lisa rein with "the washington post," kathleen clark with the university of washington. thank you very much. thank you. dv >> woodruff: howced is north korea's nuclear weapons program? it is a question with heightened urgency given the escalating rhetoric between the u.s. and the secretive regime. one y to get an answer: visi the nuclear facilities themselves. miles o'brien cently sat down with one american who did just that, part oour weekly look at the leading edge of science and technology. >> reporter: capricious and erratic as the nion and its leaders may seem, north korea's march toward nuclear w has been steady, and successful. just ask the few western experts who have seen glimpses of the program, and its evolution. >> i was very much surprised byi capabilities and their competence. >> reporter: nuclear scientist and metallurgist sig hecker was surprised that he was invited to north korea in the first place. after all, he spent most of hisa er at the birthplace of the atomic bomb, the los alamos national laboratory. he served as its director from 1986 through 199

so kathleen clark, how clear are the rules for these cabinet secretaries and other top officials in the administration out what's appropriate and what isn't? >> the rules on accepting giftsa are acy quite clear and detailed, and they apply not just to cabinet secretaries but just about every official in the executive branch. so officials are encouraged to seek advice from designated ethics counselors if they have quesons about how the rules apply. so what we see here is that the chief of staff allegedly manipulated that advice process h order to get te answer she wanted. >> woodruff: and just to get back to the point that lisa made about the fridship, how much uld it matter whether he was h already good friends witor not the someone who did him a big favor, gave him theiseckets? >> yeah, there's an exception in the regulations thatllows an employee to accept a gift that would otherwise berohibited if the gift is based on personal friendship. and, in fact, as lisa rein indicated, the secretary does push back on that, providing even an affidavitar declaration from this sports promoter att

clark. i'm used to saying ashley parker and you got caught up in that, kathleen. also teaches at the washington university school of law. ely, let's start with you. what is going on here? was this deal done before donald trump became president? and wlhat are the optics of his son wading into foreign policy while he's on a business trip? >> well, the optics are not good, but this is a different kind of administration. they have so many controversies swirling around, i don't know if this even makes the top five right now. that said, this is a project, the trump condominiums in several cities around india. these projects were underway before trump took office, so they sort of are exempt from the new ethical arrangement that trump entered into, where they said there would be no new foreign projects. but it's clear what's happening here. the son of the president is traveling around meeting with the leaders of the country, meeting with narendra modi, and also meeting with anybody who is willing to pony up the cash to a trump property. on the front page of the hindu time