dprk mission, said a man with a thick accent. i asked for hojung. after a few minutes a soft voice i recognized as hanz came on the line. mr. hanz, i said, its bobby egan, we met two nights ago. how can i help you, mr. egan? call me bobby. hanz didn't say anything. after a few moments i said you asked me to meet. i just following up. >> what are you following he asked? outside my office a dishwasher more easily stacked plates and i shut the door with my foot. our meeting, i said. i figured you would want to meet again. are you requesting a meeting? i'm not requesting anything that you said you wanted to meet. why do you want to meet? i wondered if he was trying to piss me off. did i say i amounted to meet? i said if you wanted to meet we could meet. this wasn't getting us anywhere. i switched the phone from one year to the other. we could continue our conversation, i said. >> what do you want to talk about? i thought about bringing up my interest in the p.o.w. but i wanted to form a relationship first. you can talk about whatever you want. i am busy

dprk, of course, is north korea. the phrase, nuclear strike, means -- that refers north korea's nuclear arsenal. most don't believe they have much. nuclear devices, yes, warheads, maybe. reliable missiles that could carry an atomic to the u.s., no. tonight reaction from the white house. it reads in part, and i quote, we have seen today's statement by north korea again making unhelp offul and uninstructive threats. north korea should stop its the provocative threats and instead concentrate on abiding by international obligations. the pentagon late today word the u.s. is deploying ground base intercepters like these to guam. the ones you see here in hawaii deployed four years ago to counter an earlier threat from north korea. that in addition to the floating radar platform being sent to the korean peninsula along with two navy destroyers carrying radar systems and weaponry designed to shoot did you know down missiles. the pentagon not taking chances but the question remains, how serious should the u.s., should you and

dprk -- to extract media sediment, i mean "the bachelor" is on. congratulations nasa for space-ploation. i dream of a day when one small step for man is literally one step because we parked the moon outside the kennedy stais center. folks, we've lost our way as a nation. the majority of americans now support amnesty for illegal immigrants and marriage for the gays and now we've lost another moral battle. >> a pupil says most americans think marijuana should be legal. this the is first time pew has has had this result. >> times are changing, something is blowing in the wind. they say. >> stephen: everything is so funny when you're high. [ laughter ] [cheers and applause] it's bad enough that the medical marijuana in 18 states and recreational pot is now legal in both colorado and washington and those two states are planning to turn idaho into a bong. la laugh even worse, -- [laughter] now, even worse, people are comparing this pot-tastrope. >> a majority of in favor of legalizing mayor juan why and same-sex marriage. >> it's a generational shift. t

. >> clearly, any effort not unlike the dprk, where kim jong-un has decided to reopen his enrichmentrocedures. by rebuilding a facility that was part of an agreement to destroy. in the same way as that is provocative to open up yellow cake production, while there is no known link between the north korean and iranian nuclear programs, iran already relies heavily on north korea for the missile program. >> the entire missile program in iran is based on north korean missiles and technology which the north sold to iran. so in that sense, there's very deep cooperation. >> reporter: the big question, does north korea's help extend to nuclear capability? on capitol hill tuesday, the navy's top commander in the pacific wouldn't elaborate. >> i think iran would be greatly advantaged if north korea helps them. >> is that help on going. >> i can't give you verification of that in this form? >> reporter: over the weekend, major powers wrapped up talks with iran, with no progress getting iran to prove whether its nuclear program is for power plants or weapons. so while u.s. diplomats keep an eye o

in the event of some untoward incident or unpredictable activity on part of the dprk. we work very closely with our south korean allies. there's a well integrated plan. lots of discussion and exercises for many years. we work very well together. there's a high level of confidence between the two militaries. i think this is a time to certainly be very attentive to take prudent precautions, and to consult very closely with our allies in the region, because this is fundamentally a regional issue. >> tommy, you worked with the president for a long time when you were at the national security council. give us a little flavor how he deals with an emerging crisis like this. >> well, the first thing i would say, wolf, is these problems with north korea didn't emerge just recently. this is something he's been working on for a long time. but when there is an incident like this, the tempo picks up. the deputy's committee will meet more regularly and the president will receive regular briefings about the issue in his pdb and other venues. i don't think that the white house is on hi

that it can -- we can change course here if the dprk will begin to come back into compliance with the international obligations. we'll begin to cool things down. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry is leading the effort to dial back the discord, sources tell cnn. while behind the scenes at the white house, the tension to an increasingly north korea is in overdrive. a senior administration source says top officials have been meeting more frequently in the situation room for the last week and a half. deputies from the president's national security council, the defense and state department, the cia and the joint chiefs of staff among others are at the table. victor chaw was a top adviser to president george w. bush. >> i think they're watching very carefully the situation. i think they're watching to see if there are military maneuvers on the ground in north korea that's accompanying all this rhetoric. >> reporter: now, don't expect north korea to be leading the headlines any time soon though, wolf. the new president park will be here next month visiting with president obama. thei

. >> clearly, any effort not unlike the dprk, where kim jong-un has decided to reopen his enrichmentrebuilding a facility that was part of an agreement to destroy. in the same way as that is provocative to open up yellow cake production, while there is no known link between the north korean and iranian nuclear programs, iran already relies heavily on north korea for the missile program. >> the entire missile program in iran is based on north korean missiles and technology which the north sold to iran. so in that sense, there's very deep cooperation. >> reporter: the big question, does north korea's help extend to nuclear capability? on capitol hill tuesday, the navy's top commander in the pacific wouldn't elaborate. >> i think iran would be greatly advantaged if north korea helps them. >> is that help on going. >> i can't give you verification of that in this form? >> reporter: over the weekend, major powers wrapped up talks with iran, with no progress getting iran to prove whether its nuclear program is for power plants or weapons. so while u.s. diplomats keep an eye on both countri

[laughter] not that the dprk doesn't have technology.t look at this recent photo of the dear leader with north korea's version of the ipad. [laughter] now he can play minesweeper on the computer, instead of his old way, by sending peasants into a field. [laughter] make no mistake, folks. and make no mistake kim jong un is determined to strike within the united states. >> the fiery rhetoric coming from the north, korea's young leader has been picking up speed in recent weeks. it's not just seoul in the crosshairs. pyongyang says it is targeting u.s. cities including austin, texas. >> stephen: yes, austin, texas. no surprise-- kim jong un is a sworn enemy of the south by southwest festival. [laughter] i mean -- [cheers and applause] i have managed to obtain this footage. >> (translated) it's just gotten so commercial lately. i saw wilco play this tiny club in '95 and it was awesome, but these days it feels like they've sold out. i say let's turn austin into a desolate wasteland like houston. [laughter] >> stephen: so, will north korea atta

and 45% think that north korea, the dprk, is an imminent threat to the united states. we're not -- we're not being educated about how this works. either by the media or by the politicians. >> so if tensions are high, obviously the -- secretary of state kerry went there to lower tensions and they talk about a diplomatic solution, there is a familiarity to tensions and diplomatic offramps. people talk about offramps. su, as someone who studied north korea, what is the offramp here? how do we end up in a place where we aren't at this pitch state of crisis? >> what's going to happen is they will probably do this missile test and we will go back to the u.n. but tensions will come down after the u.s. south korea tour to exercises ending on april 30. >> joint military exercise that happens every spring? >> yes. >> and the now south korean president said let's try to meet and negotiate to see if we can open the complex so after the exercises end hopefully we, you know, will get back to the table. >> richard? >> yes, david, go ahead. >> i was going to say, the question here is

. >> it is inaccurate to suggest that the dprk has fully tested, developed or demonstrated capabilities that are articulated in that report. >> reporter: and while there is no evidence that missiles currently in position to launch

what do we know about the situation in the dprk near the top? well, we know that the, the new laws kim jong un is referred to in north korean propaganda as the dear and respected leader, the beloved and respected leader. i think that gives us a pretty good guess that he is neither regarded as beloved, nor respected. so how do we, how do we move with this -- >> [inaudible] >> not a dear, nor respected. so what do we, what do we do to try to influence this situation in a direction that might be to our benefit and maybe to the benefit of, you know, even the slave population in north korea. i mean, i think that one of the most incisive and compelling sets of analyses about how to deal with dictatorships actually comes from somebody who's in this room, from peter ackerman, who's developed this whole approach towards nonviolent resistance towards dictatorships. and it's a lot easier in the less repressive state than in kind of, you know, gold medal olympic totalitarian state to start thinking about this. but it's not too soon. we don't know about how

hostile policy toward the dprk and reckless nuclear threat will be smashed by the strong will of all united states service personnel and cutting edge smaller dvd nuclear strike means of the dprk. >> most experts believe pyongyang hasn't got the know how yet to make a nuclear war head small enough to put on one of its missiles. north korea has moved one of its missiles for east coast for possible launch. the minister says the missile has, quote, considerable range but says it's not a long range missile and poses no threat to the u.s. mainland. >> we're closely monitoring north korea. as i told you before, we haven't found any signs of all out war but we consider that provocation is always probable and we are ready for it. >> the u.s. is also preparing for any eventuality, a high altitude missile defense system is sent to guam protect the territory that pyongyang has warned it could attack. despite the ongoing threats, the people of south korea remain defiant. >> i do not feel very anxious or concerned i feel confident in north korea challenges us we can punish them. i trust our milita

we are focusing on iran, dprk, and syria.e, we have a lot of questions on this issue, so i would like to come back to this issue in the question and answer period. other area where than one is -- other area where iaea is lacking is nuclear disarmament. the iaea is not nuclear disarmament -- [inaudible] body. it is rather, the first committee and united nations that never shape the nuclear armament agreement. or bilateral have taken place. what the iaea can contribute is to make its expertise game through -- [inaudible] available for the country if they requested. in fact, the iaea helped to verify the disposal, the dismantlement of nuclear weapons when south africa abandoned nuclear weapons and joined the iaea as a nonnuclear weapon state. if there are requests, the iaea is waiting to do more in the area of verification of nuclear disarmament. another very important area is the nuclear security. nuclear security means to prevent the fissile material and radio fissile material falling into the hands of terrorists. the iaea was

and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state. >> the entire obama national securityeam has now reportedly focused on north korea. >>> and caltrans putting a price tag on fixing a problem with bad bolts on the bridge. they are investigating the company which made the faulty bolts. the agency is said to be conducting a full review of the dyson corporation of ohio, the company that made the massive bolts that caltrans says now are snapping when they are being tightened. they say at least 14 other parts built by dyson have now fated quality tests. caltrans says fixing the bolt problem will require creating a new spire and will cost at least a million. >>> and a taxi driver who slammed into a center divide overnight has been arrested on a dwi charge. the crash happened at about 1:30 this morning. the taxi is wrecked but the driver was not seriously hurt. it does not appear anybody else was in the cab at the time of the crash. >>> and experts say this could be a bad allergy season and could be this way for the next few years. pollen is up by 20%, the early arrival of sprin

choosing to do is provocative, it is dangerous, reckless, and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state. >> north korea detonated a small nuclear bomb seven weeks ago. this has escalated the ongoing cycle of provocation by north korea and counter-provocation by the u.s. and the u.n. march 7th, u.n. security council votes unanimously to sanction pee i don't sanction pyongyang. march 11th, the u.s., and south korea, our longstanding ally, began joint annual war games. march 12th. north korea nullifies korean war's 60-year-old armistice between north and south and threatens to attack. march 20, north korea launches cyber attack on seoul, south korea. march 22. the u.s. and ally south korea announce an agreemt

that what kim jong un is doing is provocative, reckless and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state and i reiterate, again, the united states will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, korea and japan. >> a sec american destroyer has been deployed off the korean peninsu peninsula. the ships are poised to respond to missile threats. >>> the controversy over the jon stewart of egypt spilled over twitter. it sparked an international feud on the social media sight. youssef is free on bail for a segment poking fun and morsi. the u.s. embassy tweeted this link that brings you to jon stewarts defense of youssef from earlier this week. >> for someone who spent time in jail yourself, you seem eager to send others there for the same non-crimes. they are emerging stronger and more emerged. sending them to prison is lowering the quality of prison yard athletics. >> that tweet caught the attention of egyptian officials who responded tweeting it's appropriate for a dim lotmatic mission to engage in such political propaganda. egypt is taking its toll on

a few hours later, it was ma dprks imo who got home safe. thank god we found my dog.. >> and then delivered the game-winning run of the giants tonight. >> good stuff. great story. thanks for watching us. we'll see you back here tomorrow. enough about the book, i want to hear about your date. well, he showed up in a van. [ women ] oh-awww. [ voices in background ] [ female announcer ] swapportunity. the opportunity to swap a higher calorie snack for a delicious 90 calorie yoplait light. ♪ sorry... about your date, the details of your date. [ female announcer ] just one swap a day helps keep the calories away. yoplait. it is so good. >> announcer: it's "the tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band. tonight, jay welcomes -- host of the "mtv movie awards," rebel wilson. cat behavior expert, jackson galaxy. and the music of hanson. and now, jay leno! [ cheers and applause ] captions paid for by nbc-universal television captions by vitac www.vitac.com ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jay: thank you very much! [ cheers and applause ] welcom

choosing to do is provocative, it is dangerous, reckless, and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state. >> north korea detonated a small nuclear bomb seven weeks ago. this has escalated the ongoing cycle of provocation by north korea and counter-provocation by the u.s. and the u.n. march 7th, u.n. security council votes unanimously to sanction pee i don't sanction pyongyang. march 11th, the u.s., and south korea, our longstanding ally, began joint annual war games. march 12th. north korea nullifies korean war's 60-year-old armistice between north and south and threatens to attack. march 20, north korea launches cyber attack on seoul, south korea. march 22. the u.s. and ally south korea announce an agreement to retaliate jointly against any attack. march 26th, north korea puts artillery and market forces on highest alert and cuts its hotline to south korea. march 28th. the u.s. displays its nuclear umbrella in action. two b-2 stealth bombers make a daylight bombing run in south korea. april 2, tuesday of this past week, north korea pledges to restart its nuclear react

way through that this does not need to get hotter, that it can -- we can change course here if the dprk will begin to come back into compliance with its international obligations, will begin to cool things down, take a pause. >> now, the situation has reached a fever pitch here in recent days but it's something that has been escalating now for months, wolf, as you know, since december when north korea successfully launched a ballistic missile into orbit. this was a step obviously toward being able to deliver a nuclear weapon. that's why it was so concerning. then in february another nuclear test. this was followed by more u.n. sanctions in march and we've really seen things ratchet up from there, wolf. >> basically what are you hearing from officials over there? how did the white house formulate this response? obviously, one miscalculation could trigger all out war. >> that is certainly right. i think that's why you're seeing some of this change in tone that we've seen today. i will tell you just the attention to north korea is something that has increased dramatically here in recent da

and i think the dprk understands that. that said, no one takes lightly, least of all the president of the united states, what has been happening. which is precisely why the president made the decision to redeploy missile defense with respect to the united states itself, as well as to take other preparations in the region, and to send a very clear signal to our allies and the north alike that the united states will defend our allies and that we will not be subject to irrational or reckless provocation. but, and here is an important but, we make it clear and consistently that the united states believes there's a simple way for north korea to rejoin the community of nations and make it clear that they want to pursue a peaceful path. they can come back to the table and join all of those other countries, including their nearest neighbor and partner china. obviously, the shared in u.s. -- the shared nearest neighbor is the republic of korea. but china has an important role to play. and has always maintained a closer relationship

all of this happens as tensions ease escalate between the united states and dprk.hina, north korea's closest ally. other stories tonight include the markets heading into the second quarter after a record setting beginning of the year, wall street veteran bob doll joins us to steel us how far bulls run. colorado prosecutors rejected a plea deal for aurora gunman, james holmes, choosing to seek the death penalty for the mass murder. dobbs law takes up the case tonight. immigration reform negotiations still behind closed doors, still being conducted in secret with new reports that the border is becoming less, not more sker. katie and steven hayes the guest tonight. a weekend deal over guest worker visas has members of the so-called gang of 8 in the senate optimistic that immigration reform may soon be a reality. others are warning that rushing into a vote without open hearings and public scrutiny would wreck their efforts. fox news chief congressional correspondent mike e manual with our report. >> with much of washington buzzing about a possible immigration deal, flo

. >> it is inaccurate that the dprk fully tested or developed capabilities that are articulate in thet. >> shepard: just cucking a nuclear test is different than an atomic bomb on a missile. greg is live in south korea. >> in the past hour secretary kerry will talk to north korea if it abides by the international obligation. all of the meetings held by secretary of state kerry aimed to avert a missile launch and he said it would isolate the pyongyang and the young leader. kerry played down the report. he said it is making advances and a nuclear north korea is not acceptable. for its part north korea said they would not abandon the program. they are prepared for the celebration of the founder. that is possibly a target day for the launch. kerry goes on to china next. the ally seen as a way to get north korea back in line . back to you. >> greg in seoul . what is like in the hermit kingdom. here is a satellite image. can you see a lot of white dots in the south. a lot of darkness in the north. that is no electricity. just 26 percent of the entire north korean population has acess to the

>> i have made it consistently clear that i am ready to visit the dprk when and if my visit is helpful, and in close coordination with the concerned parties, particularly the republic of korea and the united states. >> stand by for more of my interview with the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon. the u.n. secretary-general delivers a direct and powerful message to kim jong-un. i asked him to deliver that message in korean, knowing that they watch cnn international in north korea. at least the elite, the elite government officials and the military do. you'll hear that message in korean. what he has to say to kim jong-un, that's coming up this hour on our special report, the korean crisis. >>> up next, though, we have secret film from inside north korea. very dangerous escape route for people who are starving. >>> and the former president bill clinton once called the korean border the scariest place on earth. gun fights, kidnappings, other dangers in the dmz. ♪ introducing bbm video with screen share. hey aleigh. hey! carol! update on 171 woodward..... let's other people see wh

, to take appropriate measures in the defense and deterrence for ourselves and allies but urge the dprk saying that is in this is not going to end the situation. >> more than anything the white house is digesting the constant stream of threats and most recently jay carney says the administration would not be surprised if they do see action from the regime. >> we have seen them launch missiles in the past and the united nations security council has repeatedly condemned them as violations of the north's obligations under numerous security resolutions. >> if there is action there are signs the south korean government would retaliate. that is according to peter king. >> i think the obama administration is doing the right thing by having b-2's, f-22s in the area. all is essential so the allies know we will stand with them and let north korea they won't get away with any type of aggression. >> reporter: he is referring to the move to beef up defenses in guam and south korean forces are positioned around the coast in the sea. they have mobilized a navy missile defense ship from a japan port. n

been choosing to do is provocative, dangerous, reckless, and the united states will not september the dprk

. >> it is inaccurate to suggest that the dprk has fully tested, developed or demonstrated capabilities that are articulated in that report. so we do not operate on the presumption that they have that fully tested and available capacity. but obviously they have conducted a nuclear test, so there is some kind of device. but that is very different from miniaturization and delivery and tested delivery and other things. >> reporter: now, during that speech, john kerry also opened the door to diplomacy, if you like, don, with north korea, saying the u.s. is willing to enter talks if north korea was serious about the nuclearization. as we know, unfortunately, that's not the case. >> and, anna, listen, seoul, a short drive away from north korea. folks there are calm. should the u.s. take a page from the book of south koreans, keep calm and carry on? >> reporter: well, you know, you're absolutely right. seoul is 35 miles from the demilitarized zone. this is the most militarized border in the world. seoul has a population of 10 million people. that's a fifth of the country's population. easily w

remains to take prudent measures, for both ourselves and our allies, but to continue it to urge the dprk to change course, but it will continue their isolation. >> reporter: and north korea warned embassies, such as british and russian embassies in pyongyang to evacuate their facilities and do so by the 10th of this month. the first time in months we've started to see a little more action. north korea placing two missiles on launch pads tucked along the east coast. the biggest threats are those missiles hitting japan, south korea or of course, the u.s. bases in guam. now, nations across the world not taking these threats lightly. the u.s. has beefed up military defense systems and guam sent two more ships to sea on the east and west coast. >> jamie: appreciate that, elizabeth. good to see you. >> reporter: you, too, thank you. >> kelly: and let's turn to former ambassador john bolton, former ambassador to the u.n. and fox contributor. good to see you. let's get to the heart of this. as you know, this is latest threat and about 200 countries have embassies in north korea and the u.s. isn'

we say to kim jong un and the government of korea, of the dprk that they have an obvious choice here which is to join us in an evident to try to find a negotiated recession lugs -- resolution. >> reporter: the chinese said they will cooperate, do what they can to get north korea to behave. a lot of times they don't do what they are doing so say. are they going to crack down on the chinese, get them to stop the threats against the u.s. and south korea and also stop the illegal flow of money and weapons helping to fuel the nuker lar program. it's anybody's guess what they are going to do now. >> good questions. another one here though. the chinese say they are on board with the americans. they have enormous influence on north koreans. will china do anything substantial to make north korea tone it down? >> it's a good question. they are telling john kerry what he wants to hear. i think u.s. officials sense a debate in china now. whether they are getting the bang for their buck of the relationship of north korea. there is an open discussion in china that their relationship with north kor

. >> no country in the world has as close a relationship, or as significant an impact on the dprk thanhina. >> reporter: saturday kerry takes that message directly to beijing, laying out a path to the chinese leadership, he says, on how to defuse tension. wolf? >> congressman of maryland top democratic in the permanent select intelligence committee. congressman thanks for coming in. >> good to be here. >> what can you tell us about this latest assessment apparently from the defense intelligence agency, that the north koreans have apparently been able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to put it on a missile. >> that's not the asmt of the entire committee. we have many different committees, cia, nsa, military. that assessment was by one agency. even in that assessment, the fact that there was a moderate assessment this could occur. >> moderate likelihood. >> moderate likelihood. >> what i hear you saying is that the cia, or other agencies, there are -- >> 16 intelligence agencies. >> they may have different assessments. >> all the intelligence comes together and it's analyzed. >> is there

possibilities of a very different future for the people of the republic of korea, and ultimately for the dprkthe republican of korea both want to see a peaceful korean peninsula. and that means it must be free of nuclear weapons. we are committed to working with the republican of korea and the other six-party partners in ort to get the north to live up to obligations that the north freely accepted, and adopted. and we are prepared to work with the conviction that relations between the north and the south can improve, and they can improve very quickly, and the world would be much better off if the leaders of the north, and one leader in particular, would make the right decisions. so i want to emphasize, that's our vision. and that's the vision that we think the people of the world share. the foreign minister and i also continued our conversation from last week about a number of bilateral issues. including our civil nuclear cooperation, furthering -- >> you've been watching secretary of state john kerry delivering remarks in seoul. right in the middle of this nuclear crisis right now. we believ

. >> we're in the demilitarized zone where the armistice was signed between the dprk and u.n. >> reportere footage was taken by media that produced dennis rodman's controversial trip to north korea in february. while that trip made the most headlines, vice made other trips, getting rare access into a country the world rarely sees. and there's the choreographed displays north korea wants the world to see. >> it's a history of the korean revolution as portrayed by 120,000 people doing a simultaneous pantomime. >> reporter: on a tour of the great people's library, even a reading desk is linked to the supreme leader. a tour guide said kim jong-il invented it. >> really, in this bubble in which all you see around you is the state media, and the information that the regime wants you to see. there's no place in the world that has that kind of informational control. >> reporter: charles armstrong is the director of korean studies at columbia university. with no direct lines of communication, unconventional exchanges like rodman's face time with kim jong-un, took on more significance. rodman and t

it is dangerous, reckless and and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state and i reiterate again, the united states will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies. korea and japan. >> north capital city of pyongyang. north korea closed the site in 2007 in exchange for food aid from the west. that's almost always the goal. made a big show of shutting it down. even blew up the cooling tower for the cameras. because of that it's not like they can push a button and get a bomb. analysts say it would take years to build a nuke. jonathan hunt is live at the united nations headquarters in new york. what do we know about this navy ship we have sent over there. >> this is a second destroyer ship. this is the uss decatur, shep. it joins the uss john mccain already confirmed to be in the region officials will only say that both of those destroyers are in quote the western pacific. that's as much as they will tell us about the location. they have confirmed that both are on what they call a missile defense mission. a clear reference to the threats from nort

defense and deterrence sphere, both for ourselves and for our allies, but to continue to urge the dprk to change course, because this is not going to end their isolation. >> the obama administration also in constant communication with china about the decision to upgrade defenses and tactics to deter north korea from any ir ri irrational decisions. john kerry will visit beijing, south korea and japan next week, so we'll monitor it and bring you the latest. >> and china and russia the staunchest allies of north korea. china has been pretty quiet up to it point. it will be interesting to see what the chinese say. exactly what they could hit, one that could upset our national security. i'll talk with an expert on the region who knows a lot about the weaponry op the korean peninsula coming up inside the "fox report." >>> iran's nuclear program breaking up without much progress to report. negotiators from six world powers, and iran, meeting over the past two days. trying to reach a deal that would ease concerns that iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. the u.s. and allies want to curb

personnel and people and cutting edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike needs of the dprk. is this more of the same from north korea or is there something different this time? >> it's slightly different, erin. you know, north korea isn't prone to any sort of subtlety. they like to talk big. the difference here is if you look at the timing of when this message came out, it came out at 4:00 a.m. seoul time. they're not talking to their locals. they are talking to the united states. that's what's different. they're meagie mess enaging dir the united states. the difference is who they're directly talking to. we're used to hearing all of this crazy north out of the north. the difference is when and who and that is the slight difference. >> that's significant though as we've been talking about this bell koes rhetoric is directed at their own people. so as you point out this could be significant. north korea, it's been reported on doesn't are the proven ability to conduct a nuclear strike against the united states at this point. so how big is the threat here? >> if you talk to pe

>>s did inaccurate to suggest that the dprks that fully tested, developed or demonstrated capabilitiest are articulated in that report. >> at the white house, president obama took a moment to reassure the nation and its partners. >> the united states will take all necessary steps to protect its people and to meet our obligations under our alliances in the region. >> tomorrow secretary kerry will travel to china to hold talks with the only nation believed to be capability of putting the brakes on the north's nuclear ambitions. >> the key to this is china. the chinese can control what the north koreans do. >> following its third nuclear test in february and the launching of a miss until december that reached as far as the philippines, north koreans have been gun celebrating the country's biggest national holiday. the april 15th birthday of leader kim jong un's grandfather. u.s. officials believe that kim jong un could mark the occasion at any time with a test of a launch of a medium-range missile capable in theory of reaching the u.s. territory of guam. joining us from seoul is nbc news

. >> it was the ratcheting up of tensions on the dprk side that caused us to need to shore up our own defense posture. we have done that. but we have also been saying all the way through that this does not need to get hotter. we can change course here. >> in just a moment we'll talk to the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations bill richardson who has visited north korea a number of times. first i want to bring in tom foreman to explain how this could escalate. please explain to us. >> jake, all eyes today are on the map of north korea right now particularly looking along this eastern coast over here where military intelligence says, you see the red part there, about a 250-mile stretch where somewhere a missile has been moved into position for launch. that's what we're hearing from intelligence. we don't know where but we hopefully would think they do. this is a fairly big area. we're talking about a missile model that is very bare bones. this is called the musadon and is believed to have evolved from a missile used by russian submarines so you can see how the profile would fit

. >> it is inaccurate to suggest that the dprk has fully tested, developed or demonstrated capabilities obviously the north koreans have is tested nuclear weapons. obviously the north koreans have tested nuclear weapons. >> the regime has publicly announce thaded that the north has nukes and the regime is admiting that they were blind sided by this. they were surprised that the the north koreans had nukes. i thought everybody knew or suspected at least strongly enough to act on the assumption that they did have nukes. >> greta: the latest on north korean missile crisis and the cuban celebrity crisis just minutes away. first, donald trump. bdonald, nice to see you. >> hi, greta. >> greta: the president's proposed budget has a cap on the contributions to retirement accounts. you thoughts? >> it really discourages savings and a lot of people that worked all their lives and wanted to save and have been productive people and now they going to spend some of that money which is great for the the country and it is an investment. those are the people that get hurt badly. a surprise to a a lot of

choosing to do is provocative, it is dangerous, reckless, and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state, and i reiterate again the united states will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, korea and japan. >> now, on top of the growing nuclear threat, north korea is now blocking south koreans from crossing the border into an industrial park they share. since it generates more than $92 million a year in wages for more than 53,000 north koreans, this is a sign of how far the north is willing to go with its threats against the south as well as against the u.s. let me bring matt back in and lois as well. matt, john kerry is going to south korea, china, japan next week. we also just learned he'll make another stop in israel. but in terms of the korean peninsula, what does he need to do? >> well, he's dog what any secretary of state would do now. he's got to reassure the allies that the u.s. is committed to south korea and the region's defense and that they're not going to be intimidated by the reckless and frankly bizarre actions of the north. but