bruce klingner, to you first. how would you describe the state of relations right now between the north and the south and the u.s.? >> they're very strained. we've had five years of very strained relations under the previous president as he did not continue the unconditional provision of benefits to north korea that his two predecessors had done. north korea increased the rhetoric, increased the threats during his administration we've seen no change in the threat level since the new north korean leader came and the new south korean president. >> woodruff: robert carlin, have strained? >> i think the rhetoric is at a high level. i would hope that the events over the past couple of days in north korea would provide an opportunity for us to lower the temperature a little bit. we had some pretty important developments in terms of policy and personnel from the north koreans over the last two days. i think we should step back. >> woodruff: what are you referring to? >> i'm referring to the lower profile that the militar