>> it's a difficult line. that does it for our show tonight. we are apparently anti-kurig. join us from 7:00 to 9:00 and follow us on twitter. good night from washington. president trump's asia trip is about pushing asia. what is kim jong-un going to do? will he push back? it's the most dangerous conflict in the world. i got right up to the front lines in the cockpit of an f-16. this is about the north edge of theseven miles from the north korea border. >> this is as far as you can go without provoking a war? >> yep.

>> president trump is in vietnam today as part of his continuing trip to asia. he spoke this morning to business executives at the asia pacific economic cooperation summit. he told the ceos that the united states has not been treated fairly in international trade. the president said the u.s. will set trade policy under the guideline of america first. so far in asia, president trump has been getting positive reviews. he looked presidential. he didn't despite some early concerns trigger a trade war with china or a nuclear war with north korea. i spoke earlier with a source who has direct knowledge of the details of the trip. he told me the president's advisors worked hard to tone down the speech he made in south korea. i don't think we're out of woods yet, not by a long shot. if you listen to what our president said, it's clear we're on a collision course with the regime. that's enormously dangerous. the president said repeatedly and in the strongest terms

possible that north korea must disarm. that it must stop developing nuclear weapons or face military consequences. he said, every step north korea takes to advance its nuclear weapons makes the regime less safe. but north korea shows no sign of disarming. so this has become a game of chicken over weapons of mass destruction. we have been down this road before. this time, the consequences are more serious than anything. most, if any of us have ever experienced. we're talking about the possibility of a nuclear war in our lifetime. at least of a conventional war that could spread across asia. what are the chances of this actually happening? well, a retired four star general thinks there's a 51% chance of war with north korea before next summer. even if that's too high, even if it's 10%, the risk is not zero. no way. if this does break out, this city is in big trouble. because right now, all the time

in fact, north korea has thousands of rockets and artillery pointed here. if the north korean regime feels threatened, feels it's being driven from power, it can and experts say it probably would destroy seoul. the south koreans, the 25 million people living in this city, can't do much about it. they're stuck between kim jong-un on one side, who is determined to have a nuclear weapon program, and president trump, who wants to take it away. you can imagine how it makes people pretty nervous here, especially this week when president trump arrived in asia and while the military here is in high gear. >> ninja two will split off. >> they have been preparing for war for more than six decades. this is the closest air base to north korea. if war breaks out, it will be both a key launch pad for

american fire power and an obvious target for incoming fire from the north. i joined a captain. on a mission to one of the most dangerous spots on the planet. >> canopy is coming down. >> the demilitarized zone. the north koreans have been thre threatening to shoot u.s. planes out of the sky. >> seat is armed. here we go. >> it doesn't take long for the captain to demonstrate why they call him the beast. >> get ready for some g. >> after takeoff, he puts us straight into a roll. the plane takes on up to nine times the force of gravity or nine g.

>> how is that? >> that was intense. as we reach the front lines, he positioned his f-16 very carefully. this is the north edge of airspace. we're seven miles from the border right here. this is as far as you can go without provoking a war. >> yep sglch. >> could we look into north korea? >> yeah. over the mountains you can see into north korea. >> is that where all their artillery is and all the rockets? >> yeah. >> if you were called into aggressive action, would that be possibly a target? >> yeah. that could definitely be something we could go after. >> we head back. another routine patrol ending thankfully without incident. the pace here is relentless. captain moses' squadron flies

f-16s. the base is home to u-2 spy planes that depart on 12-hour flights at high altitude, keeping a constant watch on the enemy to the north. for months, the u.s. military has been quietly beefing up its presence in the region. we have been following every step. in august, joint drills with the south koreans suddenly took on a new urgency. the enemy is left unnape med. it's clear which battle they are rehearsing for. we watched as american troops moved missiles, the most advanced in the world, into position. missile defense systems aren't just about defense. they give those who have them the ability to attack and survive a counter attack. while it's not been used against real incoming missiles, it adds another layer of protection to the extensive missile defense system already if place. then just a couple of weeks ago, what the president called an

armada arrived in the peninsula. three aircraft carrier strike groups capable of sustained a prolonged air campaign. military experts believe all this hardware is not just here for show. >> we're actually dealing with potential outcomes by next summer of all-out wars. millions displaced and hundreds of thousands kill and wounded. >> a four star general is a decorated veteran of war, he says that in the case of north korea there are no good options. >> there are military options. they're all bad. if we went in with a massive conventional air and sea attack aimed at their nuclear capacity, we would get 95% of it in the first 72 hours. but we wouldn't get all of it. we wouldn't be sure. that he would probably trigger a very high intensity conflict on the korean peninsulpeninsula.

the consequences of us attacks first would be dire. >> the alternative to military action, known in washington as strategic patience, has become for the president a symbol of all the mistakes of the past. >> the era of strategic patience is over. >> a view echoed by some of the president's backers. >> patience is not an option with the u.s. homeland in the nuclear shadow of kim jong-un. >> nor kif your kids are at the table and throwing food around, do you just sit back and, i'm going to wait until they stop? >> this isn't a food fight. >> what we get with patience is a nuclear program in north korea. what we got with patience is a launching of ballistic missiles. >> we got to survive. we are here. there is still a korean peninsula.

>> if people believe they can trust kim jong-un, he said he would use his weapons, i believe him. that's why we have to make sure that he doesn't have that ability. >> those weapons would likely be used first on our south korean allies. >> most of the enemy forces are located here. 70% of the fire -- >> as james mattis was reminded when he recent lly visited. mattis did his best to reassure his hosts. >> our goal is not war. but rather the complete verifiable and irreversible de-nuclearization of the peninsula. >> it's a message he was trying to deliver that the u.s. is ready for war while trying to avoid it at all costs. it's the same message the military has been trying to send, too. >> i know a lot about the joint chiefs and who they are. they are responsible, cautious men. this generation all grew up in warfare.

old guys never want to fight. >> while the generals in uniform and in the cabinet have been cautious, the president has at times been flat out threatening. >> north korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. >> i think the president is more of a new york city hustler. he has learned some lessons that are not applicable in international relations or international security. >> general mccaffrey is a critic of the president. >> there's an element of disbelief on the part of many of us who have seen combat at close range, to see him so lightly dealing with these topics. >> the president has made it clear he will continue to elevate the pressure on north korea until its leader steps

back from the brink. the problem is that the 33-year-old north korean leader, does not seem to be yielding. he sees his nuclear program as a source of national pride. the right to keep it as a matter of life and death. the more our president vows to end it, the more tests kim conducts. senator gardner dismisses the north korean leader as a mad man who needs reigning in by force if necessary. >> i think most people agree that kim jong-un is a whack job. >> they call you a man mixed with human dirt who has lost basic judgment and body hair. >> doesn't like my hair cut. i didn't know if it was an ononheonoion headline. >> we make sure we have these tools that we must use to change the situation. >> president trump said of

president kim at the u.n. aga general assembly, the united states has strength and patience. if it's forced to defend itself or allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. the regime responded by calling our president a deranged dotard. is that really the way two world leaders should be conducting diplomacy over such sensitive issues? >> i would have said something different in front of the united nations. i think it's important we be clear that he is not going to get away with what he had in the past. >> we have a president of the united states who is publically taunting and mocking a 33-year-old squirrely dictator with a nuclear program. it's an adolescent kind of way of dealing with a problem. >> why would we ridicule a person that volatile?

what good could come from that? >> i imagine that president trump probably has access to cia psychological profiles of kim jong-un. i'm sure it probably says somewhere in that profile, probably in red letters, do not insult this person. >> this woman uses more diplomatic tones. she's been involved in back channel negotiations with the north koreans for a couple of years. >> we're stuck in an escalating war of words. we have to get out of it. >> do you think that war of words could become a real war? >> absolutely. if it's not managed well, this is how you slide into war. this is how you sleep walk into war. >> do you think we're sleepwalking into war? >> i think it's possible? >> her last meeting was in moscow less than a month ago on the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation conference. there was no doubt about the message from the north korean on have a. >> she said nuclear weapons were the only way they saw to

safeguard their regime from us. she made it very clear that they are going to proceed full steam ahead with their nuclear and missile program. >> what could get the north koreans to sit down at the table and actually negotiate? >> once they feel that they can declare that they have a nuclear balance of power with the united states, then they will be ready to negotiate. i don't think the u.s. has tried diplomacy with -- in a way that warrants even contemplating a military response at this time. >> she's not the one calling the shots. the president is. during his trip, he delivered a clear threat to the north korean leader. >> do not underestimate us. and do not try us. >> speaking before south korea's national assembly, the president carefully read a pre-prepared speech. there were no casual insults. but he was delivering a deadly

ultimatum. >> the regime has interpreted america's past restraint as weakness. this would be a fatal miscalculation. >> the grave language is appropriate because any mysti l miscalculation here would be fatal, to thousands, maybe millions of people. the president departed both americans and south koreans were left wondering which side was going to blink first. and at what cost. that cost in human life could be astronomical. tom brea tom brokaw will remind us what we are talking about. when the president landed here in seoul, we went on the streets to see what kind of welcome he was driving into. traditionally, south koreans have welcomed americans, servicemen and presidents alike, warmly.

but things are changing here. we found another equally passionate crowd. they were here to tell american president to go home. >> if kim jong-un or trump decided to make war in korean peninsula, there's nothing we can do. it's crazy thing. >> stay with us. that's the height of mount everest. because each day she chooses to take the stairs. at work, at home... even on the escalator. that can be hard on her lower body, so now she does it with dr. scholl's orthotics. clinically proven to relieve and prevent foot, knee or lower back pain, by reducing the shock and stress that travel up her body with every step she takes. so keep on climbing, sarah. you're killing it. dr. scholl's. born to move. i love hanging out. with my friends. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures

in my mouth. even well fitting dentures let in food particles just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made even the kiwi an enjoyable experience try super poligrip free. ♪

welcome back to on assignment. president trump is used to being a divisive figure. he is used to low approval numbers. here in south korea, his numbers are especially harsh. only 17% of those asked in a

recent poll said they had confidence in him. that's a 71 point drop from obama. of course, south koreans don't get a vote on who becomes the president of the united states. but they have strong opinions on that, opinions they aired the day president trump landed here. when president trump rolled into seoul, crowds lined the streets. many were here to welcome the president with open arms. american flags and a rendition of the star spangled banner. ♪ are a decision traditionally they have welcomed presidents. >> we believe united states -- we love united states. >> things are changing. just across the street, we found another equally passionate crowd. they were here to tell the american president to go home.

police officers cordoned off the protesters who tried to surge forward. president trump is expected to pass by here any minute. the please have just started to push in, to try to keep the protesters back. they don't want them to block the president's path. but things soon calm down again. this was not a violent crowd. you are holding a sign. what does it say? >> it says, peace, not war. >> this woman is 29 years old. she's up with of t she's one of the leaders of the protest. >> there are students, university students who doesn't want donald trump visiting korea. >> the divide is striking. those waving the american flags are generally older. those holding up the no trump no war signs tend to be much

younger. the you >> the younger generation, they're not interested in north korea. older generation, they remember when it was korea. all the japanese colonial era. there is one country and now we're divided. >> this man came here as a teacher but fell in love with south korea. he runs a chair n of bars. there is a sense of unfinished business. >> if you are of that age, you might think, why don't we get this done. in my lifetime i want to see this over. regardless of what happens. >> the memory of the bitter war between north and south defined the korean peninsula in a profound way. no one here disputes the fact it was u.s. troops that saved south korea from falling into communist hands. for generations, gratitude for

that and for the protection that u.s. troops still stationed here 64 years after the end of the fighting define this country, not anymore. by night fall the number of anti-trump protesters swell. they watched the president's speech on their phones. this is, after all, south korea. everything here is streamed live. >> usa. >> on the pro-american side of the street, the feeling was that if anything, the president should have gone further. >> strongly demand, request mr. donald trump, please, strike north korea right now. he is thinking about our casualty. but i want to say to him, don't worry. please, don't worry koreans. we are ready to sacrifice our lives. >> he was a lieutenant colonel in the south korean army.

his stance is stoic and simple. better dead than red. you are willing to accept the huge cost that a war would cost? >> i may die. which will be fine. just kill the north korean kim jong-un. >> the feeling across the other side of the street was entirely different. why is he allowed to speak at our parliament? no trump, no war. by day, she works as a pharmacist. in korea it takes four years of medical school on top of a good college education to qualify for the job. she's worked hard to get here. when we sat down to talk, she sounded downbeat about her future. >> we can think about our future. think about it if there's -- we keep our job. we do lots of things for our

future we study hard. eventually, if there's a war happen, it's no -- it's nothing. >> it goes away? >> we can't imagine our future. >> it's a historical irony that the younger generations here who grew up in modern seoul, one of the richest cities in asia, are bitter about their future. >> i think we lost our own independent power at the global table. >> how does that feel? >> if kim jong-un or trump decided to make war in korean peninsula, there's nothing we can do. it's crazy thing. >> it's not something that you think about day to day. you know it's always there. >> the shadow of death is hanging over them? >> if it really happens, i will be dead in five minutes. it's better to not think about it. >> when they go out, they don't talk about politics or war. they talk about friends and plans and work.

do you prepare for potential conflict? >> actually, i don't. if there's a war, it's going to be a minute or two minutes that i have to -- there's no option to be alive. it's like we just live only today. >> live in the moment? >> no tomorrow for us. we only have this moment. >> when i go out in the street and i see places happy and buzzing -- >> that's why. we always having concert and go to movies or love each other. but we concern about today. that's why. we not sure about tomorrow. >> one thing everyone we talked to agreed on is that there may be two core rkoreas but one peo. they long for the day when they

can be reunited. the people of north korea don't get a vote. only their leader does, kim jong-un. next, we try to figure out what he is all about and why his regime's pursuit of nuclear power may not be as foolish as it sounds. it's easy to dismiss the regime as a charactarricature. it's worth looking past the bizarre cult of personality and the troops and trying to actually understand what the north korean leader kim jong-un might be thinking. stay with us. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program,

every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. .

it's a sunny saturday here in seoul, south korea. behind me is the ancient souther gate. it's easy to forget the front line with north korea is only 35 miles away. reporters don't often get access into north cokorea. a lot of time the only images we get out of pyongyang are propaganda. we are intrigued by the cult of personality. there may be some logic behind the strategy that kept one family in charge there for 70 years. when you look at the propaganda coming out of north korea, like this 74-year-old tv announcer

who has been there at the desk through all the historic moments and regularly returns to deliver the news of missile launches or of people filled with awe and emotion at the mere sight of their beloved leader, it's easy to dismiss the regime as a caricature, the bad guys. >> i don't have any weapons of mass destruction. >> it's worth looking past the bizarre cult of personality and the troops and trying to actually understand what the north korean leader kim jong-un might be thinking. it's also worth taking a look at our own history and asking why we would expect north korea to trust us and come in out of the cold. for years, the north koreans have been working to develop their nuclear program, refusing to back down, no matter how loudly we threatened. >> north korea defied the will of the international community. the international community will

respond. >> they would pay a price so great that the nation would probably not survive as it is known today. >> the north koreans just kept on going. ignoring both the american threats and the hardships that the sanctions imposed on the people. why? it's worth remembering what happened in libya. in 2003, the leader agreed to give up that country's biological and chemical stockpiles to the west. and abandon its nuclear program before having a bomb. >> leaders who is abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them will find an open path to better relations with the united states and other free nations. >> only eight years later, libya found itself on a far different path. the u.s. and nato engaged in a bombing campaign to overthrow the dictator. in response, north korea's

foreign ministry came out suggesting that the libyans had been duped into abandoning their nuclear weapons in exchange for a deal with the west, a deal the west did not keep. more recently, north korea's observing how the iranians came to the table, how they signed a deal with the united states and european nations and almost two years after the deal was signed, we are pulling out. why would the north koreans fall for what they believe is an american trap? why would they take our president's invitation to come to the table as anything but a trick? experts argue that north korea's nuclear ambitions, its constant testing of missiles, is an insurance policy, a way to make sure that kim jong-un stays in power, a way to make sure the kim dynasty goes on forever. why is it important to understand what's going on inside the head of the north korean leader? because as president trump himself has repeatedly stressed there are only two places this can lead, the negotiating table or the battlefield.

it's hard to imagine a nuclear war breaking out in the 21st century. then again, it's too horrific to imagine. tom brokaw asks if we're heading for a knew nuclear age. yo, check it out dawg. that was just a'ight for me. i mean, you got the walk. you got the stance.. but i wasn't really feeling it.

you know what, i'm not buying this. you gotta come a little harder dawg. you gotta figure it out. eh, i don't know. shaky on the walk, carriage was off. randy jackson judging a dog show. i don't know dawg. surprising. what's not surprising? how much money lisa saved by switching to geico. wow! performance of the night. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ♪ you could dance like you should can you dance like you should make the rules while dancing can you dance like you should ♪ ♪

you nervous? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ but he hasoke up wwork to do.in. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong.

40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. welcome back.

the president says that north korea went ahead and developed nuclear weapons because previous american administrations were not determined enough to stop it. the big question now is, which side is bluffing? will the president go to war with a nuclear armed north korea? will kim jong-un fire first? the third option, that one will back down, is the only one that avoided an all out war. the fact is that nuclear war is a possible outcome of this crisis. that idea that was unthinkable aa few months ago is hard to take in. for some perspective, i turned to the man who hired me many years ago to work at nbc news, the legendary tom brokaw. >> august 6, 1945. 8:15 a.m. >> when the united states dropped little boy on hiroshima, the first atomic bomb used in warfare, and fat man three days

later on nagasaki, it was the beginning of the nuclear age. an age of such potential destruction it could end life on earth. our principal enemy, the soviet union, soon had its own nuclear arsenal. i was one of the american schoolchildren diving under desks in a belief that we could survive a russian attack. as a political science student, i was immersed in the great issue and debates of my generation. with the united states and kremlin rivalry lead to a war to end all wars. a 1954 nbc documentary ominously titled three, two, one, zero, was prime time viewing. the idea that the world would end was not an apocalyptic absurdity. for all the fear, no one dared to go nuclear.

an uneasy truce settled across the world. not peace exactly but a standoff between the cold war super powers. it was summed in the phrase, mutually assured destruction. if either side started a war, both would disappear. for other countries, the temptation to be part of the nuclear club was too great. and in an age of suicide bombers and unstable despite, it may no longer keep the handcuffs on. the united states was involved in a war in korea, although they called it a police action. 64 years ago, there was a cease-fire. the korean peninsula was divided between the north and south. no one could have known then that today north korea would be a major and dangerous nuclear power. nuclear weapons have spread across the world.

large nations and small. china and europe, israel. but also pakistan, india and, of course, north korea. a bizarre renegade nation led by a dictator who plays by no rules except his own. he has developed a sophisticated nuclear delivery system. will he use it? david wright is with the union of concerned scientists, a group of experts dedicated to monitoring the perils of the nuclear age. >> i started watching the missile program of north korea in the early '90s. i have been trying to get people to pay attention to this since then and to really put a lid on it. >> what cause all of this proliferation? how did that happen? >> other countries start to think, what do we need? what are the threats out there? what can we do about them? that urge is very strong. >> what worries wright and his fellow scientists is that with all of these nukes, what about

an accidental launch? >> the president of the united states has sole authority to order the launch of nuclear weapons. nobody in the command system can legally stop that. >> it's not just president trump. how do we develop a fail safe system so no one person has that authority anywhere? if that nuclear chain begins to go off, no school boy desks will be help in protecting millions of people. >> this is one of those surreal moments we get a lot of in seoul these days. tom was laying out the dangers of nuclear warfare. behind me are dancers in traditional clothing. they have come out for a daily ceremony. next we find out there's far more to north korea's military machine than rockets and bombs.

in a conventional fight, there's no doubt that americans will own the airspace. but what happens if the fight moves to cyberspace? >> on a scale of one to ten, where would you put the threat level from north korea? >> somewhere between 8 and 10. >> are we ready for a new kind of war where the front line is actually online? stay with us. has been excellent. they always refer to me as master sergeant. they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt. i feel like we're being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. we're the webber family and we are usaa members for life. usaa, get your insurance quote today. whentrust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors

and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. previously treated withd platinum-based chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene who've tried an fda-approved targeted therapy, here's a question: who wouldn't want a chance for another...? who'd say no to a...? who wouldn't want... a chance to live longer. opdivo (nivolumab). opdivo demonstrated longer life versus chemotherapy. over 40,000 of these patients have been prescribed opdivo. opdivo works with your immune system. opdivo can cause your immune system to attack normal

organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. this may happen any time during or after treatment has ended, and may become serious and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you experience new or worsening cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; diarrhea; severe stomach pain or tenderness; severe nausea or vomiting; extreme fatigue; constipation; excessive thirst or urine; swollen ankles; loss of appetite; rash; itching; headache; confusion; hallucinations; muscle or joint pain; flushing; fever; or weakness, as this may keep these problems from becoming more serious. these are not all the possible side effects of opdivo. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant, or lung, breathing, or liver problems. because who wouldn't want...that? ask your doctor about opdivo. see opdivotv.com for this and other indications. bristol-myers squibb thanks the patients, nurses, and physicians involved in opdivo clinical trials.

welcome back to seoul, south korea. north korea just 35 miles away from here is one of the poorest countries in the world. it's also the most isolated. very few people have access to the internet. those who do are generally high ranking government officials. and yet it turns out there's a direct line connecting pyongyang, north korea's capital with the most expensive leak in hollywood history. >> hello, north korea! >> one thing the north korean regime is not known for is a sense of humor. when sony pictures was about to release a movie "the interview" which used the great leader as a pun in a dirty joke, a weapon was launched. it wasn't a missile or bomb. instead, it was a sneak attack. >> they wipe ed everyone's computer and left this. >> eric chen traces down hackers

for a living. >> then they had this message saying they're going to release the data to the world. imagine you come in and work as sony and tens of thousands of computers across your network are displaying this. >> sony's servers had been h ransacked. movies were leaked online, internal e-mails, social security numbers posted on websites and social media. the attack cost sony about $42 million. that was back in 2014. since then, chen and other experts have pieced the evidence together. they believe the so-called guardians of peace were none other than a hacking outfit known as lazarus. >> they are a group of hackers basically, hacking for political reasons and also we see now for

men tea monetary reasons. >> a shadowy group of hackers has been linked to north korea. its members combine attacks on known targets of regime like the computer systems in south korea with hacking for profit, the digital digital equivalent of robbery. what digital detectives in the west didn't know was lazarus was about to june leech its first global attack. a piece of marware that sat dormant was activated on may 12th, fed ex, spain's phone company and britain's health service were some of the organizations hit r hard. >> their goal was to provide wide scale destruction. the one thing that's predictable about them, that makes sense is simply they're unpredictable. >> here's another thing that

makes the group unpredictable. they worked their way into millions of computers but the code was so basic that a 22-year-old hacker in britain learned how to kill it. >> this is a previous lazarus piece of software that was used in beng la desh. >> it was a straightup bank robbery cyber style. the hackers exploited a small glitch in the banking system and almost stole a billion dollars. >> that was the first reason the bangs went why is that made? because of a single typo in the organization name. >> they spelled it wong. it turned out an attack for money, an attack on a movie studio and repeated attacks on south korea, came from one

source. eric chen connected the dots. >> it's clear this is the same. >> their fingerprints are clear? >> not only are they obvious and clear, they likely want people to know. >> because lazarus experts now believe, is an arm of the war machine operated by the north korean government. the u.s. government calls it hidden koe branchts i'm concerned that that north korea will decide it's corner. they may calculate they can cause someone to back off by resorting to cyber attacks. >> robert silver was in charge of cyber policy at the department of homeland security under president obama. he says we can't afford to underestimate the cyber power north korea can wield. >> they're surprised because it's such a medieval society in so many ways but they have the

ability to hack. the way they built that is the same way they're on the precipice of a nuclear capability. >> the cyber war has started and no other country can attack north korea because there's no point. >> he's a former colonel in the north korean military who defected before kim jong-un took power. he worked side by side with the hacking unit, 121. >> only the brightest students get to become hackers. they learn everything about the internet and then they work in the cyber research center which is controlled by the government. >> these hackers are soulders. when they go to work in bureau 121 they're wearing uniforms. >> yes, when they go from home to work they wear their uniforms. they live in the military and

work for the military. >> it may seem at a time when the north koreans are showing off their nuclear capabilities and the u.s. is mobilizing assets, the cyber threat is a minor concern. but keep in mind that north korea is no match for the u.s. military force. cyber attacks are the kind of weapon that can level the playing field. >> imagine that they did something to the u.s. they brought down the power grid or wiped ton of machines. what is the u.s. going to do? they don't rely on the internet. their financial system isn't built on computers in the world. >> it's one of the only countries in the world that aren't online. >> right. they can do whatever they want, it has zero effect to them. there are not that many hacking targets. a cyber war is not where the

u.s. wants to have this battle played out. >> we're much more exposed. >> we have much more to loose. our entire economy depends on the internet functioning, that's not the case for north korea. >> how would you rate their abilities. >> when we look at them relative to other nations we've seen, they're low on the sophistication scale but their impact is high. >> on a scale of one to ten, where would you put the impact level? >> somewhere between eight and ten. >> that's high. >> they're ready to do all kind of brazen things. >> launching a cyber attack on our society is easier than launching a nuclear strike. so please update your security software, our national defense may rely on it. ♪

hey, bud. you need some help? no, i'm good. come on, moe. i have to go. (vo) we always trusted our subaru impreza would be there for him someday. ok. that's it. (vo) we just didn't think someday would come so fast. see ya later, moe. (vo) the subaru impreza. the longest-lasting vehicle in its class. more than a car, it's a subaru.

for every social occasion.

so the the broom said, "sorry i'm late. i over-swept." [ laughter ] yes, even the awkward among us deserve some laughter. and while it's okay to nibble in public, a lady only dines in private. try the name your price tool from progressive. it gives you options based on your budget. uh-oh. discussing finances is a big no-no. what, i'm helping her save money! shh! men are talking. that's it, i'm out. taking the meatballs. welcome back to seoul, south korea we spent many weeks working on the stories we told you this hour, and we're going to keep reporting on them for the foreseeable future. as we said at the beginning there's no problem more in need of a solution, no crisis more urgent than the one unfolding here. north korea is now a member of the so-called nuclear club,

that's not the only reason to ring the alarm bells, even if you take nuclear weapons out of the e kwigs, a war can kill an unacceptable number of people. the city behind me would suffer a prolonged deadly come bartment, it's not just that the south korean's are our allies, we have been involved in it for 64 years. we've helped build this country and we cannot allow it to end up in ruins again. president trump travelled here this week bringing the spotlight of world attention with him trying to work with other countries to solve this crisis, that has to be a good thing. but the game of chicken he's played with kim jong-un, the military es ska lags and trading of insults is a dangerous games. we should all hope the president is right, that kim jong-un folds and gives up his nuclear

program. if he doesn't, if he plays this game to the bitter end, i think we said enough how dangerous it could be. rachel will be back here monday night and we have an exclusive presentation into the president's international businesses. you're not going to want to miss it. for now, good night from seoul. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. i don't pray with bibles, i pray with false idols, smith & wesson and being suicidal, i have no enemies, just deceased rivals. >> no matter the circumstances that brought them to jail. >> i was walking my dog, had a pistol at my head. >> she said we were making out that my hand touched her. >> i was cashing $50,000, $60,000 checks a pop. >> jail will hav