ar rator: with kim jong-il's healthailing, the youthful kim jong-un s anointed successor. needed a crasse in dictatorship. (weeping) but this training was cut short. in december 2011, kim jong-il died. still in his 20s, kim jong-un was now declared sreme leader. >> there's a lot of mystery gorrounding how kim jong-u the job; i mean, there's a lot of mystery around a lot in north korea. but one of the things that's become clear is that kim jong-un sentially won a battle f succession, and he won it on the basis partly of attitude andgr sion. (cheers and applause) when kim jong-un became the successor to kim jong-il, that came with it a tremendous amount of expectation and responsibility. there had never been a third generation communist dictatorship.of a loeople predicted it wouldn't last.>> im jong-un did not have decades to build his power base within the regime. he has only had a few years to do something that it took his father 30 years to do. id order to survive, he had to conduct politics ithe regime. and politics inside north koreas is a blort. it is not something for

and kim jong-il doted on kim jong-nam. otand when his family, hisr, aunt, et cetera was-s planning tod him away for education in foreign country, we knothat kim jong-il cried. w t and he remonstrated, protested agnst their plan. >> narrator: despite the dictator's objections, the women prevailed. kim jong-nam was sent off ton schoolscow, and then geneva. >> my earliest memories of kim, we were, i think, around 15. one day we entered in class and we saw that guy who looked like an adult for us. we didn't know at the time that he was the son of-of kim jong-il.i we..ink we didn't even know he was korean. i mean, we didn't really care at the time, but we saw him arrive with his little attaché case, a black suit, his hair done just like his dad, you know. >> back then i called him lee. i called him lee, that's what hi told uname was, lee. i think that's what he showed us on his driver's license, i'm not sure. because we loved the fact he had a fake driver's license, we thought it was fake use he was obviously 15 in our class, but his license said he was 18, and he was driving, and we loved

did kim jong-il have a good relationship with kim jong-nam, his eldest son? >> translator: kim jong-il raised him and took him around himself. kim jong-nam had a good personality. he was chubby with a friendly personality, and was very humane. >> reporter: for someone who routinely and publically displayed a hatred of the u.s. and its capitalist ways, kim jong-il had a bizarre fixation with western culture, especially its movies. he loved everything from "rambo" to "dumbo." and when it came to the educations of his children, kim jong-il shipped them far off from their backward and isolated homeland to switzerland. jong-nam ended up at this international school in geneva, where the western education had a profound influence on him. >> we understood that kim jong-nam, as a young man, was more reform minded, pro-western, liked western things. and thought north korea was on a wrong path. >> reporter: it was all just a matter of time, experts said, before kim jong-nam would one day be the natural heir to the family dynasty. but then he blew it. in 2001, kim jong-n

his offspring, kim jong il. esteemed as the "dear leader," known for his bizarre haircut and penchant for jump suits and platform shoes. but it is the third generation of the bloodline where three young brothers first appear. and it is the oldest, kim jong-nam who was destined to one day lead. finding interview subjects to discuss the early years of kim jong-nam is easier said than done. because before they can talk, they have to escape. >> this is downtown toronto. we've found one defector! >> reporter: his name is lee young-guk and for 11 years, he was kim jong il's bodyguard. >> how did you become a bodyguard for kim jong il? >> based on personality, character, morals, and stamina. i was selected out of 14,000 people. it was a 14,000 to 1 competition. >> reporter: lee was able to watch as the oldest son, jong nam was groomed as a potential successor, seen here dressed in military clothes as a child. >> did kim jong il have a good relationship with kim jong nam, his eldest son? >> kim jong il raised him and to

and real wife of kim jong-il. after is kind of a mistress. >> reporter: in fact, it is a mistress who gives birth to the current north korean leader, kim jong-un, as well as another son named jong-cho. it was a matter of time, experts said, before kim jong-nam would one day be the natural heir to the family dynasty. but then he blew it. in 2001, kim jong-nam was caught at an airport in tokyo trying to enter with a fake passport to visit tokyo disneyland. >> japan is one of the enemy countries of north korea. this was of huge embarrassment to the regime. >> reporter: jong-cho would also be undone with fixation of western culture, namely the music of eric clapton. >> he doesn't have the right temperament and characteristics, that's what his father thought. >> reporter: that leaves the path clear for the youngest son, kim jong-un. >> he had a little bit of a tough streak in him. and that's what his father liked, that he was strong. >> reporter: december 2011. north korea says good-bye to the dear leader, kim jong-un.

do you know if the president of the united states has spoken with kim jong-un? >> i do not know whether he has spoken to kim jong-un. i'd be very surprised if in fact he has. my best analysis is he has not. and his comments about having a very good relationship is hard to understand. we know that kim jong-un is a difficult individual, so this is just difficult -- i think it's -- president trump just trying to tell the american people his style is accepted by everyone, and it's not accepted by everyone. >> at one point in the interview, they came back and they said, you used to call him a maniac, little rock man, he called you mentally derange the and all of the sudden you say, i probably have a very good relationship with kim jong-un, and he framed his comments this way, he said, you'll see that a lot with me. he said of his combative tweets, then all of the sudden, somebody's my best friend. i could give you 20 examples. you could give me 30. i'm a very flexible person. have you seen that in the president that he can go from really slurring the north korean lea

nobody in north korea knows he is the only third son of kim jong-un -- kim jong-il. now kim jong-un is brainwashing the north korean population that he is the only bloodline of -- but after five years of this kind of continuing brainwashing, he still cannot provide north korean population with a single photo with his grandfather kim il-sung. why? because he was a hidden boy by his father. he was kept secretly and silently in switzerland. but majority of north korean population do not know this fact. so we should disseminate this information about him at first, who he is, why even now kim jong-un cannot present even a single photo with his grandfather, because his grandfather didn't know the existence of this boy. majority of north korean people do not know that his father, kim jong-il, had several ladies to live with. so we should tell north korean people that kim jong-un and his father, kim jong-il, and his grandfather kim il-sung, the whole members of that kim dynasty, are not gods. that is the first thing that we should do. and we should disseminate the basic conc

responding to kim jong-un, the president tweeted, the and i quote, "north korean leader kim jong-un just that the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his depleted and food-starved regime please inform him, i, too, have a nuclear button but it's a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works." that is real. that actually just happened. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house joining us now. jeff, i mean, i guess there's no comment from the white house, because this just happened. >> reporter: there's no comment, but this is the president who is

north korea's leader kim jong un tells the united states that the nuclear launch button is on his desk but to south korea the offers and all of branch. and what is it about new year's day that makes people want to jump into really cold water we'll take a look at that and some of the other things people get up to around the world on the first of january. and it's good to have you with us reports from iran say more protests have erupted in the capital tehran police say one officer has been shot and killed and three others injured last night the country experienced its worst night of violence since the protests started last thursday at least thirteen people have now lost their lives. this footage has been provided by demonstrators people have been on the streets in various parts of iran's since thursday protesting conditions in the country and this is footage provided by iranian state t.v. which claims that protesters are violent and that some have damaged a.t.m.'s buildings and other property and also claim that some protesters tried to take over police stations and military bases. on mo

north korean leader kim jong-un said, quote, the entire mainland of the u.s. is within range of our nuclear weapon and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office, unquote. and that's a questionable claim in terms of north korea's actual nuclear capabilities. but regardless president trump took to twitter this evening writing, quote, north korean leader kim jong-un just stated the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his depleted regime please inform him i too have a nuclear button but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his, and my button works, unquote. the bellicose back and forth comes as the joint chairman of the chief of staff warns the u.s. is further quote with a war with north korea than ever before, adding, quote, he did not see the tount solve this diplomatically at this point. president reagan said a nuclear war cannot be won and should not be fought. president kennedy said every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of damicallies, the weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

>> i can't tell you that kim jong-un has read that, but i'm confident that he did. my my guess as he is trying to figure out exactly how it is he does what he wants to do, which is keep his nuclear weapons and stay in power. i think that's what you see happening this week where he's now agreed to have some conversations with the south koreans, alacking for foothold to walk himself back. enthoroughly consistent with the historical activity. we see the threat, he tries to pacify it. you can be sure that this administration is not going to fall prey to the same trap that previous administration did. >> dickerson: with north korea they have continued testing, u.s. said stop testing we might talk spin fashion. in that context this decision to talk to the south koreans would seem to be positive step if he's in the modesto step back instead of test. >> yes, sir, i hope that's the case. ever the optimist, always the realist. i hope that's the case but past his torely would indicate that this is a faint, not likely to lead to any true strange in his outlook, he'll continue t

i worry about the consequences of putting kim jong un in a box.be the president knows something, maybe the intelligence community knows something about internal disputes in pyongyang that leads them to be optimistic that if we put this man in a box, he'll crumble. but i'm not sure of it. we put this man in a box, he'll crumble. but i'm not sure of it, and that's a really big risk to take. >> go ahead. >> regime change and denuclearization are two different things. i think we have to push for denuclearization. we can't have talks with koreans until they actually make progress on that front. the only thing he's going to respond to i think is strength. >> stay with us for more of our special report and the president's view of his power to influence the justice department. we'll be back. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company

apparently he has a good relationship with kim jong-un and an fbi agent committed treason. >>> and a late night tweet amid all the drama. the president falsely claims he cancelled a london trip because the embassy was moved. massive protests awaiting him may have had something to do with it and he gets plenty of facts wrong and details mixed up. we have reports this morning from the white house, from seoul, and london. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." a remarkable 24 hours. i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. it's friday, january 12th. eight years ago today an earth quake struck haiti killing more than 100,000 people. today president trump signs a proclamation honoring martin luther king day. neither that proclamation or any amount of spin is likely to quiet accusations of racism stemming from the president's latest comments. this, a man who has defended white supremacists mocked a disabled reporter, said a judge could not be fair because of his mexican ancestry. that judge is from indiana. don't let these or any other examples normalize these latest comments f

responding to kim jong-un, the president tweeted, the and i quote, "north korean leader kim jong-un just stated that the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his depleted and food-starved regime please inform him, i, too, have a nuclear button but it's a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works." that is real. that actually just happened. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house joining us now. jeff, i mean, i guess there's no comment from the white house, because this just happened. >> reporter: there's no comment, but this is the president who is saying this, himself, so there's really nothing for the white house to comment on. of course, this will be -- we'll ask them if, you know, what specifically provoked this. anderson, this is certainly a dramatic escalation, something we've not seen probably since last fall when the whole rocket man was first coined, but it definitely is coming at a time when many people in this administration certainly at the state department have been trying to use a diplomacy here. now, this certainly blows that o

north korea's leader kim jong. states that the nuclear launch button is on his desk by the south korea he offers and all of branch. and the world welcomes twenty eighteen turn out for celebrations around the globe we look at some of the high points. to the program iran has seen its worst night of violence since protests erupted last thursday iranian state television says ten people were killed overnight that brings the total death toll to twelve hundreds of people have been arrested and it's the biggest show of dissent since anti-government protests in two thousand and nine iranian authorities are calling for calm but are also warning of a crackdown. iranian state t.v. shows president hassan rouhani meeting with members of parliament to discuss the situation the news reader says the president is claiming that protests are happening because iran's. anime's are angry due to the country's accomplishments and are therefore provoking protesters. because. the protesters have been on the streets in various parts of the co

the united states making a slur to denigrate immigrants while softening his tone on kim jong-un.'m joined by senator coons. thank you for joining us. what does it tell you when the president of the united states says he doesn't want the immigrants coming from haiti, el salvador, african countries. why are we having people from these s-hole countries coming here. he wants people to come from more countries like norway. he met with the prime minister of norway yesterday. what does that say to you? >> that president trump doesn't understand what makes america truly great, which is that we have a long history of welcoming people from around the world, embracing people who have come here from troubled places around the world who are coming here for opportunity and for freedom and who have contributed immensely to our country as a number of the commentators in the last half hour said, whose own family histories came from countries that used to be disfavored and the subject of these sorts of slurs. this is just beneath the presidency but also suggests he doesn't get what makes america g

to sit across the table from kim jong un. this has been a learned a lesson from the decades of failed leadership, what the people are paying the price for now. i cannot imagine managing my diabetes without my dexcom. this is the dexcom g5 mobile continuous glucose monitoring system. a small, wearable sensor measures your glucose every 5 minutes and sends the data to a dexcom receiver. dexcom helps lower a1c and improves quality of life. if you're over 65 and you have diabetes, you should have a dexcom. if you get a dexcom, you're going to be very glad that you did. visit dexcomnow.com to learn more. >> eric: a story out of san francisco this morning, police are investigating a shooting on interstate 280. there are multiple victims in the shooting. it is not known if it was a road rage incident or what is behind the gunfire. 6:15 in the morning. the sun is not yet up. we will bring you the latest details. >> sandra: people are paying the price for decades of failed leadership in this country. a failure to the directly negotiat

kim jong il, the father of today's leader kim jong un. >> reporter: your goal was destroy the plane,estroy the olympics. >> translator: yes, i was a robot, she says, brainwashed. south korea was our enemy. the olympics went ahead. the u.s. designated north korea a sponsor of terror. the victims remembered here. many here are convinced north korea's methods today are equally ruthless, using weapons to sow fear. trying to destroy south korea. >> reporter: kim jong-un aims to break the ties. she says he's using the games to buy time for his nuclear program. she was sentenced to death for the bombing but pardoned by south korea. she lives in hiding today, fearing kim will kill her. a traitor in his eyes who completed her mission but turned on the regime. nbc news, seoul. >>> there was a major scare overnight from alaska all the way down the west coast when a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck undersea in the gulf of alaska. the force triggered tsunami warnings and evacuations. many residents waking up to warnings on their phones. but after several tense hours, the warnings were can

discussions resumed after a green light from kim jong-un.s widely viewed as a way to drive a wedge between seoul and the united states, it comes just hours after president trump capped off a day of wild tweets appearing to taunt kim jong-un and north korea. >> north korean leader just stated that the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that i too have a nuclear button but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works. that from the leader -- >> just think about that for a while. >> it drew sharp criticism including from former director of national intelligence, james clapper on cnn. >> it would be amusing if it weren't for the gravity of the subject. when we're casually back and forth by whatever means kind of a duelling banjo who has the greatest -- the bigger male appendage it's also -- almost a manhood thing. there are potentially millions of lives at stake an untold death and destruction here and to me it's very disturbing. >> lawmak

kim jong is unis hurting. he needs south korea is's help now. >> yeah.et's be clear that the south korea is ans are working with north korea more closely, or want to, in large part because they're scared. trump's america first policy is not in any way a south korea first policy. the south korea is ans will be aligned more with china, cut their own deal with pyongyang. >> why is that a big deal? why is a wedge between south korea and the u.s. and south korea realigning away towards china, what's the represent cushion for the u.s.? >> there are two. one is if trump isn't able to come to terms with the fact that that's okay and the united states isn't going to go to war against north korea. so he is going to have to pivot at some point. america needs to be a part of the ally. we don't want to do a military exercise with you because that's not part of the deal we lost an important ally. china, where is their economy going to turn? their internets, where will they be sinked up with? it is a world we profit from. trump's policies frequently have impact tactica

the president refusing to confirm whether he has talked directly to kim jong-un. the president teasing the possibility he did in an interview with the "wall street journal." he says this. i don't want to comment on it. i'm not saying i have or haven't. i just don't want to comment. but he did say he probably has a, quote, very good relationship with the dictator. >> the president has recently expressed an openness to negotiating with north korea. he's also promised to destroy the kim regime with fire and fury. kim's missile tests continue. when we ask senior administration officials, president trump has spoken to or contacted kim, he told cnn that's not something we would discuss, but we are not aware this contact has occurred. >> so, what is the view from pyongyang regarding relationship, ee relationship with the united states? cnn's will ripley with more on that from seoul, south korea. >> dave and christine, president trump's remarks to the "wall street journal" that he probably has a good relationship with north korean leader kim jong-un certainly took a lot o

north korea's leader kim jong il the united states that the nuclear launch button is on his desk but to south korea he offers an olive branch. and what is it about new year's day that makes people want to jump into really cold water we take a look at that and some of the other things people get up to around the world on the first of january. and it's good to have you with us reports from iran say more protests have erupted in the capital tehran police say one officer has been shot and killed and three others injured last night the country experienced its worst night of violence since the protests began last thursday at least thirteen people have now lost their lives . protesters have been on the streets in various parts of the country since thursday they first protested about the country's dire economic situation but are also now complaining about human rights. abuses you know at least a dozen have died and there's extensive damage on monday iranian state t.v. showed president hassan rouhani meeting with members of parliament to discuss the situation rowhani claim that protests are h

trump lashing out after kim jong-un bragged the u.s. is within range of a north korean strike, asserting a nuclear button is always on his desk. the ratcheting up of tensions raising alarm. >> there are potentially millions of lives at stake, an untold death and destruction here, and to me it's very disturbing. nobody in the white house knows what is kim jong-un's ignition point, where one of these tweets is going to set him off and he's going to hit that button. >> reporter: hours earlier trump began mocking kim jong-un with the name rocket man. >> rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. >> reporter: the president responding after south korea showed an eagerness to open talks with their north korean neighbor. >> the u.s. will not recognize or acknowledge it until they agree to ban the north korean nuclear weapons. >> reporter: the president tweeting after the holiday break. mr. trump began the day attacking his own justice department, referencing a conspiracy theory. >> obviously he doesn't believe the entire justice department

that is the offer kim jong-un threw out today. it's something the south korean president has been pursuing practically since he got into office last summer. he's been urging the north koreans to take part in the olympics in february, believes that this is the only real way to assure the safety in the olympi olympics, also proposing they postpone military drills until after the games. now with this offer out there to not only send a delegation to south korea for the olympics but to sit down with talks with south korea. this is a remarkable shift for the north koreans. what they want, what their actual motivation is, still unclear right now. there are lots of possibilities, but the bottom line is the south koreans have said today, coming out of the south korean president's spokesperson that they welcome this proposal to talk. >> the major question is if they were to meet with one another, how would that affect south korea's relationship. >>> moving to iran. hassan rsaid they should work together. ali is in the capital today. >> repo

kim jong un, excuse me. but that's really dangerous when you're talking about nuclear weapons. >> donald trump once again inadvertently making the case for more women in government and more women in presidencies around the world. >> and nuclear disarmament. >> all those things at once. thank you, rachel. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> and so tonight, here we are at the beginning of what will be the year-long 50th anniversary of the year that changed america, the year that changed american politics. 1968. it was a year like no other in our history, our political history. it was a deadly year for the americans killed in the vietnam war that year. and it was a deadly year on the presidential campaign trail with the anti-war democratic candidate bobby kennedy being assassinated when he seemed to be on his what i to winning the democratic national nomination. it came two months after martin luther king jr.'s assassination which rocked the country and rocked the presidential campaign. and it was the year when the rig

kim jong-il took over. , kim jong-un took over. >> when you are watching news -- of kimother jong-un, how do you see his leadership style comparing with his predecessors? >> it's a bit hard to tell. it is quite a bit early. it is difficult to credit the news reports that come out of north korea. it is very opaque what goes on. there's a lot of tales of extreme violence which may or may not be true. is true that he has definitely purged some of the holdover leadership from his father's regime, including his uncle. it is seen as unlikely that his style of leadership is going to end up in results that were all that different from what his father and grandfather pursued. >> what should the american public know about the everyday korean life? how it has changed since the conflict. >> it's important to understand ves veryh koreans' li chairman asleep based on what class they are part of. vary dramatically based on what class they are part of. there's the high-level bureaucrats in the west. these people do not go hungry. they live in buildings with heat. then, there's millions of other north

all of this plays out against a renewed showdown between donald trump and north korean leader kim jong own over who has access to the better nuclear weapons program and a measuring contest of sorts which one has the bigger nuclear button losses discuss we'll start with david jolly former u.s. representative republican of florida joining us from tampa and in miami former u.s. representative patrick murphy democrat of florida he was one of the first we'll ever ules elected to congress is now the chairman of the political nonprofit group fusion forum foundation all right thank you both david will start with you president drum treated will be no dog without funding for his promised border wall i don't mexico are supposed to pay for that what do you make it has been. amazing how far we've come from mexico for it listen larry that the annual budget process in congress and washington is very different than what we saw with a tax bill there is a date certain by which these decisions have to get made or the government shuts down clearly democrats want daca they wanted to continue the president

kim jong un threatens the u.s. but office talks with seoul. sami's a than this is al-jazeera live from don hall so coming up a log just policy in israel's governing coalition calls for the antics ation of parts of the occupied west bank land the palestinians want for a future state. iran's president breaks his silence off the days of demonstrations saying people are free to protest and not to commit violence. while coming in the new year's spectacular fireworks around the world as people celebrate the arrival of two thousand and eighteen. well south korea is welcoming a new year message from north korea's leader those raised the possibility of reopening talks about reconciliation and reunification kim jong un said the path to dialogue is open and improving ties is an urgent issue can also said he'd only use nuclear weapons if threatened that the launch is on his desk. we should actively create an atmosphere to move forward with the national reconciliation and reunification improving ties between the north and the south is an urgent issue that

president trump says he's got a good relationship with kim jong-un.he same person president trump called a maniac, little rocketman. in an interview with "the wall street journal," trump says i have a good relationship with kim jong-un. i have relationships with people, i think you people are surprised. when asked if he spoke with him, he said i don't want to comment on it. i'm not saying i have or haven't, i just don't want to comment on it. peter nicholas interviewed the president. were you surprised by the comments? >> reporter: i have to say i was. it was surprising to hear president trump has any kind of relationship with kim jong-un, which is what he told us during our interview. it was surprising. have you talked to kim jong-un and he said, he wouldn't answer the question. it seemed clear, there was something in his head that he was thinking about. there was something concrete that he had in mind. he was open to a diplomatic track. some of his tweets have been bombastic and talking fire and fury and using arsenal against north korea. much more

he has gotten kim jong-un to step four. but then to put the tweets out there and taunt him and mock him, we are dealing with two personalities. neither of who are particular stable. i don't think either side wants war, but i think the possibility of stumbling into something simply because of these personal grievances and forth, president is playing with fire. >> you are a former employer. how do you see this playing out? what you think about president trump stretchy? >> i do think that kim jong-un is rational. because of that i think he will pursue weapons. he would not give up his nuclear prowess. he may end up in a compromising position or weak position with adversarial western forces. he will continue to pursue them. i don't think we are close to war however. but i think the key remains, china and russia continue to supply energy to north korea. if were not willing to get tough on china and russia, they will get tough on north korea. >> very quick, these two guys are like a couple of schoolyard testosterone fueled kids t

but the question now is, is it a new kim jong-un?his speech it sounded like a stick for donald trump but a carrot for south korea. what do you make of these statements? aidan: yes, indeed. i'm kind of wondering what took him so long. needless to say this is not an outbreak of peace for its own sake or a change of heart by kim jong-un. he made very clear as you pointed out that for the u.s. it is very much the stick. but of course, it is very helpful to north korea to try to divide the u.s. from its south korean ally. his late father kim jong-il was very good at that during the sunshine era when south korea wanted to make nicwith the north fairly unconditionally, sort of bracketing off the nuclear issue which began at the end of that period. and washington, even under perhaps more reasonable governments, were not too happy about that. i'm kind of wondering why the last six to seven months when south korea has had a left of center government, kim jong-un has ignored them until now. a complete change of tone from him. very interesting t

a lot of them, especially the north korean defectors, say terrible things about kim jong-un. there are less likely to say those things about kim jong-il and you'll never hear them say anything about kim il-sung. even defectors see kim il-sung as a visionary leader and a great nationalist for the korean people. >> what should the everyday american know about the current south korean government? >> i think it is important to understand that south koreans have a sense of grievance against united states, not just because of the division, it is well-known that we divided korea and established a separate state. we helped establish a separate state. then we left korea in 1949 against the wishes of the south korean government at that time who begged us to stay, who said if you leave the north koreans will invade. they asked for concrete guarantees from the united states that in the event of a northern invasion we would come back. those guarantees were never given. this is part of the reason that joseph stalin gave kim il-sung permission to invade south korea. that was not the only fa

north korea's leader kim jong il. has delivered a new year's address saying all of the united states is within range of his country's nuclear missiles but he adopted a more conciliatory tone toward south korea think he believes talks between the two countries were possible. you're watching the news live from berlin more coming up at the top of the hour thanks for watching. only at full speed. which. lead but always on the move. mostly today and in the future. trying. to build. a. building megacities at all costs india's ambition for the future. one hundred state of the art cities are planned in just twenty years. from this gigantic undertaking. and who loses. india one hundred two cities. in forty five minutes long d.w. . the top stories followed across social media share your comments and content welcome to. news. day live to serve. danger lurks in the water we were there all year long surfing waste and. not only being the witness but it being a victim i mean we. you troubles all gastric troubles. little basically it

kim jong un threatens the u.s. talks with saul. i'm sorry this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the largest party in israel's governing coalition calls for the. occupied west bank the palestinians one for a future state iran's president breaks his silence off the days of demonstrations saying people are free to protest but not to commit violence. welcoming in the new year's spectacular fireworks around the world as people celebrate the arrival of two thousand and eight. 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 kore

>> it was only a speech only kim jong-un could give. he spoke of the nuclear button on his desk that he could press to essentially eradicate a u.s. city and on the other hand, he called his country a peace loving one. what i think we're seeing are two things. one, i think there is a genuine overture. i think kim jong-un is now satisfied that he has reached a credible nuclear deterrent with the icbm tests, with the thermo nuclear weapon test we saw a couple months ago, per the assessment of u.s. intelligence, the ability to mate those two together. i think kim jong-un is now confident in his nuclear deterrent that would prevent us at least in his mind, from initiating an attack. but i think there's also a secondary motive here. i think what kim jong-un is trying to do is drive a wedge between the united states and our partners on this challenge primarily south korea. president trump and president moon of south korea have come at this challenge differently. president moon wanted to engage all long. president trump has been about isolation

we asked if he had in fact, talked to kim jong-un which would be shocking.here have been no diplomatic channels between the two countries for quite some time. and he wouldn't say yes or no. he didn't want to answer. we reminded him of his combative tweets about kim jong-un over the years, at which he acknowledged those and sort of framed them as a broader strategy in his outreach. he pointed out you can point 20 or 30 people he has done that to on twitter. >> david, is this reminiscent of the president, before he was president, when he was candidate trump said he was close to vladimir putin, who he had not met. on so watch this. >> as far as syria, i like. if putin wants to go in, and i got to know him very well because we were both on "60 minutes". we were stable mates. we did very well that night. >> that was a taped program. he was suggesting they had met as though there was a greenroom. that didn't happen. so what is this? >> well, i was confused as mike was in the oval office. i had a couple of theories. one is that he actually meant to say president mo

it's going to be the president saying i probably have a good relationship with kim jong-un. has he talked -- that was all the discussion there. the president saying that and there wasn't pushback immediately. i don't know when the white house began asking for a correction maybe on friday. >> this is a thursday interview. if you're a reporter and you're sitting there listening to that your follow-up question is, you just said i have a good relationship but this will continue. hawaii the emergency management officer who sent a false alarm about an inbound missile has been reassigned. not fired, not yet. the mishap that sent hawaiians scrambling for cover came during a routine drill following a shift change. officials say an officer in the emergency operations center mistakenly picked the wrong message template. one for sending a warning to the public not just internally. >> then the officer clicked okay to conterm that incorrect message. here what it says. ballistic missile threat inbound to hawaii, seek immediate shelter. this is not a drill. that warning sent to tvs, radios

kim jong-un's government agreeing to send a delegation to the olympics after south korea offered to use next month's winter games as an opportunity for high-level talks. china welcoming those moves. all this coming after the north korean leader's fiery nuclear threat and president trump responding to that by tweeting north korean leader kim jong-un just stated that the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his regime inform him that i have a nuke button and mine works. >> jon: jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. any reaction from the pentagon to the president's tweet? >> no official reaction from the defense secretary but certainly there are concerns that the president's tweet ratchets up the brinkmanship and could interfere with efforts by south korea's president to engage north korea in talks after kim jong-un opened the way for those talks with south korea during his new year's address ahead of the olympics slated for next month. south korea has proposed the talks be held in the border village next to tuesday. in the past 24 hours north korea has resumed th

kim jong-un says i've got a nuclear button that works. president trump's tweet suggests that we think it doesn't work, we've all seen the missile tests. what we've not seen is a clear, national address on exactly what north korea can do and what our capabilities are of stopping it. so moving on from this tweet, moving forward, i'd love to see the president here stop punching down and tell the american people whether north korea can actually fire a nuclear weapon at us or not. >> simone. >> i think that education needs to happen is to the president of the united states on why these tweets are not only problematic but dangerous and what the real life implications are not just for american citizens, but our allies and south korea are with tweets such as. 'and furthermore, i have questions for twitter and the president's tweets, in my opinion, clearly violate the standards. and so how long are we going to allow the president of the united states to act as a just a reckless bully on the internet? a bull that i has the power to bring us into th

responding to kim jong-un, the president tweeted, the and i quote, "north korean leader kim jong-un justted that the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his depleted and food-starved regime please inform him, i, too, have a nuclear button but it's a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works." that is real. that actually just happened. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house joining us now. jeff, i mean, i guess there's no comment from the white house, because this just happened. >> reporter: there's no comment, but this is the president who is saying this, himself, so there's really nothing for the white house to comment on. of course, this w