what type of missile was it. where was it headed at the time. it is believed to have exploded shortly after launch and failing at that moment. was it a submarine based missile or was it a land based missile? this coming out of the northeastern parts of north korea in the sinpo region which is close to the headquarters of the submarines of north korea and also close to several nuclear sites there in north korea. we have had statements from the defense secretary of the united states fairly straightforward saying that the president and the military team of the united states are aware of north korea's missile launch and saying that president trump will have no further comment. this is all of the reaction based on this test that happened about four hours ago. i do want to go straight to the korean peninsula there in south

korea in seoul specifically. janice our correspondent on the ground. what we also understand is that according to a south korean appreciab presidential spokesperson the national security council is convening at the moment about 30 minutes ago. don't know whether it did start on time and whether it finished. what are you hearing about that meeting and that convening and what may come out of it? >> reporter: this is standard operating procedure when there are provocations like this by north korea that south korean officials will gather to assess what it is they know and how can they gather data about the type of missile that was launched, what direction it was heading, it's possible range and the circumstances around this one and its failure. they'll be collecting the data over the course of a day and probably several days to try to fill in some of the blanks on

what has happened here. we all but -- it's been all but confirmed that we're probably not looking at an intercontinental ballistic missile, which would have a long range with the potential to reach the united states. this is more than likely, according to some sources that we're speaking to here, a submarine launched missile because sinpo is where the north korean army has its submarine assets. so putting two and two together, they're saying this is the likelihood. again, nothing is confirmed at this point on exactly the sort of device that we're dealing with. we know that it failed almost immediately after it was launched, blowing up in the words of the u.s. pacific command, but again, we have to look at that term failure as something relative. this testing is a step toward operational capability.

so with each test the regime is able to look at what's happened, analyze their own data, see what's failed and see how they can improve it in order to go toward the goal of building their arsenal, which we witnessed 24 hours ago with that massive parade through pyongyang marking the 105th anniversary of the day of the sun, the most important day of the year on the calendar and there was the expectation that the regime would deliver a big show. it certainly was the case with the military hardware on parade and there was the expectation that there might be a test. there was more surprise there wasn't. the fact that north korea has answered less than 24 hours later really isn't a shock to a lot of people. this is more of an annual event in line with that anniversary and there was also the suggestion a couple of days ago with confirmation from u.s. officials that north korea had

informed its mariners along the east coast of the country and the sea of japan they should be on alert for increased activity. people on all sides, the u.s., japan, south korea, sitting down to convene and connect the dots to see what they can take away from this, but we're not likely to see any harsh reaction. >> an interesting point here as we discuss that scenario of this potentially being a submarine launched ballistic missile, it was earlier believed to be displayed during that parade honoring the birthday of kim il-sun that you're alluding to here, but what was also believed to be on display was an icbm. one would ask if this second scenario could be ongoing right now that they're preparing to test that as well.

all of this concern on an easter sunday morning and the reactions that might be happening from where you stand today and also from the region. you have heard any reports in terms of reactions from other u.s. allies there in that region on the korean peninsula? we don't have to go very far to think of japan. we don't have to go very far to think of taiwan as well. >> reporter: going first to the slbms that you're talking about that were on display in the parade yesterday, it's not the first time we've seen. they tested one about a year ago, but it's the first time it was seen on parade. what was new according to experts was the appearance of what might be an intercontinental ballistic missile, the long range missile that kim jong-un has threatened there close to being able to

test and may one day p capable of reaching the united states. so in terms of a lot of the tension and speculation that's been mounting over the past couple of weeks that's brought us to this current security environment, it was the expectation, the threat of either an icbm test or a nuclear test that has prompted the reaction that we've seen over the last week or so by the united states, japan and south korea. japan and south korea are always looking at these scenarios because this sort of tension or crisis with north korea is very familiar to them. south korea military had already been involved with the u.s. and joint military drills over the past couple of months and japan's navy was preparing to be at a state of higher readiness with the arrival of the uss carl vincent that is being dispatched toward the korean peninsula.

japan maybe will be joining the carl vincent in the sea of japan. there was already moves towards a stepped up military presence among the u.s. allies in the region. what remains to be seen, of course, is the reaction. there was the suggestion by kelly o'donnell and others who were closer to the president in suggesting that there probably won't be much of a reaction, that there will be a hesitation to give kim jong-un the sort of platform that he's looking for and the attention that he wants. in speaking with south korean observers, there's the sense that having been to the brink and back before that this is just the game that north korea tends to play, that it's less military brinkmanship than it is a political gain so kim jong-un may be sending his own message in saying that he wants to talk. >> there in seoul, south korea,

about 10:07 a.m. on a sunday easter morning with the latest, with reaction coming from south korea, but also from the regions, areas, countries that are aligned with the united states, this after a north korea missile launch. i want to bring in andrea mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent. when we spoke last hour, we did not have that statement yet from the defense secretary. basically two lines. very muted response. h this is something you follow so carefully. what's your reaction of what was said here by defense secretary mattis? >> reporter: i think it's very significant that it was defense secretary mattis that put out that statement and not the white house that he said simply they noted the unsuccessful missile launch and the president would have no further statement or no comment. this is deliberately low key. they are denying the attention that kim jong-un seeks with these launches and basically

saying it's insignificant. i think it feeds into the embarrassment over a failed launch, which comes on the heels of the enormous display and the thousands of people watching the parade and the indoor ceremony on the eve of that parade. it rubs salt in his wound for having a failed launch. we don't know what kind of launch, but you've seen the reporting it was certainly not a long range missile. short range or medium range missile possibly sea launched. they are making progress. they are certainly having multiple tests in the past year. so there's no question they are trying to move ahead. i think you talked to chris hill about this who is just back from the region. there's a lot of tension in the region. there's no government. the fact they have elections in may. japan moving with these joint exercises that have been taking place which have, first of all, been noted by china and not

happily and certainly noted by north korea. so you've got the carl vincent and the carrier group and destroyers each with capability sea launch missile capability. you have japan and south korea. the accelerated deployment of more sophisticated u.s. missile defense sent to south korea, not yet operational. you have a lot that's been irritating to the chinese and north koreans, but necessary from a defense posture. they are not taking any kind of military action tonight. there could be some sort of show of force from our assets in the region, the naval assets, but the -- ignoring it by the white house and not making a big deal

is basically saying to north korea this is a failed missile launch and we don't have to pay attention to you. >> what's your thought on the security response profile here because as you were noting it came from defense secretary mattis and the question leading up until this potential launch or potential nuclear test was who would be leading on this from the trump administration? how would whoever is involved in this process, how would they lead on this? what is your sense about what this says about the trump administration posture, at least in this scenario that we're seeing today? >> arguably it's very smart. this is what certainly general mattis and mcmaster from the national security council and we presume also the secretary of state rex tillerson, who has less experience obviously than the military experts in this field, they believe the smartest thing to do is not give kim jong-un any glory.

this is a failed test. it is beneath the notice the president of the united states. that's what they're saying. it also will satisfy china's urgings to dial down the rhetoric, which was what the chinese foriegn minister said about 24 hours ago that both washington and pyongyang the two capitols should stop escalating the rhetoric against each other. even though beijing urged north korea not to do a test and north korea ignore that had that urging from beijing which basically holds the economic strings and can control the viability of the north korean state, this is something that beijing is going to have to deal with, but it's not something that washington is going to have to worry about because it is not a military threat. this is not a military threat to our allies. it was a failed missile test and

we can say it is beneath our notice and not overreact. i think that is a smart approach. >> what does this say about china's efficientsy in dealing with north korea that they went ahead, kim jong-un and north korea, with this test despite china saying no? does this mean they are ineffective going forward or at least in this modern day and age of 2017 as things move so quickly? >> i think it's too early to say. i think there have been threats and turning back of some coal exports and the threat of holding back oil. i think now -- now the burden is on china. if we don't overreact, now it's up to china to prove that it can reign in north korea or can at least put some more economic pressure. it won't be as dramatic a step as the u.s. might want, but they can show some tightening of the screws on north korea. but now it's up to them.

it's not up to us. >> a peninsula known well by andrea mitchell, our chief foreign affairs correspondent putting this in context for us. thank you so much. >> reporter: you bet. national security analyst joins us. one of the questions going forward is what might be that next step by north korea. this after a failure, it appears, very quickly after being launched in north korea, that missile launch happening about four hours ago, but not doing well, exploding we're hearing from the u.s. pacific command shortly after takeoff. the other possibility that could happen here is a nuclear test, certainly a possibility based on their preparedness and the reporting we have had so far. your thoughts? >> reporter: it's important to note what we've seen here tonight, first this missile launch is destabilizing and it is illegal and it is a threat to our allies in the region, but as

andrea was noting it's not a significant event in terms of a departure from north korea's approach in recent months. they have launched a similar solid fueled launch short or medium range missile. this is not, we should underscore, not the intercontinental ballistic missile launch, nor is it the nuclear test that most people feared because of course the main national security threat against the united states would be to take a miniature nuclear weapon and north korea does have about 20 bombs worth of material, miniaturize it on a warhead and put it on top of a intercontinental ballistic missile that could range the western part of the united states. it's important to note they did not do that tonight. in terms of the capability they did display as you've been noting throughout the broadcast, this was launched probably near

or at a submarine state. this cold cannister solid fuel missile technology allows them to launch quickly because they do not have to fuel a missile with liquid propellent which takes time and allows satellite to view a missile launch. this quick launch capability is something that the north koreans have been working on and it also is in the same vein as the road mobile capability to put a missile on the back of an 18-wheeler so they can drive it around and it can't be spotted by spy satellites. it is concerning if they have the capability to put it on a submarine because a submarine could sneak up on south korea, japan and make it's way towards hawaii and if they successfully put this capability on a submarine and bring it near the united states and are able to launch it, that would of course

be very destabilizing and be a direct threat to us. it's important for the united states not to overreact. it's important for our allies not to overreact. it appears from the statement from the pentagon this evening that's the approach being taken by the administration. in if eeffect this statement al with the statement from secretary of state rex tillerson gives a silent statement. it's out of step with the president's statements on north korea as your viewers undoubtedly recall on april 11th at 8:03 in the morning he tweeted that north korea is looking for trouble and bas basically he said if china doesn't solve the problem, we will solve the problem without them. he tweeted tsimilarly if china doesn't deal with north korea,

the u.s. and allies will. that's had a tone of preemptive military action. there have been news reports that the administration is considering preemptive military action. all those things are ratcheted up tensions on the peninsula and i think a better approach and i think most analysts would agree a better approach would be the approach we've seen at the pentagon tonight which is to take a much more low key approach. >> one of the questions, because what we have at this moment, is a snapshot. we have a snapshot of a failed missile launch on this easter sunday coming from north korea. that's where we understand them to be. they don't have the technology evidently, figure it out. launches have been called by experts such as yourself as still a learning situation. you have to look further down in that arkansas. wh when do they figure it out. one of the indicators might be

their ability of being able to put together nuclear bombs. some are saying they have 13 to 30. just five or six years ago it was estimated four to eight. looking at that run rate over the course of maybe six or seven years, able to potentially double or triple the number of nuclear devices. what does that tell you? >> reporter: they have made significant progress. in all of their tests that have failed, they have learned from those. they have had five prior nuclear tests dating back to october of 2006 to the bush administration. they've been quickening the pace of those nuclear tests. some of them have been dudes. some of them haven't yielded a significant amount for experts to call it a nuclear detonation.

they have learned from it. it's also important all of these launches and tests and provocations serve other audiences, not just the audience in washington, d.c. for kim jong-un it is important for him to consolidate power and explain to his people he is standing up to the united states and south korea. for him to showcase his authority and his military prowess. that was the purpose after all of this over the top military parade you saw yesterday that this he have very often in pyongyang, the north korean capital. it's designed for an internal audience. tonight was a failure technically of the missile from the perspective of the west and from the perspective of the united states, internally inside north korea, he will certainly claim in sort of a safe news or false news mode this was a major success that showcased a new capability. the provocations will continue. he may try to follow on with this with another launch.

he may try to showcase something with respect to the road mobile intercontinental ballistic missile. they may try to conduct a nuclear test, although they always have to balance that challenge with using some of the nuclear materials they want to have their for actual weapons purposes. one of the challenges with the icbm capability is they haven't test ed it. they have tested it in launching vehicles in trying to get into a space launch, but they haven't tested that road mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the united states. we don't know how far down the line they are. but i think the overall point is right, which is they are moving towards a path of greater and greater capability and tonight is another step in the path. whether it's a small step or large step remains to be seen based on the analysis of this action tonight, but eventually they are going to maintain and retain a capability to

miniaturize a nuclear weapon, put it on top of an icbm and say to the world we can hold california, seattle or los angeles in our cross hairs. it is going to be guarantee the survival of the regime and pay us off so we can pay off our people who we have been repressing for a generation. >> you were mentioning the idea of audiences. this is a leader in north korea that's certainly aware of audiences that is looking as to give oxygen to his power as the leader of north korea. there is also the audience of iran. there's the audience of other forces nonstate actors or state actors that would like to secure the ability of having a nuclear device. what is so well known by experts like yourself is that north

korea is unfortunately a crucial proliferator of nuclear devices and military arms around the world. iran and north korea being an important, if you will, commercial, quote, unquote, relationship and north korea being able to push out what is estimated in the billions of dollars of value in this stuff that so many different, as i was mentioning state and nonstate actors want to get their hands on. >> reporter: that's undoubtedly correct. iran would have to change its approach. its nuclear program has been a you runnum program. your point is aft because next door to iran or elsewhere in the neighborhood we think about syria and let's not forget that north korea sold to syria, be sold to the assad regime in

2006, 2007, 2008 the design for a nuclear reactor based on their own reactor. syria began to build it. that reactor was taken out of business and put syria's nuclear program at the time out of business and many in the region and the united states are thanking the israeli air force for that operation. today as when north korea looks to raise money to feed their own people who they have been starving, they will look to sell this technology to buyers, consumers, around the world. iran could be one. not just in terms of their nuclear capability, but just as importantly their ballistic missile capability, which they've tried to test again here tonight. that missile capability is coveted by countries like iran.

iran has violated resolutions by launching ballistic missiles. ballistic missiles give countries like iran able to overcome geographgeography. it's only for active defense missile systems that our european allies and the united states maintain we can defeat those ballistic missile capabilities. that is more important than the nuclear program in north korea is their ballistic missile capability. if they can put a conventional warhead on an icbm in the next eight to 12 months, that will be very destabilizing and that could be a cause for the united states and our allies in the region to take military action to get north korea, but for tonight this failed test warrants a very muted reaction by the administration. that's what we are indeed seeing. i think that's the right step. the president's rhetoric about the united states taking this issue on our own if china doesn't stepped up has raised up

the rhetoric. it's time to wait and see what north korea does next. we should plot our moves with our allies. >> a delivery system that can go from continent to continent, a failure today, based on what we've seen so far. and that i guess for those who are watchers of this space like yourself, it gives a breath of fresh air for the moment. as you were noting so well for us, we have to look to see how fast they can move forward in their delivery systems and weaponization of these systems. thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. with that we're going to take a short break and stay on this breaking news. this at the bottom of the hour we continue to follow the failed missile launch and test coming out of north korea and the implications for the united states. we'll be right back. mutual stoos when a fire destroyed the living room. we were able to replace everything in it. liberty did what?

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thanks for staying with us as we continue to cover breaking news coming out of north korea. in the korea peninsula a missile failure. a failure and explosion of that missile after it took off. this happening about four hours ago in the area of sinpo in the northeastern region. what we are hearing from two u.s. officials believed to be a land based missile. the question was was it a submarine based missile launched or land based. would it be liquid fuel or solid fuel. the submarine based technology the concern that the delivery system could be mobile and moved throughout the sea of japan and toward hawaii and the united states. joining us right now on the phone president of the sheriff's fund a group dedicated to the end of the threat of nuclear

weapons and the the james martin center. joe, what are you taking away from the information that we have right now on what this snapshot of where north korea is and we don't have to go too far back when shinzo abe was with president trump in florida when another test happened. any difference that you would mark between those two tests that says you are -- you're more concerned? >> you've had some excellent commentary on this over the last hour. a lot of great insight and analys analysis. let me see what i can add to this. first, on the test itself, i'm part of a network of independent experts who study north korea and there seems to be a few

developing that right now from what we know this was most likely a test of their submarine launched ballistic missile or a test to develop that submarine launched ballistic missile. it was on display in the parade. you may have seen. it was this sort of stubby black and white missile with an elongated nose cone being carried. multiple versions of this, several of them, which made us think this was a signal that they were intending to develop this capability further. of course as you said, the test took place at sinpo. that is where they concentrate their work on submarines and submarine launched missiles and this is where the last missile was launched in february. that too was a failure. why did it fail? it's possible this was the result of some of the cyber sabotage that you and others

have been reporting on, intervention by the united states to try to cripple the program by getting inside their codes, getting inside their systems. but it's also possible this is just a real hard system to develop. everyone who has tried to develop submarine ballistic missiles have multiple failures in the program. what's the significance of this? it's a solid fuel missile. if they can perfect it on the submari submarine, that helps them with a solid fuel icbm that you have been talking about. why did they do it? maybe it's a statement at the president of the united states to say you can't stop me. that's possible. but it also could can dictated by the urgency of the schedule of the test program itself. it was time to test and there's always political reasons. he wanted to stage a show at this time. finally, i agree with many of the comments of your guests. i applaud the response of the administration to this.

that is exactly the right response. muted, understated, don't pour fuel on the fire, don't be goaded into a military response that could lead to a catastrophic war on the peninsula. we have things we can do about this and we have responses we can make. the chinese are going to be there with us on this and together the u.s. and china and south korea and japan, we can have powerful diplomatic response to this that can pave the way possibly for negotiated freeze of this north korean program. >> to you david, back to that statement that came from the defense secretary, much has been said, an analysis of that short statement that it poured no more fuel, it did not add oxygen to a potential back and forth between north korea and the united states, but on the flip side there's the question of does this infur rate kim jong-un even more because he didn't get the

reaction he want and therefore might we see another test either with a delivery system or with another nuclear device as gordan chang was telling us they are ready to do so, it's just up to kim jong-un to push the button. >> i was talking with a colleague across the hall who is an expert on this and it's a hard question to answer. on one side you would think that kim would want a media action after this to try to compensate for the loss of momentum after the huge military parade we had yesterday. at the same time if this is related to the missile that failed last month, rushing these types of events is going to become more embarrassing as they continue to fail. so there might be a short pause in the tests of this system or we might see activity elsewhere in the country. >> the united states' response, david, your thoughts?

we have the statement i was mentioning, but what other potential military gaming that might be going on. the pentagon has put together every potential response for just about every military operation in such cases as north kor korea, but we had a simple response coming out of the pentagon here and the defense secretary. >> yeah. i wouldn't -- if i were in that seat, i wouldn't be in the business of trying to antagonize north korea getting them to test more missiles. i think a minimal response is the most appropriate. >> joe, back to you on this. the efficacy of president xi of china to influence north korea and kim jong-un, it was clearly stated as we saw after the meeting with president xi and president trump, that china and its leadership wanted careful steps, right. slow moving, don't overreact.

basically saying to kim jong-un don't do this. and kim jong-un saying i'm going to do this. what's your thought on how important now or how effective china might be in going forward in keeping jkim jong-un in line? >> this is really an in your face response from kim jong-un. this is a grave insult to the chinese. 48 hours ago they called on all parties to calm down for good reason. the rhetoric on both sides, the military maneuvers on both side, were leading us to the greater crisis we've had in the korean peninsula since 1994 when we almost went to war over the u.s. efforts to try to stop north korea's tests and their program then. the chinese are very concerned. this is the latest insult that kim jong-un has given them. you see the rhetoric in the

chinese press ratcheting up on this. there's been statements that the chinese should attack the north korean nuclear facilities. so the chinese are angry. they want north korea to stop and they are citie siding more the united states, but that he ever never going to take the complete shutdown of the country that will cause the collapse of kim jong-un. the idea of regime change is too for them. they don't want the chaos in the peninsula and they want the united states to talk. what would the goal of such talks be? the three nos. no more tests. no new weapons. and no export of this technology. we might be able to get such a deal and that would be a major gain for u.s. national security. that would be a deal that would put president trump in the history books. >> really, an uncommon statement

coming out of china to say such a thing. basically calm down, don't do anything. and despite that distinctiveness and that uncommon statement coming from china, north korea saying, well, that's nice. but we're still going to move forward with our test. we've got to finish it here. when do you think they're going to put together the -- when are they going to weaponize? when this regoiey going to put nuclear devices together. every time we have one of these missile tests, that's the question. when will they be able to weaponize and put these two together. if you could tell me the time frame you think this will happen? >> definitely within this first trump term. within the next two or four years. if they keep doing what ther doi they're doing, they will have a long range missile that can hit the west coast of the united states. probably a hydrogen bomb, not

just the atomic bomb. >> i would agree with that statement. i think within this term we're probably going to see the development that hopefully not, but potentially the successful test and once that happens and then mating the device to the end of the missile is going to come soon after. >> that is very concerning, those estimates. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> really appreciate it. >> thank you. we're going to take a short break.

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we're covering breaking news coming out of north korea. the missile launch and failure, the explosion after this particular missile believed to be a land based or submarine based launch coming from north korea. the responses have been very direct and muted, if you will, coming from the united states. a two sentence response from the united states on the reflection of this missile test. very very very short. donald trump and his military

team are aware of north korea's missile launch and no further statement. that was the response from the defense secretary of the united states and we've been watching what might be next. this on a easter sunday morning on the korean peninsula. former senior aid to president george w. bush joins us right now. if you can here, ambassador, tell us about what your sense is of what might be the right next steps here. this as we look at a state department that it looks to be cutting back looking at the numbers we're seeing, a 30% reduction in funds there, what might be the next soft power move? >> i think the real issue right now, the i think the united states's immediate response, which is effectively a

nonresponse is probably correct, but i would hope there is some serious back and forth negotiation going on now with the chinese. look, the north koreans have tested and tested and there have been missile failure after launch failure after launch failure going back over a decade, but even failed tests provide a lot of useful tell lymph tree. they are a series of failures before you have success. it's clear they're on their way to having not the only the nuclear weapons that we know they have now, but a delivery system and whether it's two or three years or five years, it is at this point a clear and present danger to the united states. so i think what president trump has properly done and i commend him for it, is he has amped up the pressure and made clear this is an issue that the united states is going to take

seriously and he's made clear it's an issue he expects china in the first instance to deal with. i hope what is happening behind the scenes is we're letting the chinese know we're expecting something from them and i think diplom diplomatically we need carrots and sticks with the chinese because they are going to want to drag their feet for as much as they can and for as long as they can. >> what does this mean for what the united states must do as we look at the balance of power that goes together, what is the leadership position of the united states. this based on what you brought up here at the moment, jay, and that is there's the question about what china can and will do next and if kim jong-un is basically saying i'm going to test as many delivery systems as i like despite what my key ally is saying, china, then therefore is it left basically up to in terms of soft power the united

states. >> i think soft power in and of itself if you're talking about the kind of diplomacy that we've engaged over the last 15, 20 years is not going to work. we know north korea is not going to be pressured into stopping its nuclear program and in fact the pattern is they engage in these aggressive excesses, the world rushes to threaten sanctions, maybe to impose sanctions. north korea backs down and promises to behave, then we reward them with money and food aid and the cycle repeats itself. i think now we're in a different place because they are now becoming a threat to the united states and i think with president trump having raised the ante and raised expectations in terms of his own military conduct recently, the assad stri strike, the dropping of the mother of all bombs, the moving

the carrier toward the korean peninsu peninsula, he can't back down now particularly if the next step is a successfully nuclear launch. i think the united states has to be clear to china that this is a problem that the chinese won't solve and i think that means some type of chinese style communist regime in north korea that we're willing to accept and i think we have to make clear that we know longer insist on a united peninsula because frankly it's not what the united states really can achieve. it's not what south korea or japan actually want and most importantly it's not what china will ever tolerate. if we give that to them as a carrot, then the stick is they either solve this problem of kim jong-un or we do what president reagan did in the early 1980s, we moved cruise missiles into

britain and italy and we moved missiles into west germany and i think in this situation we have to move some type of defense missiles into south korea or japan to protect the region and to protect the united states. >> thank you so much. former u.s. special envoy to north korea. appreciate your perspective. >> thank you. colonel jack jacobs joins us at the moment. you heard what we heard from jay and that is that he is suggesting putting up a missile defense system in south korea and an increase in the military footprint on the korean peninsula, something that has not happened in the past. the note jay was making was soft power is important and cannot be denied here, but the style and the methodology that has been employed over the last 15 to 20 years, not the way to do it going forward. your thoughts on what he said? >> he said two things that are

really important to remember. the first is that. we need to have a serious defense of our own forces and our allies in south korea there. i think we have about 30,000 troops there now. i think the assumption needs to be made that if there is a genuine crisis on the peninsula we have to have more troops there and supporting troops there. it is likely we will be moving more forces there in any case. and the second thing that is really significant is -- and it can't be emphasized enough -- is the importance of china. china is the linchpin here. without china and without china's inaction along with ours for the last several decades we wouldn't be in this predicament and china wouldn't either.

action should have been taken some time ago and was not for a wide variety of political reasons. both we and china understand how important it is for us to work together to diffuse the situation and for china in its important role there to make sure that it exerts what influence it can to make sure that this doesn't go further. without china on our side none of this is going to work and it will rapidly escalate over relatively short period of time because we are not in a position to wait very much longer for north koreans to weaponize a nuclear weapon and put it on a ballistic missile. whether it can reach the united states or not. we have been talking a great deal about a missile being able to range the united states. we have to remember that we have allies in the region who are much closer than that. and as a result china and the

united states need to be on the same page here and it's going to take no little effort to make sure that china and we work together. if anything this -- i know our response is muted and very well so. but this should be a lesson about the united states and china that we really have to work together to diffuse the situation now because some months from now it is going to be much more difficult to solve. we got in this position because neither of us was willing to operate, to do something when it was easier to do. we have to work together now. >> colonel jack jacobs. thank you, sir, for being with us all night during our breaking news coverage here of the north korean missile launch that happened about a handful of hours ago. bringing in director of asia studies at georgetown

university. these pictures that we see here of kim jong-un, he at the parade, he in previous public environments, an individual that would like to be part of the nuclear club. his country should have all the right tlz of. that is what he wants which means a bilateral one to one negotiations with the only superpower of the world, the united states. and all of the sanctions that are currently against north korea should be lifted by countries not only in the asia region but throughout the world. he wants to be part of the nuclear club but not able to get in. as we look at potentially the next steps diplomatically should that be considered? >> i think that they have sought nuclear weapons for the last quarter century. and in the end i think you are

right. what they want is they want to be accepted as a nuclear weapon state and then be treated as a nuclear weapon state in which case they might engage in arms control of some sort in order to have some of the sanctions removed from the five u.n. security council resolutions and all of the unilateral sanctions imposed by individual countries on north korea. so when people say they want a peace treaty it's not that they want a peace treaty in exchange for giving up the nuclear weapons. they want peace treaty and arms control but with them as a nuclear weapons state. when i yauzed to be involved in negotiations very clearly the north koreans truly believed that their goal was to be a nuclear weapons state and be treated as one even as they were in these negotiations over freezing program for heavy fuel oil and other sorts of

assistance. i think that very much is the goal. the other thing we have to remember is that what we just had today in terms of this missile test is not unusual in the sense that we saw something like this exactly five years ago in april of 2012 over the same weekend which was celebrating the day of the sun, the birthday of the founder of the country, his grandfather, the north koreans attempted a three stage rocket launch that failed spectacularly. the thing was they then again tested it a few months later and it succeeded. so what happens today is they have another failed test on this very special weekend for them, but that is not going to deter them from trying again. they may get it right the next time in which case this would be a major advancement in their capabilities. >> director of asia studies

georgetown university. always great to have your voice on this topic. appreciate it. >> nbc news correspondent there on the korean peninsula with us on an early sunday easter morning with the latest on what has happened if anything from national security council meeting there and any new details you might have. >> reporter: >> collect that data and fill in the blanks on this latest provocation by north korea. as all of your guests have been suggesting at this time of heightened security and certainly the involvement of the united states in this tension right now is the royal le of ch and how significant china will be in determining what sort of reaction the world will have to this latest test by north korea. >> so much appreciate your reporting all in the last four

hours on this breaking news. it was expected a missile was launched out of north korea. it failed. we are trying to determine what type it is. we will continue to follow this breaking news story on msnbc. now we will take a short break. stay with us throughout the evening for the latest on this story. good hands? like finding new ways to be taken care of. home, car, life insurance obviously, ohhh... but with added touches you can't get everywhere else, like claim free rewards... or safe driving bonus checks. oh yes.... even a claim satisfaction guaranteeeeeeeeeee! in means protection plus unique extras only from an expert allstate agent. it's good to be in, good hands.

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