let's move back to our top story, and go back to washington, where we can speak to dr balbina hwang,i said, before that worked at the state department. dr balbina hwang, thank you for hanging on and speaking to us. you for hanging on and speaking to us. the latest word from the state department and rex tillerson is a call for china and russia to respond directly against these actions. how likely is that, do you think?|j think likely is that, do you think?” think it is highly unlikely that russia and china will do what we think is necessary, but which may eventually not even be able to change north korea's behaviour. this is clearly... it comes down to whether or not russia and china view these missile tests is enough of a threat to change their strategic additions. —— positions. it is clear that so far they do not. how are we reading this from the north‘s perspective? would you interpret this latest launch as a response to the latest round of sanctions imposed by the un? that is certainly pa rt imposed by the un? that is certainly part of the message that is being sent. in a way, nor

and balbina hwang was a special advisor to the assistant secretary of state for east asia and pacific affairs, and is now a visiting professor at georgetown university. ambassador stephens, let me start with you. do you believe that president trump might be reducing u.s. options, perhaps bringing us either closer to war or moving u.s. threats meaningless? >> well, i am really baffled and very concerned about this engagement for the first time i think by an american president in this kind of tit for tat rhetorical i think you called it brinksmanship with the north korean leader. i think this is beneath us. i subscribe to teddy roosevelt's speak softly and carry a big stick if you're a great power like the united states. there are a lot of things about the trump administration's policies toward north korea which i think have been very sound and being pursued by secretary mattis and secretary tillerson, and this war of words is undermining those efforts. it's going to make diplomacy more difficult. it's confused our allies. it's strengthened i think. >> kim:kim jong-un's assertion to his

and balbina hwang served in the state department during the george w. bush administration. is now a visiting professor at georgetown university. and welcome to you both. thank you very much. balbina, i'll turn to you first. are we at a point where we only have two options, either going to war or somehow accepting what seems to be an inevitable march toward a north korea with the ability to put a thermonuclear weapon on an icbm? >> no, we don't have only two options. there is, i think, still a possibility -- i think secretary mattis said there is always a possibility negotiations might succeed. we might be able to roll back, even eliminate the north korean threat. it is possible that we will decide -- the united states will decide to live with this, to live with deterrents as we have with the soviet union, then russia and china. but at this point, there is an awful lot of language being used about how we are not going to tolerate this and not going to put up with it. if one wishes to do something about the capability, certainly there is a military option, the secretary's spok

and joining me now from washington is balbina hwang, a visiting professor at georgetown university andian affairs at the us state department. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. do you think these latest tests change the strategic calculation is that the us and other countries must make about north korea? well actually, not quite. what a mean by that is essentially north korea already crossed the rubicon a number of years ago with its very first nuclear test. and so, this test number six is actually something that many experts and indeed our own us government has been pretty thing will eventually come, perhaps a little faster than we thought that we also have no evidence that north korea actually detonated the kind of device it is boasting or claiming to have done so. boasting or claiming to have done so. i suppose what it does show is that kim jong—un and pyongyang are not going to be deterred by threats and sanctions? i think they are very dangerous, it is very serious, but is not necessarily the crisis in the sense that the united states or its allies are today in no more dang