to convince north korea and china things are going to be different this time? a bipartisan amf would really make that letter much more credible. if diplomacy fails, as a last result, democrats and republicans need tout t military option on the table or we will never get a good deal. amy: that is republican senator lindsey graham. bruce cumings, then you respond? >> he seems to think he is a cutout for the hardliners in the trump administration like john bolton. but to take this particular moment when for the first time

in a long time there is a thaw between pyongyang and washington and to talk about going to war if this thaw doesn't work is reprehensible. first of all, there isn't any military solution on the korean peninsula. we should have learned that in 1953 when we were brought to a standstill by rough peasant armies. almostainly isn't today, 70 years later, when north korea has built themselves into basically impregnable fortress with 15,000 underground facilities of a national security nature come all kinds of conventional weapons trained on seoul, not to mention a complete nuclear and i cdm inventory tested last fall. know really what he is talking about. i suppose he wants to come off as a hardliner, but very irreresponsible at this time. amy: i want to go ba to president trump speaking at his

news conference today about the future of north korea. pres. trump: as an example, they have great beaches. you see that whenever they are exploding their canids and the ocean. i said, wouldn't that make a great condo? said,nstead of doing that, you could have the best hotels in the world right there. think of it from a realistic perspective. you have south korea, china, and they own the land in the middld. how bad is that? it is great. amy: christine ahn, what about president trump may a hotel and north korea? >> i would say that is a little too soon, but i would say in this moment, what is going to be the most important thing to mo and kim.e relations between we know there is already discussion about linking the real that were built -- real that were built or in the sunshine era between north and

south korea. we know south korean small businesses a capitalist are hoping to relieve some of the sanctions to have investments in north korea. at the most important point, moment, is the inter-korean progress and that is going to be the greatest assurance there 't be a new korean war, that the lindsey grahams won't have their moment in this moment when peaceis in the ai i think was great that trump said in his press conference, whatever peace agreement is negotiated, will include south korea and china. this is obviously conflict that would devastate not just the korean peninsula, but the entire region. is in the air and we have a lot of work to do, especially as a peace movement in this country. amy: thank you for being with us, christine ahn, professor bruce cumings, and democratic congress member ro khanna.

we will do part two with aboutss member khanna yemen. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning.