against parg park has not attended the proceedings which were broadcast live let's cross over now to kathy novak who is outside the court house in seoul of course the eyes of the country on the capital guilty as charged i mean what else did the judge say. well the prosecutors had been asking for thirty years the judge gave her twenty four it still must be said this is a hefty sentence against this former president who was swept up in really the biggest corruption scandal to hit south korea this really captured the nation's attention months of mass protests in central seoul and these proceedings were televised live for the first time because the court found there was enough public interest in doing so and that this was a significant case pocket hey was found guilty of sixteen of the eighteen charges against her including abuse of power coworkers and bribery and leaking presidential information to her longtime friend shill shit did not have any official government

charges of abuse of power bribery and coercion in a case that shocked the nation kathy novak has more from seoul. this is a scandal that has gripped south korea since twenty sixteen and the nation watched the climax live on television but popgun hey boycotted the trial and wasn't in court to learn her fate but could it be the court sentences the defendant puck and head to twenty four years in prison and fines her sixteen point eight million u.s. dollars. fark was found guilty of sixteen of the eighteen charges including abuse of power coercion and of bribery and said to have taken millions of dollars from the country's vegas conglomerates in exchange for favors the corruption scandal sparked months of protests in central seoul culminating in parks impeachment was also found guilty of leaking sensitive information to her long time friend chess and she'll as president park allowed to dictate policy even though she had no official government role the pair was found to have conspired to extort millions of

kathy novak joins us live from seoul pardon me. so tell us more about about the scale of these exercises. well when these exercises come around every year north korea usually reacts very angrily so they were initially delayed as you mentioned because of the winter olympics the fear was that it may inflame tensions with north korea while the winter olympics and paralympics were happening here in february and march but not only were they delayed it seems they've been shortened as well so the overall scale we're told will remain the same but instead of going on for two months they will only go on for a month and that seems to be in light of the more peaceful atmosphere that is prevailing here on the korean peninsula in the lead up to a summit meeting between the leaders of the two koreas and with plans for a meeting between kim jong un the leader of north korea and the u.s. president donald trump so i think the sense of between the u.s.

kathy novak has more from the south korean capital seoul about five years ago kim jong un had launched his signature policy where he had this jewel track of pursuing the nuclear weapons program of north korea and also promoting its economic development and now what he seems to be saying is that of the nuclear weapons program as far as he is concerned is complete and that will allow north korea to shift the focus to wards developing the economy palace signs to the u.n. has called for an independent investigation into israel's use of force on protesters it comes after four palestinians including a fifteen year old boy killed by israeli gunfire in another day of demonstrations on gaza's border syrian rebels have reportedly agreed to withdraw from the last area near the capital that's not under government control the army is continuing to bombard the on klav in south damascus until a full surrender is reached south africa's president cyril ramaphosa has become the mediator in growing protests in northwest province demonstrators a demanding job spencer housing roads and hospitals they're al

president to get rid of nuclear weapons or together kathy novak has this report from seoul. the world saw the smiles and handshakes on friday now the south korean president's office is revealing more of what was said behind closed doors at the historic summit south korea says kim jong un promised to close the pull the nuclear test center next month and invited american and south korean experts and journalists to inspect it days before the summit north korea announced it would shut down the site of all six nuclear bomb tests kim referred to speculation that test explosions had so badly damaged the site it couldn't have been used again anyway to join should only chairman kim said when they come they will see that we have to figure tunnels than the current test facilities and they are in good condition this. the willingness to allow visitors to the test center appears to be another concession before the planned summit with donald trump and the north koreans by this is the necessity. for any kind of negotiations because if they don't see that the want every inch it was cited as

for the first sancho proceedings will be broadcast live we'll go live now to our correspondent kathy novak who's outside the courthouse in seoul. hey the picture of them what is the scene kathy while martin poc and he actually tried to get an injunction against the court proceedings being broadcast live that was rejected because it was deemed it was in the national public interest for the proceedings to be broadcast just outside the gate where i am standing small groups of her supporters are gathered and no doubt many south koreans will be watching on as the verdict is read park herself has been boycotting the trial since late last year she's been refusing to turn up for the hearings so she is not expected to be in the room when the verdict is read out today judgment day for the woman who made history as south korea's first female president and then as the first leader of the country to be impeached and removed from office she was indicted on eighteen criminal charges relating to bribery and corruption the culmination of months of unprecedented protests in central sort of. public outrage h

concrete action kathy novak reports from seoul. north korea regularly tested increasingly threatening ballistic missiles last year including weapons that could have the range to hit the united states in september it conducted its most powerful nuclear bomb test now north korea says those tests are over so it should chip pitch we will discontinue nuclear testing an intercontinental ballistic rocket test firing from april twenty fifth. the north and you could test ground at the d.p. r. k. one also be dismantled to transparently the discontinuance of the new quick test. it's welcome news for the us president who's planning to meet north korea's leader kim jong un within weeks donald trump tweeted north korea has agreed to suspend all nuclear tests and close up a major test site this is very good news for north korea and the world big progress look forward to our summit state media says kim jong un made the announcement as he chaired a meeting of the workers' party central committee a gathering to rubberstamp the supreme leader's decis

kathy novak joins us from seoul to talk about those reports of a possible peace treaty between the two koreas what are officials saying about that caffie well one of the reasons that this upcoming meeting that james was referring to there between the south korean president lee j. and then the north korean leader kim jong un is so notable is because these two men are leaders of two countries that remain technically at war an armistice not a peace treaty marked the end of hostilities in the korean war in one thousand nine hundred fifty three so going into this into korean summit the south korean government is keen to discuss not only denuclearization but promoting peace on the korean peninsula so the suggestion now is that one of the topics that might come up for discussion between moon and kim could be how to transition from that armistice to a more long lasting peace agreement and the u.s. president donald trump has suggested that he has given his blessing for the two koreas to go ahead and discuss this but ultimately it may not be a decision that can be made at the injured korean summ

north korea's a ballistic missile program or whether they agree to get rid of their atomic often kathy novak reports now from seoul. the world saw the smiles and handshakes on friday now the south korean president's office is revealing more of what was said behind closed doors at the historic summit south korea says kim jong un promised to close the pull the nuclear test center next month and invited american and south korean experts and journalists to inspect it days before the summit north korea announced it would shut down the site of all six nuclear bomb tests kim referred to speculation that test explosions had so badly damaged the site it couldn't have been used again anyway joining shit on chairman kim said when they come they will see that we have two bigger tunnels than the current test facilities and they are in good condition. the willingness to allow visitors to the test center appears to be another concession before the planned summit with donald trump and the north koreans by this is the necessity. for any kind of negotiations because if they don't see that the want. and nobody

first time the court session will be broadcast live after it was ruled to be in the public interest kathy novak has more from seoul judgment day for the woman who made history as south korea's first female president and then as the first leader of the country to be impeached and removed from office she was indicted on eighteen criminal charges relating to bribery and corruption the culmination of months of unprecedented protests in central sort of. public outrage had replaced the hope that many south koreans felt when in twenty thirteen they elected the daughter of a former president parked in heat he was a military general who came to power in a coup and who eventually met a violent and. had a traumatic past which affected her politics her mother was shot when park was twenty two and her father was assassinated by his closest aide. around that time in the one nine hundred seventy s. park befriended chasen schill decades later they were at the center of the scandal that sparked the candlelight demonstrations as president park shared sensitive documents with chair and allowed her to dictate poli

two possible signs that the allies may be trying to keep a lower profile to preserve the peace kathy novak al jazeera soul monday as world autism awareness day brain disorder is often poorly understood and france campaigners say the state's treatment of autistic children is shameful and fifty years pints of other countries the kids have full access to mainstream schools that are often placed in psychiatric hospitals about reports from paris. when he was two years old his parents discovered that he had autism a condition that affects behavior and communication doctors told the couple to place their son in psychiatric day care psychologist blames them for his behavior. psychologists who say you're making things up or it's your fault that you've caused this condition because you loved him too much or not enough you breast fed him too much or not enough we need to get out of this psychoanalytical approach today you go attend his local school with a carer but that's rare in france where most autistic children have no access to mainstream education. on saturday families marched in paris they say

shows chung it's sincere about denuclearization on the peninsula for more let's go live now to kathy novak who is in seoul so kathy what else do we do we know about this huge announcement. well this is coming right now from the south korean presidential blue house the office of president mungy in that has been briefing journalists following that historic meeting between president monday and the north korean leader kim jong un on friday and in that briefing we are told that kim jong un told monday in that he intends to close the north korean nuclear test facility and invite experts from the u.s. and south korea as well as journalists to inspect it he seemed to refer to the speculation that some experts had been saying that perhaps after six nuclear tests the most recent one being the most powerful in north korea said it was a hydrogen bomb that perhaps the nuclear test facility had been compromised that north korea would not be able to conduct any more nuclear tests anyway but apparently what kim jong un said was that there are two more tunnels that the international community was unaware o

international humanitarian efforts in this country james for now thanks very much indeed i want to bring in kathy novak she's joining us from seoul to give us the regional perspective particularly from south korea kathy we've got this summit coming up between the north and the south korea's fairly soon do we know what kind of concessions the south is prepared to make in order to achieve some sort of reduction in tension with with the north. well the lines coming out of the south korean government tend to be that the focus from their perspective will be on denuclearization and bringing peace to the korean peninsula south korea under the administration of the liberal president and has been happy to engage with north korea and have dialogue so it is pressing ahead with this summit it has announced that portions of it are going to be televised live that much is being made of that here in south korea and the fact that kim jong un the north korean leader is open to that happening almost three thousand journalists have registered to cover the summit so the south korean government for its part seems to be quit

and then of course a potential meeting between jiang and washington in may or in early june well kathy novak joins us live now from seoul and i know there's not much information at this point kathy but what are you hearing about the decision in pyongyang about these myside a nuclear tests. yes that seems to be a major development coming out of the north korea and out of its announcement through its state media the korean central news agency take the anything that's on april twenty first which is today local time north korea will stop nuclear tests and launches an intercontinental ballistic missile and that it intends to shut down a nuclear test site inside north korea and that in the country's north to prove that it is the valley to suspend nuclear tests the humans on the run five years ago launched his signature policy which was basically a dual track to pursue both the development of the nuclear weapons program and economic policy and what it appears now is that north korea is announcing that as far as it is concerned its nuclear weapons program incomplete that is announcement that north k

two possible signs that the allies may be trying to keep a lower profile to preserve the peace kathy novak al-jazeera soul. show kerry here with your headlines on al-jazeera hospitals in gaza are struggling to cope with the influx of palestinians injured by israeli troops fire at the border many were hit by live ammunition fifteen people were killed in the protest against israeli occupation and in tel aviv activists and members of israeli palestinian parties protested against the military's actions the government's refusing to investigate despite soldiers being accused of using excessive force the former leader from parliament stressed the importance of peace so he led coalition airstrikes have killed at least twelve civilians in western yemen fighter jets launched three raids targeting the city of who data had a camp for internally displaced people medical sources say six children and three women are among the dead. the rebel group controlling the last syrian opposition stronghold near damascus has reached a un brokered deal with russia to allow for some of the accusations they have agree

north korea meeting is expected to follow the entire career and summit kathy novak al jazeera. during a new interview the u.s. president revealed details about his upcoming meeting with kim jong il also says he would have been going to do with the justice department's russia investigation well can be held at joins us live now from washington d.c. . it was quite a bombastic interview that gave this morning about the mother investigation. right a lot of sort of fiery frustration unleashed on morning television here in the united states the president clearly frustrated with the ongoing russian probe but he had hoped it would have been wrapped up by by now whether or not there was any collusion between his presidential campaign and russian officials he blasted the former f.b.i. director james comey who once oversaw that investigation calling him a liar a leaker guilty of crimes but certainly there have been many questions about whether or not the president would also fire the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who is currently overseeing that investigation of the department of

the truce village of panmunjom with correspondents on both sides of the demilitarized zone and kathy novak has been at the venue where the leaders will meet a first this from james based on his road trip from pyongyang to the border it takes over two hours to drive from the north korean capital pyongyang through the countryside to the d.m.z. the demilitarized zone. the road is bumpy but very quiet it's also in places extremely wide one pyongyang resident speculated to me this was so aircraft could land with reinforcements in the event of conflict once we reached the d.m.z. security was tight we were not permitted to film in certain areas our guide was a north korean army captain he showed us the layout of this front line zone this is not an international border the korean war officially never ended it was simply paused with an armistice or truce. is it possible for you to show us where the meeting on the twenty seventh will be taking place between field-marshal kim and the president of south korea. to cuba it's the peace house on the southern side so this is the first time any of your lead

statement his spokesman said they say history not remembered repeats itself we will not forget today kathy novak al jazeera sole photograph thousand kilometers away to south africa another former president facing court accused of corruption jacob zuma is up on sixteen charges including fraud and money laundering over an arms deal catherine soy has that story from durban. mean. this is a significant moment in south africa's history for the first time a former head of state is in the dock facing corruption charges jacob zuma looked subdued as a judge adjourned to the beginning of his trial to june to give lawyers time to prepare. for a journey through the eighth of june twenty eighth. outside the courtroom he supporters will ted when he came on stage he say the court proceedings had been politically instigated. probably in two thousand and five i was in this same court facing the same charges i've never heard of anyone having charges dropped then reinstated the judge dropped the case because it had been politicized. zoomers african national congress party has kept its distance unlike in his previo

two possible signs that the allies may be trying to keep a lower profile to preserve the peace kathy novak al-jazeera seoul and abandon chinese space laboratory has reentered a sphere and burned up over the south pacific china's space agency lost control of the chiang one in twenty sixteen gabriel elizondo reports now from audience in virginia. in the two thousand and eight fictional thriller gravity sandra bullock plays an american astronaut stranded in space in one of the final scenes she's seen catching a ride back to earth in the chinese space station tingling one that then breaks up in a fiery pieces as it hurtles towards planet earth. gone one space station is real and it really did crash into earth. it was launched in two thousand and eleven and it was china's first space station it served as a laboratory base until controllers lost contact with it two years ago ever since it's been a giant piece of space debris about the size of a school bus and as this animation shows it's been slowly pulled into earth by gravitational force before a final uncontrolled reentry while dramatic it's

conveyed japan's willingness for talks with north korea a willingness kim jong un said was mutual kathy novak al jazeera sold. now this ours is in thailand have released a magazine at its twenty thirteen was sentenced to eleven years in prison for insulting the king some new york for some sort of used his magazine to campaign for the law to be changed he refused to plead guilty or to seek a royal pardon critics say the prohibition on themselves and the king is used to stifle political dissent scott hardly has more now from bangkok. but there are some that was released from prison early monday morning after serving seven years of an eleven year combined sentence he was convicted of last majesté that was supposed to have him in jail for ten years and also defaming a senior military official those supposed to be one year those reduced to a collective seven years about eighteen months ago now we've been in touch with his daughter straight the way through the days leading up to his release he came out much earlier than many people expected five am local time he was greeted by some dozens of suppor

from the south side of the demerit so on here kathy novak we're often reminded that the two koreas remain technically at war an armistice not a peace treaty ended hostilities in one thousand nine hundred fifty three and it was signed here at the joint security area at. the two sides agreed then to establish the four kilometer buffer zone between north and south known as the demilitarized zone or d.m.z. it's still heavily guarded on both sides and has been the site of tensions over the years north korean soldiers killed two u.s. army officers in one nine hundred seventy six landmines injured south korean soldiers and twenty fifteen and late last year a north korean defector what's shot by fellow north korean troops as he ran across the border not far from where i'm standing. this year as relations improved between the two koreas this village has once again been used as a venue for high level talks within the d.m.z. the military demarcation line marks the actual border between north and south in this room when i walk over to this side of the table i'm crossing into north korea so it was sig

north korea meeting is expected to follow the entire career and summit kathy novak al-jazeera soul. here's what we can expect throughout the course of the day kim jong un will travel into the demilitarized zone under tight security to meet moon in making him the first north korean leader to cross the border since the korean war so kim will be joined by nine officials including his sister of course she led a delegation to this year's winter olympics after meeting in the morning and kemah moon will have lunch and plant a tree using soil from both countries in the day we'll wind up with a dinner and a movie called spring of one joining us from seoul this coral fried off he's a fellow at the chicago council on global affairs and a scholar at the korea foundation mance phil foundation we appreciate your time very much i want to pick up on an observation that our correspondent james phase made a minute ago that generally with something like this there have been lots and lots of meetings working out details of the summit is kind of sort of a culmination of that and it seems that this is al

though says the announcement shouldn't lead to any easing of international pressure on pyongyang kathy novak has the latest from seoul. a significant shift in policy apparently coming out of north korea the state news agency casey in a says the leader kim jong un chaired a meeting of the central committee of the workers' party and indicated that north korea will stop missile and nuclear tests and shut down its nuclear test site in the north of the country kim jong un said the shift will now be towards developing north korea's economy because the nuclear weapons program has been completed this has been a welcome development according to the south korean government which is preparing for a meeting between south korea's president in and kim jong un just next week it was also welcomed by donald trump in a tweet but the japanese defense minister has reacted cautiously saying now is not the time to ease pressure on north korea palestine's ambassador to the u.n. has called for an independent investigation into israel's use of force some protests as it comes after four palestinians including a fifte

landmark corruption case prosecutors want a thirty year jail term we can talk to our correspondent kathy novak she's outside the courthouse in the south korean capital so the former president has been found guilty of some of the charges kathy. that's right martin these proceedings have been going on for about just under an hour now the judge is doing to the charges and going through them step by step and clearly referring to each company that was involved accusations but as you say we can say now that the former president talking he has been found guilty of at least some of those charges involving abuse of power and coersion she's facing eighteen charges involving those and also bribery involving some of south korea's biggest companies including samsung is being watched very closely here in south korea it is being broadcast live for the first time hockenheim herself has been boycotting proceedings she's not in court at the morning moment she remains in the detention center where she had been last year and local reports say she is not actually able to watch this live so she may have to wait unt

un prepares to me as south korean counterpart for the first into korean summit in over a decade kathy novak has more from seoul. north korea regularly tested increasingly threatening ballistic missiles last year including weapons that could have the range to hit the united states in september it conducted its most powerful nuclear bomb test now north korea says those tests are over so it should chip pick we will discontinue nuclear testing an intercontinental ballistic rocket test firing from april twenty fast the north a new could test ground at the d.p. r. k. one also be dismantled to transparently guarantee the discontinuance of when you click testing it's welcome news for the u.s. president who's planning to meet north korea's leader kim jong un within weeks donald trump tweeted north korea has agreed to suspend all nuclear tests and close up a major test site this is very good news for north korea and the world big progress look forward to our summit state media says kim jong un made the announcement as he chaired a meeting of the workers' party central committee a gathering to rubbers

step forward the announcement comes a herd of plans summits with south korea and the united states kathy novak reports from south korea's capital. north korea regularly tested increasingly threatening ballistic missiles last year including weapons that could have the range to hit the united states in september it conducted its most powerful nuclear bomb test now north korea says those tests are over so it. should chip picture we will discontinue nuclear testing an intercontinental ballistic rocket test firing from april twenty fifth. the north and you could test ground at the d.p. r. k. one also be dismantled to transparently the discontinuance opinion. it's welcome news for the us president who's planning to meet north korea's leader kim jong un within weeks donald trump tweeted north korea has agreed to suspend all nuclear tests and close up a major test site this is very good news for north korea and the world big progress look forward to our summit state media says kim jong un made the announcement as he chaired a meeting of the workers' party central committee a gathering to rubber stamp

april the twenty seventh let's talk to our correspondent now in the south korean capital seoul kathy novak and kathy this statement came as something of a surprise. absolutely it's a major shift in policy it seems from north korea would take many people here on the korean peninsula and indeed around the world by surprise i was certainly surprised to hear this is not what you would expect to hear coming out of north korea the news from its state news agency saying that the leader kim jong un personally chaired a meeting of the central committee of the workers' party a government body there is in north korea where major policy decisions are made and announcing as you say that north korea will stop testing missiles also stop nuclear tests and shut down a major test site for its nuclear program in the north of the country to guarantee those promises that it is stopping its missile and nuclear tests the reason it says is because its nuclear weapons program is complete you'll recall just last year just months ago we saw a series of regular missile tests we saw the most powerful ever nuclear bomb

of abuse of power bribery and coercion in an influence peddling scandal that shocked the nation kathy novak has more from seoul . this is a scandal that has gripped south korea since twenty sixty and the nation watched the climax live on television but pock in haiti boycotted the trial and wasn't in court to learn her fate but the court sentences the defendant park and her to twenty four years in prison and fines her sixteen point eight million u.s. dollars. fark was found guilty of sixteen of the eighteen charges including abuse of power coercion and of bribery and said to have taken millions of dollars from the country's vegas conglomerates in exchange for favors the corruption scandal sparked months of protests in central seoul culminating in parks impeachment was also found guilty of leaking sensitive information to her long time friend chess and she'll as president park allowed to dictate policy even though she had no official government role the pair was found to have conspired to extort millions of dollars from major companies including samsung in february chair was sentenced to twen

first time the court session will be broadcast live after it was ruled to be in the public interest kathy novak reports from seoul. judgment day for the woman who made history as south korea's first female president and then as the first leader of the country to be impeached and removed from office she was indicted on eighteen criminal charges relating to bribery and corruption the culmination of months of unprecedented protests in central sort of. public outrage had replaced the hope that many south koreans felt when in twenty thirteen they elected the daughter of a former president parked in heat he was a military general who came to power in a coup and who eventually met a violent and. had a traumatic past which affected her politics her mother was shot when park was twenty two and her father was assassinated by his closest aide. around that time in the one nine hundred seventy s. park befriended chasen schill decades later they were at the center of the scandal that sparked the candlelight demonstrations as president park shared sensitive documents with chair and allowed her to dictate poli

capitol we'll get her in a moment first so let's go to kathy novak is in the south korean capital seoul and this momentous announcement coming from north korea has been welcomed it seemed seems by leaders of the south. yes the south korean government has welcomed this decision coming out of north korea saying that the decision represents meaningful progress towards the ultimate goal of the denuclearization of the korean peninsula of course this represents a very big shift from the kind of place that we were in just months ago when we saw the regular tests of missiles coming out of north korea and its most powerful ever nuclear test and now north korea is saying that it will suspend those tests and it will also shut down its nuclear test site about five years ago the north korean leader kim jong un had promoted his signature policy which was a jewel track of developing both the nuclear weapons program and also the economy and now what he seems to be saying in these lines that are coming out of a meeting of the workers party that he chaired is that the nuclear weapons program he says is c

north korea meeting is expected to follow the entire career and summit kathy novak al-jazeera soul. well since you've heard kathy novak there talking about the south korean president we've seen him i told you he was about to be on the move these are pictures of his convoy leaving the blue house that's the presidential palace in seoul on his way past where i am to the meeting at the d.m.z. as he left the blue house he was greeted by supporters certainly many people very happy about the efforts that he's carrying out here his approval ratings and fluttered around a bit but they are still pretty high and worth remembering that this is a president who's only been office for less than a year and whose previous sesa certainly was not popular like this and certainly was discredited and eventually impeached and sent to prison all right james it's going to be a busy and busy night and it's a morning say close i'll come back to you shortly thank you. plenty more head on the news hour and clearing. more controversy for members of us president donald trump's administration. in sport the world c

statement his spokesman said they say history not remembered repeats itself we will not forget today kathy novak al jazeera soul. i will travel a half hours and kilometers away in south africa another former president face court accused of corruption as well jacob zuma is up on sixteen charges including fraud and money laundering over an arms deal catherine soy has that story from durban. this is a significant moment in south africa's history for the first time a former head of state is in the dock facing corruption charges jacob zuma looked subdued as a judge adjourned the beginning of his trial to june to give lawyers time to prepare this meant a change to the eighth of june twenty eighth. outside the courtroom he supporters we had when he came on stage he said the court proceedings had been politically instigated. in two thousand and five i was in this same court facing the same charges i have never heard of anyone having charges dropped then reinstated the judge dropped the case because if the matter had been politicized. zoomers african national congress party has kept its distance unlike i

who live near the border are hoping the summit can further improve ties after months of diplomacy kathy novak met some of them in the city of casals. on the east coast is south korea's northernmost county it's home to a community of north koreans who arrived during the korean war seeking temporary shelter then found they could not return across the border when the county was split into a park killing soak was a baby with her family fled now she runs this restaurant which specializes in food from her homeland. there are only a few hundred north korean refugees left they often say that they hope the into korean summit goes well so they can return to the fields and the creeks of their homeland before they die a dream of reunification shared by others in this region further north not far from the border about three hundred people live in the village of. their mostly elderly because there are no longer the opportunities there once were for young people it used to be a transit point for south koreans travelling on special tours to mount kumgang in the north but the program was shut down after a nor