when the north korea tries to subjugate south korea with their military means if that means north koreacould actually hit back. you know and destroy u.s. cities is united states going to still be willing to help south korea so that's the fear of the collapse so extended that there is on the side of the united states the lone help the decades long security guarantee and that's the fear of nuclear weapons here about north korea's nuclear weapons capabilities so we do have that trust issue in a very different kind of dimension regarding u.s. capability and willingness to help so korea so that's a very important point to keep in mind that while keeping those concerns in mind conservatives at the same time also advocate perhaps the we should strengthen our independent defense capability so that we will over time gradually reduce the reliance on units or capabilities and even possibly some conservatives say if we have our nuclear capabilities we could protect ourselves better and that we could actually protect u.s. citizens lives better so all those different thinkings they're going on at thi

against the republic of korea -- south korea. it is just about on the front lines. south korean views have a presumptive value. koreacal trends in south are important here as well. we had conservative presidents for nine years up until last year. now we have a progressive president. his ideas towards north korea relatively speaking are more conciliatory and more in favor of engagement than those of his predecessors. whetherses the question public attitudes have moved as well. i'm going to draw on two recent polls. one is by gallup korea in september of last year and the other is by general on -- is by genron. the two posted and asked the same questions. first question, how much does north korea pose a threat to peace and security? , 76% say south korea it is a threat of some degree. 20% said it is not much of a threat. there are no illusions in south korea about the danger that their country faces from their northern cousins. doond question, how likely you think that north korea will actually start a war? koreans said it was a po

in korea, it is too hard. such a war would cause at a bare minimum, many of hundreds of thousands of fatalities on the korean peninsula. they are low estimates for today because one hiroshima size bomb over a city of seoul has been estimated to cost 200,000 to 400,000 prompt fatalities. that is one nuclear weapon and north korea has several. tokyo, a little better chance given the distances and some of the systems we have the floyd -- we have deployed in the region. i want underscore, all-out war looks very bad. i'm going to talk about four more attempts at military force. there is the huge uncertainty as to whether they might. one option that was articulated a dozen years ago by two democratic secretaries of defense is to shoot down any future icbm test launch on the grounds that doing so would deprive north korea the ability to get data and develop technology of long-range missile strikes. icbm, intercontinental ballistic missile, this is what they have een trying to develop. they launched three such missile

by north korea against the republic of south korea. and the capital city, seoul, is just about on the front lines. so south korean views have a presumptive value. second, political trends in south korea are important here as well. we had conservative presidents for nine years up until last year. now we have a progressive president. and his ideas towards north korea, relatively speaking, are more conciliatory and more in favor of engagement than those of his predecessors. so that raises the question whether public attitudes have moved as well. i'm going to draw on two recent polls. one is by gallup korea in september of last year and the other is by genron npo. thank you, kudosahn, for doing july.oll last the two polls didn't ask the same questions. but that's ok. first question, how much does north korea pose a threat to peace and security particularly after the last nuclear test? people in south korea, 76% say it is a threat of some degree. only 20% said it is not much of a threat. there are no illusions in south korea about the dange

>>> this is the north korea you know. this is the north korea you've never seen. stories you've never heard. is that a legend or did that actually happen? >> translator: our general is someone who's heaven sent to us. >> reporter: places you've never been. people with a common enemy. who do you want to fight? >> translator: we fight the sworn enemy, americans. >> reporter: unprecedented access, hidden from the world until now. come with me to the secret state inside north korea. a nation holding its nuclear sword over the u.s. and its allies, threatening to strike at anytime. a society in a constant state of readiness for war. i've reported from north korea more mothan a dozen times over the years. each time we open the door a little more. and see this country and its people in unexpected ways. just like this. yep, even in north korea kids love video games. for these 14 and 15 year olds, these aren't just games. this is practice for real life. most oaf these boys and a lot of girls will spend most of their adulthood serving in the north korean state army just like

to korea to a third nation. this is something that we could also further discuss so that we have better protection of intelligent properties and technologies. and i'm grateful for this opportunity to be at csis for this very great conference. i think the timing is good. i think we have certain things on our plates that we could discuss together. and i believe we have many a fruitful thought from today's discussions. >> a couple of examples of success that are already out there in the t-50 and the fa-50 aircraft that are being exported and addressing comment that tommy ross made in the last panel about the u.s. and rok cooperating to promote security among other u.s. partners in southeast asia. and obviously there is the opportunity and the tx program that is there as well. and we may hear more about that in the next few months. i'd be interested in the panel's thoughts. it was referenced i think at the very beginning of the day that when president trump was in korea, there was discussion about many potential new

/korea relations. what is the most important thing that anyone watching the news and worrying about the state of things should know about korea and u.s./korea relations. ? >> this was never supposed to be permanent. there is no doubt whose idea that was -- the reason this matters is because the koreans see themselves as one people, one nation, and one race and would like to be reunified, especially the elder generation of koreans who still have family in the north, some of whom have not spoken in decades. this matters because in many ways koreans hold the united states responsible for that decision. there is a latent stream of anti-americanism running through korean society that does not manifest itself, but could manifest itself in a strong way under the right circumstances. >> the perplexing thing about them sing themselves as one nation's they have two different governing systems. how would that rectify itself in their minds? at the deprivation people have in north korea versus the south, how does t

lies with north korea. only by abandoning its current path can north korea achieve the stability it desires and a prosperous future for its people. on behalf of the united states i look forward to sharing ideas today with our allies and partners to strengthen the max much pressure campaign and provide a pathway to security for all of our people as a result. thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you for bringing visual aids even. we really appreciate that. thank you very much for co-hosting this and all the work you're doing. next, we're going to hear from minister taro kono of japan. japan is very directly implicated. we're honored that you're here with us today. >> madame chairperson, mr. chairperson, honorable ministers, distinguished delegates. let me begin by expressing my a once again to foreign minister freeland and secretary tillerson for their untiring efforts to gather all of us at today's meeting. i am also grateful for their generosity to allow me to speak following their remarks. as we have a

but analysts have long been convinced that north korea is manufacturing it. >> north korea has a longg chemical weapons program. they've had this program for a number of decades, it's quite large, it's on a military scale, it was desned for war fighting. north korea's likely the onlytl country currin the world today that has active chemical,n biologicalnuclear weapons programs, and possibly even thet abto deploy all three. that really puts them in a league of their own, in terms of current capabilities. >> big story here, keep an eye on it. north korea firing four onllistic missiles toward the sea of japan earlyy morning. >> tonight, kim jong-un could be one step closer tohreatening america with a nuclear-tipped missile. the ballistic missiles his regime just test-fired... >> narrator: three weeks after the assassination, kim jong-un had another point to make. >> (speaking korean): >> narrator: he began the most intense period of missile testing in north korea's history. (explosions) th in the msince the assassination, kim jong-un has launched more miiles than his father launched duri

and south korea. we recently spoke with a historian about the background of the relationship between the two countries and the involvement in the night states -- the involvement of the united states. this is just under 20 minutes. david is a historian at university of wisconsin madison who specializes in a timely field, u.s.-korea relations. what is the most important thing that anyone who is watching the news right now worrying about the state of things should know about korea and north korea? >> the most important thing to understand is that the division of korea was originally a u.s. idea. this was never supposed to be permanent. korea would eventually unify. that did not happen. the division became permanent. much,ason this matters so the koreans see themselves as one people, one nation, one race, and would like to be reunified. especially south koreans who have family in the north. koreans hold the united states responsible for that decision. there is a latent strain of running through korean soc

yes of course because the us is constantly menacing north korea constantly threatening north korea carrying out war exercises that simulate the destruction of north korea a country that was destroyed by the united states between one thousand nine hundred fifty three forty five million koreans died there wasn't one structure taller than one story still standing as a consequence of u.s. bombers in the main complaint of american pilots was there was nothing left to bomb in that war so what the u.s. annihilated north korea here we have donald trump saying he's promising to do the same from the from the podium of the u.n. just a couple months ago and now trump reflecting i think not just as own personal position but that of the military industrial complex in america fears that peace may be breaking out in the korean peninsula between the two koreans between the two koreas and of course south korea has limited sovereignty because u.s. troops thirty thousand of them are still there so we see an unprecedented break away from the south korean government trying to assert sovereignty and say to this t

when you look at korea and what south korea, the republic of korea has accomplished in the last 60 years, the korean people can do extraordinary things. it went from one of the most impoverished countries in the world to the 10th largest economy in the world. look at what joseph has accomplished, what koreans have accomplished. north korea is the part of korea that never had that freedom. the first half of the 20th century is old news for everybody in south korea and the united states, but in north korea, they are still stuck in that place. we have a special responsibility to fix it. when joseph first came to the united states and we took him to a grocery store, there is other things we do not think about. we took him to buy snacks. i do not know if he remembers this, that his jaws dropped when we got to the isles. .- aisles, he had his first strawberries, and to explain what it was and watch him eat it was amazing. we took him to the zoo. dinosaurs,orama of and i had so much difficulty explaining to him what a dinosaur was when there is no context. these are things that are just wasn't

north korea and south korea are talking. this border hotline has been set up between the two koreas. it is now open. kim jong-un is opening the line of communication and hoping to send a delegation to the olympics next month. >> the question that comes out of that is whether or not the president helped or hurt that situation with his most recent tweets and his most recent response to the unstable leader that gave a message that he that he has a nuclear button on his desk and ready to use. and president trump said his is bigger, more powerful and his works. >> they are raising questions about where his head is, whether he's focused in the right way or at all. let's go to paula hancocks live in seoul on the diplomatic breakthrough. years in the making, paula. >> reporter: chris, this is significant, the fact that the first phone call on the hotline was made for a couple years. it was closed back in february 2016. the phone call to start with came from north korea to south korea. this is at the dmz, demille tearized zone betwee

korea relations >> i think the most important thing to understand is that the division of korea was originally a u.s. idea. this idea was never supposed to be permanent. the division became permanent, and it is no doubt whose idea it was originally. the reason this matters so much as the koreans have never seen , oneelves as one people race. they would very much like to be reunified. this matters because in many ways, koreans hold the u.s. responsible for that decision. there is a latent stream of anti-americanism running through korean society that does not always manifest itself. >> the perplexing thing about them seeing themselves as one nation, is they have two very different governing systems. how is that rectified? if you look at the situation and deprivation of people have an north korea versus the south, how does that all fit? >> it all fits by looking backwards. the korea fund takei -- the koreans like to claim that they have 7000 years of history. but is simply not true, they do have a very long history as one united people. has been a fairly recent development in the last 50 years.

the two koreas. hand of his south korean counterpart. "the weather is cold", he said, "but despite the cold, the people's desire for improving relations is unfrozen". it's hard to overstate how dramatic and rapid this shift has been. it's only a month since north korea test—fired this huge new missile, boasting that it could hit any city in the united states. off the coast of korea, us aircraft carriers massed, their decks swarming with supersonic strike aircraft. it felt like this region was teetering on the brink of war. so is pyongyang's sudden change of heart real, orjust a tactic to avoid war with america? north korea would like to gain time in order to avoid a potential immediate retaliation by the united states against its wmd facilities and eventually re—engage in the provocation cycle so that it can threaten the united states with nuclear action. the winter olympics may be a cover for kim jong—un, a convenient excuse for him to step back from the brink. but here in the south, any chance to t

north korea and south korea are holding their first official talks to us. taking place right now in the demilitarized zone between the two countries and here is what preceded the negotiations and the reopening of across the board a telephone line and the following day donald trump agreed to delay military drills with sold until next month. in south korea. this morning. do we know anything yet any agreements yet to come out of these talks that are in effect happening. at this moment it's all very sensitive and secretive given that you know this is the first meeting face to face meeting between the two sides in two years and it's been a heck of a year with all the saber rattling with all the missile launches the war games and you know what gives it away is where this is taking place along the most heavily militarized border in the world the most heavily mined border in the world we're getting bits and pieces coming out of a south korean news agency and various south korean news agencies but this was these talks were never supposed to be about anything other t

after he consolidated power in north korea. he ruled north korea until the early 90's, at which point his son kim jong-il took over and then with his death i believe in -- with his death in the early teens, kim jong-un, his grandson, took over. >> when you're watching news reports and other ways you get information on kim jong-un, how do you see his leadership style comparing with his predecessors, his father and grandfather? >> it is a bit hard to tell. it is still a bit early. it is difficult to credit a lot of the news reports that come out of north korea. it is opaque, what goes on. there are tales of extreme violence which may or may not be true. it is true that he has definitely purged some of the holdover leadership from his father's regime, including his uncle. it seems unlikely that his style of leadership is going to end up in results that are all that different from what his father and grandfather pursued. >> what should the american public know about the everyday korean's life and how it has changed in the years sin

public of korea and the united states seems to be quite different over the korea government the push you to track strategy both talking with others korea. but the united states state government state the maximizing pressure and that thanks so i want to know why is. it that the princes all published it in korea and the united state of those korea have and what direction do you think we should go to the whole world to the peace and stability of the korean peninsula and i also have a question to the minister of the parent i also want to know what to me what we need to develop into a dire robe about big into the debate on peace and did you korea did you career in the picture. well with respect to any differences or any daylight between the approach of the united states and the republic of korea there is none i think foreign minister kang on multiple occasions in our discussions today reiterated the strong alignment with the international communities approach of the maximum pressure campaign and indeed the republic of korea has gone beyond the un security council resolutions and has as in

and south korea. talk about that a little bit. what does it mean? guest: this all grew out of a speech that kim jong-un, the north korean leader, gave to commemorate the new year, in which he trumpeted his accomplishments, as he said, establishing north korea as a nuclear state, but also calling koreaproved ties to south , in part calling for enhanced communications with south korea, and specifically pointing to the upcoming winter olympics, which will be held in february. host: these exercises are held fairly regularly between the u.s. and south korea. whether they normally entail, and from a tactical standpoint, is there any issue or effect of delaying the? guest: the united states and south korea hold several exercises every year. some larger than others. usually in the spring, the combined exercises are usually quite large. one is a field exercise. the other is a command exercise. and it does not have any real tactical effect. what it does do is it shows that and we some flexibility, are able to h

there is a concern in north korea. there is a concern in north korea. think the north might have. do you think the north might be open to wider talks?” think the ground work is being set right now. it's still all the work to be done. the core strategic return and now the core strategic concerns of the united states and south korea are really going to be difficult to bridge. hopefully they can drag washington, dc. but it's going to be a long and difficult road indeed. an awful lot of people suffering in north korea. what are the chances that more engagement is going to talk about will benefit ordinary north koreans? they certainly would in the long run. really, its options for economic engagement are limited given how robust the regime is. it would be ha rd to have robust the regime is. it would be hard to have an issue where sanctions are not violated. he would have this domestic constituency to worry about. in the long run, the two countries should be co—operating. this huge political hurdle needs to be cleared first. the funeral has been held in ukrai

these things just doesn't happen in north korea. that is why it has lasted for this long, i think, because in spite of a lot of its problems, economic problems, human rights, food problems, it has lasted this long. that is because no one within the system is capable of changing it. mr. snyder: there are potential forces for change going on inside north korea. when you talk about marketization information flows. it is maybe post-totalitarian, but we are obviously not at a place where there is organized opposition. how long do you think it will take for us to see the evolution of politics in north korea where it is possible for dissent to be discussed? mr. cha: it is a good question. as political scientists, we are supposed to be able to determine when these things are supposed to happen, when you reach a critical tipping point, but i don't think we can. i don't think we can say with any degree of accuracy what the tipping point in terms of when society is ready to act up rather than simply be -- follow the rules of the current politi

korea? i think there are two answers. the first is that you have china, right? china sits right on the border with north korea. the last thing the united states or china wants is some sort of confrontation or conflagration on the peninsula that would cause the two to butt heads. -- heads as they did in 1953. i think anytime there is serious thought given to some sort of military action, this is constantly at the top -- not even at the top, but even halfway up the escalation ladder, this is constantly a concern that every u.s. president has had to think about seriously. so i think that certainly is one of the reasons, the china factor. and the other is that the united states went into iraq or into afghanistan because it became the top foreign-policy issue on which the administration saw a final resolution. now, we can debate whether that was the right or wrong thing. many americans think it was the wrong thing. many americans think nothing was resolved there. and that is a completely differen

south korea's presidential office has always stated our willingness to talk with north korea anytime and anywhere if that would help restore into korean relations and lead to peace on the korean peninsula. but that is still a distant goal north korea's leader peppered his speech with threats against the u.s. state t.v. superimposed pictures over parts of his speech kim said the united states will never be able to start war against me or al country but. the entire u.s. sees within range of our nuclear weapons and a nuclear boxen is always on my days. north korea's ballistic missile tests have been a source of concern for the u.s. and the rest of the international community about the prospects of north korea joining in the upcoming winter olympics does offer some hope for people on both sides of the korean peninsula. let's go now to aden foster carter he's an honorary senior research fellow in modern korea at leeds university he joins us now from exit or aden happy new year to you but the question now is it a new kim jong un in his speech sounded like a stick for dollar trump but a car

and north korea. this was recorded at the american historical association's annual meeting in washington dc. >> david fields is a historian. who specializes in a very timely field of u.s. and korea relations. things the most important for anyone worrying about the state of things should know about korea and u.s. korea relations? >> i think the most important thing to understand is that the division of korea was originally a u.s. idea. this idea was never supposed to be permanent. was, they would have a joint occupation between the united states and soviet union which would result in a unified state. the division became permanent, and it is no doubt whose idea it was originally. the reason this matters so much as the koreans have never seen themselves as one people, one race. they would very much like to be reunified. especially the older generation of koreans who still have families in the north and who have not spoken for decades. this matters because in many ways, koreans hold the u.s. responsible f

well as generally improving into korea relations but officials here in south korea are also hoping the negotiations will eventually lead to north korea returning to international talks on its nuclear program even so president cautiously optimistic saying we should refrain from making premature judgement or expectation. the japanese defense minister also sounded a note of caution when. north korea goes through phases of apparent dialogue and provocations but either way north korea is continuing its nuclear and missile development we have no intention of weakening our warning and surveillance. it is new year's day speech said north korea would meditate its nuclear weapons program and even called for the mass production and deployment of nuclear warheads and this house. from the conservative perspective in north korea trying to buy time the majority seems to believe the north korea is trying to finalize its technical development to to achieve operational i.c.b.m. so you know us the cia has announced before they are talking about two or three month time in terms of finalizing the i.c.b.m.

north korea goes through phases of apparent dialogue and provocations but either way north korea is continuingits nuclear and missile development we have no intention of weakening our warning and surveillance. it is new year's day speech said north korea with its nuclear weapons program and even called for the mass production of deployment of nuclear warheads at this house. from the conservative perspective in north korea trying to buy time the majority seems to believe the north korea is trying to finalize its technical development to to achieve operational i.c.b.m. so you know as us the cia has announced before they are talking about two or three months time in terms of finalizing the i.c.b.m. system and it looks like this is a perfect action on their side you know to buy time. last year north korea test fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles or i.c.b.m.'s including one that it's capable of reaching the u.s. made any hope the upcoming talks really the best option for now of deescalate the crisis on the korean it's. largely al-jazeera so. there have been some diplomatic breakthroughs

and north korea. this was recorded at the american historical association's annual meeting and washington, d.c. it is about 15 minutes. historianields is a who specializes in a timely field, u.s.-korea relations. what is the most important thing that anyone watching the news right now and worrying about the state of things should know about korea and u.s./korea relations? >> i think the most important thing to understand is that the division of korea was originally a u.s. idea. this division was never supposed to be permanent. the hope was korea would eventually result in a unified state. that did not happen. the division became permanent. there is no doubt whose idea it was originally. the reason this matters is the koreans see themselves as one people, one nation and one race. and would like to be reunified, especially the elder generation of koreans who still have family in the north, some of whom have not spoken in decades. this matters because in many ways koreans hold the united states responsib

less of a hard line approach on north korea it could also be a ploy to buy north korea more time while it advances its nuclear weapons technology and as a tactic to gain a supporter in the outside while because this olive branch is only being offered to south korea and not to the u.s. listen to what else kim jong un had to say. god is from that the u.s. mainland is within the range of our nuclear strike and the nuclear button is put on the desk in my office at all times they should clearly understand that this is never a trash sort of reality so florence what can we read into all of this i mean can we expect more nuclear and missile tests and twenty eight. well the certainly no indication that the war of words with the u.s. is going to stop there's also no indication that north korea is going to give up its nuclear ambitions any time soon despite sanctions tighten sanctions being imposed on it last year though in fact quite the opposite north korea is now even saying that it's going to mass produce and deploy nuclear warheads and missiles not only that kim jong reiterated that north ko

he says north korea is trying to create divisions between the u.s. and south korea. well it's part of a larger effort to make sure that south korea and the united states are not coordinated we have to remember that for kim jong un the biggest threat is the united states being right on his borders and he wants to get rid of the united states and the only way to do that is to make sure that south korea and the united states have different priorities and different negotiation outcomes that they seek different negotiation outcomes it would be difficult for south korea to ignore something like this and they have been ignored in the past when north korea has approached them about family reunions or joint industrial projects those are things that have been going on in the past and they've negotiated that on a bilateral level so south korea will be very difficult i know they've they passed the deadline it will be very difficult for south korea to turn away north korea when it when it is a a friendly just at least on paper it's clear that north korea is has a strategy here be

when it comes to dealing with north korea even as the u.s. pushes a campaign of maximum pressure and sanctions while south korea continues to promote dialogue and hold another round of talks with north korea today both of the secretary of state and the south korean foreign minister have said that these policies go hand in hand but that the idea behind sanctions is to force north korea back to the negotiating table now the talks that are taking place today are around the logistics surrounding north korea's participation in the winter olympics both north and south korea will be discussing the possibility of a joint team for the women's ice hockey also the possibility of walking together in the opening ceremony they'll also be talking about details such as accommodation the size of north korea's delegation and costs south korea has to be careful when it moves to facilitate the north's participation not to violate any u.n. sanctions against north korea which are the very focus of the discussions at the meeting in vancouver and as you heard earlie

could cause north korea then to react towards south korea-- bombing seoul, artillery strikes againstich then could unleash an escalatory ladder that no one could find an exit ramp off of. and you could then devnto a war on the peninsula, which potentially could go nuclear. (marching band playi) the way that i see north korea is whatever decision is made, when they decide to test another nuclear weapon, test an icbm, it's all in service of regime survival or perpetuation okim family rule. they will not make a decision that will violate those. and that gets back to the decision to assassinate kim jong-nam. those decisions were taken because of the need for kim jong-un to perpetuate his own power. ♪ >> narrator: to this day, north korea remains adamt that the man who was kied in kuala lumpur airport was not kim jong-nam but a citizen called kim chol, who died of natural. caus few are convinced. >> it was like more sort of a i dramatic andenious than james bond film. of course, that was not completely successful. they left behind so many traces of north korean involvement. >> 100% kim jo

south korea north korea has made absolutely no commitments on the disarmament issue rather it has its. nuclear sensors but we can be a good neighbor and you have nothing to fear from us because we're aiming those weapons at the united states and finally i'd like to point out that although there's a lot of those comments in the last year often associated with the nuclear the new administration walking into over the years the united states has never threatened to act or they north korea so the idea is they need nuclear weapons to defend themselves is i think rather rather fall what they want nuclear weapons for somehow this invades the council the u.s. from south korea as if to say america if you start to defend seoul for los angeles at risk that's a very hostile and very aggressive policy that they are all they are following and i think it behooves this in the nation or any administration step up the game and try to dissuade the bottom. thanks for your analysis christopher hill. in our next report on trump's first year in office on first they will be looking at the sexual misconduct al

a real show north korea and south korea are on the same page.ae—in, the south korean president, came out after the high—level talks, the first in two yea rs, high—level talks, the first in two years, he stood there the day afterwards and he said he credited donald trump with helping to get these new talks going. that wasn‘t received very well in south korea. north korea, sorry. there have been several articles in the state run press criticising moonjae—in for saying that and saying they won‘t ta ke saying that and saying they won‘t take kindly to anyone pouring cold water on this new phase of what they‘re calling potential reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also of just how reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also ofjust how tight reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also of just how tight the reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also ofjust how tight the path of the south korean government must tread here. they need to keep their international allies on side while at the same time trying to engage north korea in genuine dialogue. many are wo

we didn't relationship with south korea that is to say that the north korea misses the days and south korea used to give it assistance and aid and subsidies and stuff like that it was known as the sunshine policy which was continue which was begun under previous liberal presidents and the stop open north korea the current liberal president of south korea bring that back so i think the north koreans are entirely content to have the relationship they have with the united states right now the nukes in the tension and all that obviously with donald trump that's not going to change and they'd like to find a way than to go along with some of the other players the north has done this for a long time sort of playing one off the other off the other right and so if you will the americans are giving you a hard time to go to the south and i don't really see any change what we see in two thousand and seventeen i am genuinely concerned right i mean the more the north koreans build the more missiles the more nuclear weapons they have the more tests they do and stuff like that the more sites they hav

you have spent time in north korea.th has been drawn this far because the sanctions are biting? there is a little evidence recently that sanctions are having an effect. we are seeing just in the last few weeks possible fluctuations in the exchange rate. they will also be fluctuations in the price of fuel in particular, and i am hearing anecdotally that people in north korea are being more conservative with their money. they are buying cheaper goods, we are splurging less often on restaurants and things like that so there is a concern in north korea about what the sanctions, what kind of impact the sanctions might have in the coming weeks and months. you think the north might be open to wider talks? well, i think the groundwork is being set right now, but once you get to those talks, it is still all the work to be done, right. a core strategic concern of north korea and 110w strategic concern of north korea and now the core strategic concerns of the united states and south korea are the united states and south korea a re

and north korea and south korea because these two are traditional allies and now and but south korea is now being led by a more liberal president compared to his previous pretty assesses promacta the previous south korean leader it is also possible that north korea is trying to buy more time as it tries to improve its nuclear capabilities all sort of hints that speech give us as well florence when it comes to the sort of nuclear weapons plan that the leader has for going forward. that's right now kim jong un's new year's day address has been closely watched ever since he started delivering them on two thousand and thirteen as to the sort of direction in which he might take the country particularly when it comes to north korea's nuclear ambitions now and he has said that he doesn't seek war but he has reiterated that claim that north korea is now a nuclear power now he's made this claim before in november when north korea tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile and he said it again he's also called for the mass production of nuclear warheads and deployment of such

otherwise known as south korea during its war with north korea between one hundred fifty and one thousand and fifty three but not all of the countries here were actually involved in that japan notably was not top providing support to south korea during that war that said this was an opportunity for these countries to get together and to really take a look at the current status of the security situation on the korean peninsula as well as to discuss the effectiveness of sanctions and to try to figure out what other ideas might be out there that perhaps the u.n. security council has not considered before now in order to make those sanctions work as they were early and as affectively as possible of course both russia and china took a very dim view of this meeting here in vancouver as you pointed out martine in fact the chinese government went so far as to call this meeting on tuesday illegal we're not quite sure though on what grounds they saying so but that is the chinese position and have they taken into consideration what does appear to be a slight full in relations between the north and s

south korea is welcoming a new year message from north korea's leader raised the possibility of reopening talks about reconciliation and reunification kim jong un said the path of dialogue is over. and improving ties is an urgent issue can also say that only use nuclear weapons of threatened to launch bottom is on his desk florence louis joins us live from sol now source the reaction we're getting from the south well south korea has responded rather positively to kim jong un speech especially the parts where he's offered to deescalate tensions on the korean peninsula he's made in a peace overture he's suggesting dialogue with south korea he's even hinted that north korea could send its athletes to participate in the upcoming winter olympics and paralympics to be held in pyongyang in south korea just eighty kilometers from the border with north korea now the presidential spokesman has said that the blue house that's a presidential. official dress has reiterated that it is willing to talk to north korea anytime anywhere and in any form if it pertains to restoring inter career relations as w

no not really north korea has basically said that they will not discuss those weapons with south korea because those weapons on directed only at the united states and that of course worries a lot of people here i mean in the past most americans have seen as a threat to strategic interests of the united states as a threat against important allies such as south korea or japan but now increasingly people here are seeing off korea as a threat to the united states itself and so many people in and around the ministration have been demanding recently to eliminate this threat to the american mainland whatever it takes interesting lee mcmaster the national security advisor of president trump only a few days ago. that states is not committed to a peaceful solution of the conflict he said we are committed to a resolution period and so he didn't also rule out military action he said all options are still on the table and honest we also heard today from the representative north korea and he made it clear that these weapons these ballistic missiles these nuclear weapons are all targeting the united

north korea was very much isolated recently but what they. really want to do is they want to talk to the yes they want the u.s. to accept them officially as a nuclear power and they want the u.s. to reassure them not threatening their regime survival that's why they're now in south korea and that's the the end game if you will and carsten we know that's their end game do we know what washington's endgame is if we're hearing from north korea that the nuclear program will never be up for discussion as a set of voices here who say this problem has to be taken care off we were not except north korea as a nuclear power and if they won't accept that that could ultimately mean military action of course everybody knows what that means would be not just a commando operation that could trigger a major of war on the korean peninsula and of course that is worrying everyone here so we're not quite sure we just know that this administration has made it clear it will not just wait and see. more or less accepts. acknowledging it that north korea is a nuclear

is a south korea is and is south korea alliance so tight that we can depend on south korea to basically do our bidding and coordinate with us, or has this administration, by asking south korea to break up the trade agreement by some of our language, how do we distance ourselves from south korea? >> what's the answer? >> we're going to find out. what nikki haley said yesterday was not helpful. when she said we can't have negotiations that we will support unless north korea says in advance that they are going to give up all their nuclear weapons. there is zero chance. not 1% chance, but zero chance north korea will accept that condition. diplomacy is where you get. it's not where you begin. we should not set preconditions like that. >> the counter argument is this. trump starts talking to kim jong-un in a way that a lot like you don't like in a condescending way. iran, you don't like the way he likes about them bashing obama. but look at them now. people are in the streets fighting for their freedom. he is speaking out in a way obama did not. you know the history of pakistan better than e

south korea regarding the north's participation in the winter olympics and what south korea hopes is that this thawing relations here on the peninsula will bring about the circumstance in which there may be talks in future about denuclearization dare i kept you as you say the two koreas are meeting again today what more do we know that they'll be talking about. well a lot is around the logistics of the north's participation so there have been suggestions of the two koreas appearing together in the opening ceremony the suggestion of a joint women's ice hockey team and the other portion of discussions will be around transportation accommodation costs issues like that and one of the issues for south korea is how to help north korea participate while not violating un sanctions and also perhaps unilateral sanctions that south korea has imposed itself south korea had suggested that it may be able to go beyond the sanctions that are imposed by this country including perhaps see travel when it comes to the olympics but it will not go against any of the u.n. sanctions that have been imposed w

north and south korea are holding their first formal talks in two years after donald trump claimed his tough stance on pyongyang made the meeting possible. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu faces mass protests over corruption allegations with thousands marching in the streets of tel aviv. and new coalition talks are in full swing in germany as i'm going to multiple attempts to end what some indeed the country's worst political crisis in years. this is r.t. international coming to life are lost on the joining us. north and south korea have started their first official talks in two years the negotiations are taking place in the demilitarized zone between the two countries that have been recent signs of progress january the third sold the reopening of a cross border telephone line and the following day donald trump delayed the annual military drills with seoul until after next month's winter olympics in south korea . let's cross now to our reporter caleb caleb what more can you tell us about these talks which we north and south korea. well the talks have already started in the sh