president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong il and here's what she said . this is my hopeful smile colas a glimmer of hope it needs work because of course really seeing a deescalation would be wonderful because for all of us the nuclearization of north korea has been a grave concern. in. so that was chancellor angela merkel of germany no other key players in the north korean nuclear crisis have also weighed in china urged the two countries to find a political solution russia court the fullest ever plans talks between the leaders of the u.s. and north korea a step in the right direction and it was south korea that dippy has to have convinced trump and kim to soften their war of words and embrace diplomacy. this is the man doing the running between p.r. nyang and washington d.c. and he's failing reached a major milestone. by poor president president thought that no meeting north korea kim jong un. is committed to. kim pledged that north korea really do train from any for the nuclear. tests but he stressed this that even if the new president from that's on as

people pointing out that this is a very similar train to the one used by the leader kim jong un's father kim jong il when he traveled to china as leader kim jong un as leader has never left the country on this kind of fishel visit and when members of his government have done so the foreign minister for example he has flown so the presence of this train traveling across the bridge and then ending up reportedly beijing railway station is one thing that is raising eyebrows also heavy security around a motorcade that has been seen in beijing traveling first we're told to the great hall of the people and then on to a guest house that is often used by v.i.p.'s that come to visit beijing so signs speculation still but signs seem to be pointing to a very important person coming to beijing but some of the speculation here in the south korean media is could it perhaps be kim jong un's sister who of course recently traveled here to south korea becoming the first member of the kim family to come to south korea and who we're told has the ear in the trust of her brother kim jong il and then the other thing that's

was carrying the north korean leader kim jong un well the most striking reason is that it looks exactly like the train that has been carrying his father kim jong il on his state visits he always traveled by this train never by plane there have been high security measures in beijing in all of the areas that are usually used for state visits although no state visit of fishley is taking place at the moment so all of this points to the drawn might be in this train or at least an other high ranking north korean official people have been speculating it might be sister who has been representing north korea at the pynchon's lympics earlier this year and who seems to be trusted by kim jong un to handle international affairs and we were seeing some pictures of the train just there of the of the train from north korea and we saw also motorcade going through the city china has admitted that there was a visit by someone they just haven't said who why all the secrecy surrounding this . you know very good question it has been like this before kim jong il when he visited beijing never announced it before hand it was always kept secret until he was back on north

president says north korea has promised to hold missile tests ahead of his meeting with leader kim jong il and donald trump was speaking at a rally in pennsylvania has been no official comment from pyongyang on the proposed meeting nor on missile tests a second round of voting looks likely in sierra leone with results from wednesday's presidential election to coast close to call both the ruling old people's congress and the opposition sierra leone people's party around forty three percent with half of the votes counted and require fifty five percent to win outright a run of poll must take place two weeks after the final results. those are your headlines we're back with more news on al-jazeera that's after inside story. this is really an attack on itself is a lot of misunderstanding of what free speech is supposed to be about the context of hugely important setting the stage for a serious debate out front at this time on al-jazeera. they have traded insults and threats now the us president and north korea leaders say they'll meet can donald trump get kim jong un to give up his nuclear ambit

that follows a high level meeting between a south korean delegation and the north korean leader kim jong il in pyongyang they've agreed to install a hotline between the two leaders to deescalate military tensions and north korea to freeze nuclear and missile tests during the dialogue the south says pyongyang is willing to talk to the u.s. to discuss giving up its weapons it said it wouldn't need them if it's a. curity was guaranteed the u.s. has previously said it would only hold talks if those talks lead to north korea's denuclearization washington has given it a cautious reaction was donald trump tweeting we'll see what happens rob right now from so. the delegation arrived back in seoul clearly delighted the mission had achieved all its objectives and more most importantly an apparent commitment from north korea to denuclearize under the right conditions that. north korea made it clear that there will be no reason to possess nuclear capability is if there is no military threat and also north korea's regime security is guaranteed the two sides have agreed to a summit between president moon

nor will he be offering what bill clinton gave kim jong un's father, kim jong il. b that was energy and billions of dollars. >> it's truly incredible, sean, what a massive difference one election makes. we have an administration that's not going to kowtow to evil regimes or fund terrorist regimes as you rightly pointed out with the iran deal. american leadership is back. we have a president who has walked the walk, talked the talk, and carried a very large stick., he stood up to this stalinist dictatorship in north korea. what's happened in a matter of just a few months, they've backed down and they'v want to talk after decades and decades of appeasement. this is the vindication of the president's foreign policy. after the crushing of isis, this is perhaps the biggestru foreign policy win that we have seen. it's less than a year and a half into the administration. this is a problem that has plagued the west, plagued the pacific region for decades. finally there is hope of resolution. remember what reagan said, trust but verify, but we on the way to stabilizing the

said that he'd be willing to meet with the ruler kim jong il. when he wasn't quite as fun young last month by kim jong il and sister kim yell john goring the opening ceremony of the come chung winter olympics movement took a step back and says that some conditions would have to be met first and those are the conditions we can presume are being worked out right now in north korea and the south wants the north to talk directly to the u.s. about easing tensions one of the prospects of that happening. right well you know both north korea and u.s. are sitting very far apart from each other right now the trumpet ministration has said that it will not engage in negotiations with pyongyang unless the regime is committed to denuclearization meanwhile north korea has said while it's willing to hold dialogue with the u.s. it's not going to get rid of its nukes so unless some sort of compromise is reached i don't see how negotiations could go ahead right now jason briefly the north korean u.s. north korean monitoring group called thirty eight north says it's

from fired back with warnings of annihilation and insults for kim jong il. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. on the front lines of this conflict the capitals of the korean peninsula relief and distrust so it is good news now everything is heading the right way but you know that judging from kim jong un's character i don't think he will give a lap and he's easily. the i can't believe either of them i don't know what's in trump's head and i'm doubtful he is serious about this meeting all of its. details are still being worked out on when and where exactly trump will come face to face with his a valued enemy. whether they see eye to eye is another matter entirely. well here in germany's house on america the venue's of the talks a cautious welcome this is my hope colas a glimmer of hope it needs work but of course really seeing a deescalation would be wonderful because for all of us the nuclearization of north korea has been a grave concern. the chancellor there reacting to the news well the stunning overture has taken the world

from fired back with warnings of annihilation and insults for kim jong il. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. on the front lines of this conflict the capitals of the korean peninsula relief and distrust so it is good news now everything is heading the right way that judging from kim jong un's character i don't think he will give a lap and he's easily. dealt with but i can't believe either of them i don't know what's in trump's head and i'm doubtful he is serious about this meeting but of these. details are still being worked on when and where exactly trump will come face to face with his avowed enemy. whether they see eye to eye is another matter entirely. let's get more from the w.'s cousin phenomena in washington welcome coston this meeting supposed to take place in just two months does the white house have the expertise to be ready for such an unpredictable adversary in such a short time. is the big question as you know the united states has no embassy in north korea donald trump the president has not even send a new best t

possibly kim jong un himself who has never visited any country abroad so far there's no official confirmation from the foreign ministry but that's not unusual because of prior visits of kim jong il the confirmation came always after he had returned to pyongyang ok is there no official confirmation there but we're just looking at pictures and perhaps i can throw them back up of a train which apparently looks like the one that his father used as well as a motorcade so it doesn't take you know a lot to put all of that together and then have some speculation here and if it were indeed that you came in who is visiting beijing this would be very significant wouldn't it but yes. it would it would be his first visit abroad it would be a visit to beijing which is one of the closest allies of north korea but relations have a bit soured in the last few years. it would be very important for beijing to have him here as a meeting between donald trump the american president and kim jong owned is scheduled had and it would be a major loss of face and possibly also of influence for beijing if kim jong un would meet donald trump before he meets seeds in paying. in the meantime we know that china

fired back with warnings of annihilation and insults for kim jong il. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. on the front lines of this conflict the capitals of the korean peninsula relief and distrust so it is good news now everything is heading the right way that judging from kim jong un's character i don't think he will get overlap in his easily. because i can't believe either of them i don't know what's in trump's head and i'm doubtful he is serious about this meeting the. details are still being worked out on when and where exactly trump will come face to face with his a vote enemy. whether they see eye to eye is another matter entirely. let's get more on this from a house that most of the who's professor of korean studies and burdens of a university you know welcome to day doubly let's start on that about port about whether each can trust the other and whether this will actually happen do you think it will happen this meeting well that's a point of time very difficult to say because there could be a lot of different obs

fired back with warnings of annihilation and insults for kim jong il. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. on the front lines of this conflict the capitals of the korean peninsula relief and distrust. it is good news now everything is heading the right way what you don't said judging from kim jong un's character i don't think he will get the weapons easily. the part i can't believe either of them i don't know what's in trump's head and i'm doubtful he is serious about this meeting of a lot of the. details are still being worked tired tone when and where exactly trump will come face to face with his a valued enemy. whether they see eye to eye is another matter entirely. and for more let me join in fosdick adi's an honorary senior research fellow in modern korea needs university in the u.k. welcome to even on the face of it it seems like an unprecedented breakthrough or i'm optimistic a skeptical when i always try to go to mystic but there are many reasons to be skeptical the good first i mean we weren't in a good place where

from fired back with warnings of annihilation and insults for kim jong il. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. on the front lines of this conflict the capitals of the korean peninsula relief and distrust. it is good news now everything is heading the right way that judging from kim jong un's character i don't think he will get a lap in his easily. but i can't believe either of them i don't know what's in trump's head and i'm doubtful he is serious about this meeting. details are still being worked on when and where exactly trump will come face to face with his a vote enemy. whether the. well for more analysis on this historic we want to turn now to one of some us there he is professor of korean studies at the university of berlin thank you so much professor for being with us what i'd like to understand is how did we go from fire and fury and mr trump deriving the north korean leader as a rocket man and then kim of course returning that favor saying he's a dotard to then meeting in a summit i think that's only rhetoric but maybe

diplomatic triumph china ping trumps trump becoming the first world leader to meet north korea's kim jong il and polls close in egypt's presidential election but it looks like turnout has been low despite the best efforts of the government. and the people of chemical. burying their dead after sunday's shopping center fire which killed sixty four people forty one of them children. the program with some breaking news coming out of the u.s. a judge has rejected saudi arabia's bit to try to dismiss lawsuits which claim it helped plan the nine eleven attacks will its go straight to the u.s. and speak to mike hanna who is in washington d.c. for us mike what else do we know. well the district judge in manhattan george daniels has ruled that he does have standing in the case brought against saudi arabia now this case has been brought by some two thousand survivors and relatives of victims families of the nine eleven attacks now this case was previously rejected by the same judge back in two thousand and fifteen the difference between then and now is a bull passed by congress and twenty sixteen spons

president donald trump will meet with kim jong il by may after a high level south korean delegation delivered an invitation from the north korean leader south korea's national security adviser says kim jong un also expressed a commitment to denuclearization let's get more now from rob brian he joins us live from china rob so now we have this tantalizing prospect of a meeting between president trump and the north korean leader how is that likely to go down there in south korea. this would be seen as a major breakthrough really a success of this whole policy of goodwill gauge with that we've had from president in south korea his special envoy young confirming that trump has accepted in principle at least that there will be this meeting of course that kim jong un will be having a summit with the south korean president moon j.n. at the end of april we now have the prospect that sometime before may or in may that we will have this meeting between trump and kim so it remains to be seen just how this will play out but it's important to mention that the north koreans have committed to freezing their

how much did that, in your view, contribute may be to kim jong il and it really wanting to speak? >> under the previous -- if he asked enough long enough, you got what you want. under maximum press there, it's publicly naming and shaming kim jong il and for the heinous acts he's committed. we sanction him as a result of that. we take in the number of steps that have made it very clear that we are not going to be satisfied by just letting him continue to hold the world hostage to his nuclear program. we also have to do is continue that pressure, work with japan, south korea, and our relationship and that an alliance to make sure that we continue pressure to actually get to denuclearization. >> trish: at one of the reasons he likes having these weapons is because it gives him power and stature and a place to speak on the world stage. then he loses those weapons, does he lose his ability to govern north korea? >> i hope the people of north korea, 2,000 of them who are in political gulags, would see that he is providing money for a weapons clan while depriving the people of economic op

two thousand south korean president kim dae joel visited pyongyang to meet north korean leader kim jong il the father of kim jong un . kim de jong received the nobel peace prize for his efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. an architect of his sunshine policy of reconciliation was join me and moon there was a time when north korea and the united states even talked to each other was that possible very simple ok when i would there was a train the circumstances unites to the united states listen to what north koreans would say ok and they didn't deny north korea they treat north korea is a normal count and leadership commitment was another important that and he was a very effective in the communication channels. says things might not be so bad now if the current us administration were willing to negotiate instead the us president derides and threatens kim jong on. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime those kinds of so-called hostile rhetorics could be very very counter productive and honestly he has been only baiting can do instead has to he stares. tells u

korea with billions of dollars in energy subi subsidies in exchange for a promise that kim jong un's father, kim jong ils nuclear program. clinton then went on national tv, patting himself on the back and saying "this is a good deal for the american people, and they ended up getting nukes anyway. you may remember. >> this is a good deal for the united states. north korea will freeze and dismantle its nuclear program. south korea and our other allies will be better protected. the entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons. south korea with support from japan and other nations will bear most of the cost of providing north korea with fuel to make up for the nuclear energy it is losing. and they will pay for an alternative power system for north korea that will allow them to produce electricity while making it much harder for them to produce nuclear weapons. the united states and international inspector also carefully monitor north korea to make sure it keeps its commitments. only as it does so will north korea fully join the community of nations. >> sean: well, clinton was wrong. h

to be optimistic when jean says he has no plans to ease sanctions before next month's summit of kim jong il and his rodman brought from so there is widespread optimism in south korea at what many believe is a landmark agreement but conservative opposition parties still suspect north korea of playing a game of deception to buy time for its nuclear and missile development. there's been similar caution from japan which has accused north korea of rene going on previous agreements made in hero past discussions with north korea have not resulted in the nuclear a cation so our response should be based on lessons learned from their talks for the sake of talks are meaningless in china one of north korea's few allies and a possible partner in brokering future negotiations has been more welcoming. and of course this welcome from u.s. president donald trump hopefully will go in the very very peaceful beautiful pair we're prepared to go whichever path is necessary i think we're having very good dialogue south korea's envoys now travel to the u.s. to sell the merits of the deal the question for officials

korean peninsula and would hope to continue this engagement and dialogue with the government of kim jong il and how significant is it that president xi has accepted an invitation to visit pyongyang. you know it would be significant to see visit north korea of course this is significant that kim jong un has come to china the first visit as adrian mentioned that he has made outside of north korea since becoming leader in twenty two thousand and eleven the first time that he has met another world leader and comes amid this flurry of diplomatic activity leading up to these summits of course the question has been why now why has kim jong un turned from this provocative atmosphere of launching missiles regularly to proposing the meeting between donald trump and kim jong and between the two koreas of course there's a suggestion that perhaps sanctions that have been imposed are starting to bite and that is what's forcing kim jong un to the table but on the other hand the narrative that certainly north korea wants to promote is that kim jong un is more confident now that he has solidified his positi

past to confirm whether kim jong-un was, in fact, there until after he is back safely across the north korean border. but it's interesting, wolf, you mention his brother kim jong-ilefore the north korean summit in 2000, kim jong il talked things over with south korea at that point, so we could be seeing a repeat in the playbook from his son. we could see him following a similar set of steps that his father took the last time there were substantive negotiations on the nuclear program. >> stay tuned for a reporting of a meeting with china or south korea or both. >>> sadeem is here in washington. you're an expert on north korea. what do you think, was kim jong-un actually on this train to beijing? >> i think it's possible. as matt rivers noted, we don't actually have confirmation yet. for kim jong-un to go to china, though, i think it's important to recognize that he's actually trying to go in a superior, not a subsequent position. he repeatedly tried to meet with china back in november when they wanted to meet with him. chinese officials got nowhere. >> the interesting thing, though, things have changed dramatically in the past few weeks. there will be a meeting wi

president donald trump now the first world leader to meet kim jong il a. chinese state controlled media waited until kim was back home before confirming what officials had tried so hard to deny just a day earlier. in the great hall of the people kim and his wife well welcome bleich old friends appearance is important at times like this. she opted for a business suit where is kim stuck to the look favored by his father and grandfather the wives of both men were present during most of the photo opportunities. visits like this are all about symbolism for she it served as a reminder that china still holds sway over its neighbor and intends to be at the center of diplomatic efforts to achieve a nuclear free korean peninsula. it's not clear what made him come to beijing or indeed what incentives he may have been offered to do so but china remains north korea's only real friend and ally so it's fair to assume the president xi jinping might want to know what kim's negotiating strategy will be during his upcoming summit with president trump. and kim's visit made it

governor's live from the meeting that coda writes new history donald trump a north korean think like kim jong il in agreeing to hold the first ever u.s. north korea summit kill me on office to denuclearize if the right conditions are met also on the program. the president's trump moves ahead with tariffs on steel and and alimony.

well one reason just could be security like his father kim jong il kim jong un could be deeply paranoid that any announcements of his travels far beyond the borders of his country it could result with assassination attempts so perhaps keeping his trip to beijing under wraps was just a means of ensuring his own survival in the meantime can you tell us a little bit more about the role that china might want to play in may's historic summits with the u.s. and south korea did we get any indication of that in the wake of the says that. sure well i mean china has long wanted to be a broker in north korea's denuclearization and you also have to remember that the korean war only came to a cease fire back in one nine hundred fifty three and china fought alongside of north korea so they have a vested interest in a long term peace on the korean peninsula and i think by kim visiting chinese president xi jinping not only shows china's role in any future negotiations or mediations but it also shows that kim in a way needs to get beijing's approval first before he meets with any other world leaders how

chinese atdiplomatic commitment, th once kim jong-un lays out these proposals, china will come out and support them. phrase proposal, which i expect kim jong-il and to lay on the table. -- kim jong-un to lay on the table. you freeze testing, we will freeze military exercises. as bill alluded to, in laying out his agenda in getting he mightiplomatics, try to get commitment from china. once he a copper shoes this, china will begin -- accomplishes this, china will begin to ease off on some of the trade .anctions i think he has these three purposes in mind. he is in beijing right now. this meeting will be important. the president needs to be prepared, will be prepared. that means a lot of homework between now and this meeting. thank you. >> i think that microphone is over there. i was supposed to to give a isech myself, but it interesting to hear all of the things my colleagues have said. is about the potential summit meeting, whether this will happen or not trump. it is very possible that kim in north korea now. can jump up and who went to beijing, or was it his sister -- was it kim jong-un who went, or was it his sister? they have never done --

and i think that kim jong-il is now expressing an interest in meeting with these other leaders, that's an encouraging sign and let's hope it leads to a safer and more peaceful world. >> north korea's kim jong-il will hold a summit with south korea's president moon jae-in on april 27th. for "nightly business report" i'm eunice eun in beijing. >>> coming t up, switch to watching streaming video is starting to take toll on traditional television wvertising. weill tell you how much, and how big the shift is. >>> barclaysill pay $2 billion to settle an investigation into the bank's role in the financial crisis. e penalty settles a lawsuit alleging bclays misled investors over the quality of the mortgages it sold. barclays's ceo called it a quote fair and proportionate settlement end quote but the department of justice was reportedly looking for a fine of $5 billion. >>> spending on television ads fell last year for the first time since 2009, which i will point out we were in recession at that time. little more unanimous a billion few dollars were spent on advertising in 2017. that according

now you remember that initial excitement over donald trump or supposedly meeting with kim jong il it's been tempered will explain why after this break. the legacy of the communist era has left i'm assuming a lot of of the legacy waste as well i'm assuming again from my understanding of the soviet era that there was much more of a culture of a reuse and not throwing things the way that i think the society that emerged out of that tends to reject so it's a matter of moving back to the. me it's so also not accepted whether. russia nor the u.s. is deciding maybe of what chairman companies or european companies investing in or which infrastructure we are building a true mini or in europe i think it's a tremendous european just. welcome back said over to spain now where a rally in support of catalan independence took place earlier on sunday as you can see in our pictures from barcelona there were thousands of people filling the streets there holding banners in support of the former council on leader. who is currently in exile there also demanding the release of political prisoners. now the n

high level south korean delegation has returned from pyongyang where they met north korean leader kim jong il and state media says kim wants to advance relations in east military tensions with the south. aid agencies say tens of thousands of people have been displaced by i think violence in the democratic republic of congo at least seventy nine people were killed in recent days and fighting between rival tribes more than a touring province. counterterrorism police in britain are investigating the suspected poisoning of a former russian spy script hour and a woman in their thirty's are inexpensive care after exposure to an unknown substance sixty six year old has been living in the u.k. for the past eight years after being freed from a prison in a russian spy swap deal or they were found unconscious at a shopping center in salisbury and taken to hospital our correspondent needs parker is there. the sixty six year old former russian intelligence colonel surrogate's cripple and the thirty three year old woman who was with him at the time in which they were found unconscious on a park bench in th

through all the graphics they were coming to this one so we're looking at the three kim dynasty's if you like kim il sung kim jong il kim jong un and six u.s. presidents and look at that column on the far right the sheer number of tests by nuclear non-nuclear that there have been under kim jong un easily double that of his father kim jong il who was president under clinton and bush jr so just give you an idea of how much it's ramped up in the last what is that five years six years or so one other thing i do want to show you and that is this tweet from donald trump which came out only or couple of hours ago if that possible progress being made in talks with north korea he says for the first time in many years a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned the world is watching and waiting may be false hope that the u.s. is ready to go hard in either direction so a confirmation i guess of donald trump's position there tweeting early this tuesday morning in the u.s. . so for analysis on all of this we spoke to robert kelly a little bit earlier professor of political science and diplomacy at the sun universi

korea into china and people pointing out that it seems to be a similar train used by kim jong un's father kim jong il when he traveled to china when he was leader of north korea now kim jong un has never left north korea for an official visit while he has been leader and when members of his government for example the foreign minister have traveled abroad they have flown so this seems to be a train reserved for v.i.p.'s such as the leader himself or his sister and that is part of what's fueling speculation but when that visit was made by the leader kim jong il we weren't told of the details until after the trip had wrapped up so it may be still some time but before any of these reports are confirmed sale it didn't come through there were so many moving parts in asia pacific that would move to round the korean peninsula from missile launches to a successful olympics to a potential summit with president trouble me the timing is quite specific and quite apparent two months at the moment. absolutely there is such a turn around from late last year when we were talking about regular missile launches provoca

that meeting never happened, but she did discuss with kim jong il a range of issues to presidential security, and she was able to secure from president jong ill a release of relations. she told kim jong il just pick up the phone any time and he came back with an e-mail address. so she was able to get the ball rolling toward talks in a very positive way. president clinton didn't go, as we said, but as former president he did make an unannounced trip to north korea in 2009, the summer of 2009, to secure the release of two american journalists who had been detained there since march of 2009. this is laura ling and is euna lee. you might recall they were covering refugee incidents there on the north korea side of the border and detained. he was able to go and get their release and he also met with kim jong il while there. up next is the u.n. ambassador bill richardson who we all know has been there many times. he went there in 1994 first to secure the release of an american pilot. he went there in 1996 to negotiate release of american citizens. the next time he went back for eric schmidt to see

but when kim jong un's father kim jong il visited china in the past his trips were only confirmed by beijing after he had crossed back into north korea beijing support for pianka and dates back to the korean war in the one nine hundred fifty s. when communist china came to the north eight since then beijing has provided crucial economic support to the isolated country. fast forward nearly seventy years later and kim jong un's priorities have changed on chains nuclear ambitions have alarmed its closest ally china even took the unprecedented step of imposing sanctions on the north in two thousand and seventeen and the mysterious visit comes ahead of a historic summit between the north and south scheduled for april the meeting is expected to focus on denuclearization of the korean peninsula a meeting between kim jong un and u.s. president donald trump is expected sometime before may. be back at the top of the hour with more world news for world body of the day i can see you that. make your smart t.v. smart with. what you want what you want to. up to date. extraordinary. you decide. to f

kim jong-un's father, kim jong-il wanted such a meeting with president clinton. the clinton administration agreed to send secretary of state madeleine albright to north korea to begin talks and see if enough progress was made to warrant a presidential summit. it concluded that there wasn't. the bush administration, which labeled north korea part of the axis of evil was even cooler on high-level talks. the obama administration achieved break-throughs with the cuban and iranian regimes through high-level context but gave uhm on diplomacy with the north korean regime because of its unwillingness to denuclearization. until now the trump adopted that policy and escalated it. earlier this week mike pence said our posture toward the regime will not change. until we see credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearization. trump himself previously ridiculed the idea of talks, tweeting "the u.s. has been talking to north korea for 25 years. talking is not the answer." he humiliated his own secretary of state rex tillerson for his diplomatic efforts tweeting th

president donald trump now the first world leader to beat kim jong il. chinese state controlled media waited until kim was back home before confirming what officials had tried so hard to deny just a day earlier. in the great hall of the people kim and his wife were welcomed like old friends appearance is important at times like this she opted for a business suit whereas kim stuck to the look favored by his father and grandfather the wives of both men were present during most of the photo opportunities. visits like this are all about symbolism for she it served as a reminder that china still holds sway over its neighbor and intends to be at the center of diplomatic efforts to achieve a nuclear free korean peninsula it's not clear what made him come to beijing or indeed what incentives he may have been offered to do so but china remains north korea's only real friend and ally so it's fair to assume the president xi jinping might want to know what kim's negotiating strategy will be during his upcoming summit with president trump. kim's visit made it possible

one for the world the white house says there will be no preconditions to trump meeting the leader kim jong il trump spoke earlier with chinese leader xi jinping by phone both agreed to continue sanctions until north korea takes steps to end its nuclear program trump plans to meet kim by in may mike hanna has more from washington d.c. . it appeared that the u.s. had introduced new preconditions when the press secretary said that the meeting would not take place unless north korea provided strong guarantees and took strong steps to indicate the authenticity of its position however subsequently administration officials said that mr sanders was not introducing new preconditions they said she was indeed emphasizing the consequences should north korea continue or resume nuclear or missile testing or interfere with the joint military exercises taking place between the u.s. and south korea but this confusion underscores the developments that have occurred with president trump leaping headfirst into a potential face to face negotiation many expressing concern that negotiations such as these begin from

delegation from north korea and now we're looking forward to all of these high level meetings between kim jong il and other world leaders and the question is why is kim jong un changing his tune why now there are some who believe that the campaign of sanctions against north korea is starting to bite and they're forcing kim jong il into the negotiating table he rather says that he is in a more strong position that because of his leadership and because of the development of his nuclear and missile program he's more in a position now to leave the country to come to the table to talk with people like she jinping and donald trump and the warning from skeptics here in south korea is that if kim jong un is able to extract any concessions perhaps the lowering of sanctions against. south korea and its allies in a more difficult bargaining position when it comes to the end goal of denuclearization all right kathy thank you very much kathy novak there live in seoul in apologies for that tiny glitch on the line but that was kathy novak our correspondent in the south korean capital and further to what kathy w

president will meet with kim jong. il high level south korean delegation delivered an invitation from the north korean leader south korea's national security adviser says kim jong un also expressed a commitment to denuclearization. president president. no meeting north korean human don't want that he is committed. to providing. north korea. from any photo was distorted first he understands that the joint military exercises between the republic of korea and the united states must continue and he expressed this that you're going to meet president from that's as possible. president appreciated the briefing and said he would meet. by may to order prominent the new curators. the trump administration has imposed controversial tariffs on steel and aluminum imports despite warnings of a potential trade war in mexico and canada will be temporarily exempt from the new levies want to go see asians continue on a regional trade deal the transpacific partnership that's been signed in chile and what's being hailed as a powerful move aga

this particular story there are reports in korea that there is a undisclosed message coming from kim jong il and two. and there are wild speculations here and there are different scenarios but we don't have information here and we cannot even confirm whether there was indeed this great message but indeed that's what we are hearing so i think your point is very ballot just the invitation and acceptance i mean the station i don't think it explains everything there has to be a lot of information an exchange of information going on that might have happened behind the scenes so i agree with you or observation or speculation that there is much more exchanged behind in the mrs a than for such a dramatic development isn't it because i mean from the chest beating swashbuckling over the last few months suddenly we're talking about diplomacy and what could be potentially a glimmer of hope what do you think has prompted this dramatic shift in diplomacy well i i i'm one of those who think that it's possible that. the severity of the sanctions now being imposed by the international community and by that r

after years of refusals and threats of war north korean leader kim jong il and finally seems willing to discuss suspending his nuclear program to engage in talks with the united states the us state department has confirmed it will be holding a meeting with south korea later this week to the sky potential denuclearization talks with pyongyang it follows an agreement between the korean states to hold a historic summit of their own expounds from seoul years rolled with pride. delegation arrived back in seoul clearly delighted the mission had achieved all its objectives and more most importantly an apparent commitment from north korea to denuclearize under the right conditions that. north korea made it clear that there will be no reason to possess nuclear capability is if there is no military threat and also north korea's regime security is guaranteed the two sides have agreed to a summit between president jay end of south korea and north korean leader kim jong un kammen john inside the demilitarized zone separating the two koreas where a truce was signed to end the korean war in one nin