kim jong-un also maintains a whole network of concentration camps where tens of thousands of people are housed and die of starvation and disease and neglect and execution. kim jong-un is belligerent to the u.s. according to human rights watch, kim's rise to power has had, quote, no positive impact on the country's dire human rights record. nearly 2,000 are decimated including children dieing, concentration camps really. many spend their entire lives behind barbed wire. outside the wire this is a country with a history of government imposed mass starvation that continues to this day. millions died in the 90s. old people abandoned for lack of food and children being killed. and eaten. when they take a political prisoner and send them to a concentration camp they send three generations of that person's family. it is the only country in the world with this punishment. that and always random terror imprisonment any of which would make a chilling backdrop to dennis rodman's visit and makes a mockery of the p.r. footage and happy tweets. rodman appeared on abc's "this week" defending his frien

constructive and the white house is taking it serious tensions are increasing since north korea new leader kim jong-un ordered a zeries of nuclear testing. it the third such test . it breached the united nations sanctions. our government condemn would that launch and calling it a provocative move . yesterday kim jong-un signing a order putting the missile units on stand by. his plan naming certain u.s. cities as targets. he said it is in response to the u.s. military flying two stealth bombers. u.s. officials said the test was part of the annual military training exercises that was going on since march 1st and aimed at reassuring the allies we stand ready to protect them. >> north korea said it is the final warning. the state run media broadcasting the young leader's message with a state of war. >> from this time on, the north/south relations will enter into a state of the war and all issues raised between the north and south will be handle would accordingly. the state of neither peace or war has entered in the peninsula. >> the white house said the national security council responding to the belinge

later today but the former nba star did take time to enjoy basketball with the north korean leader kim jong-un. the two sat together at a harlem globetrotter's game. kim jong-un at one point told rodman you are a friend for life. >>> the harlem shake now has the aengs of t aengs of t attention of the faa. this was taped last night on frontier airlines. the faa is looking into the incident saying it's trying to determine the circumstances of the videotaping and if it affected flight safety. >>> the world watch as pope

by the way, kim jong-un also maintains a whole network of concentration camps where tens of thousands of people are housed and die of starvation and disease and neglect and execution. kim jong-un is downright vicious to his own people. kim's rise to power since the death of his father, quote, has had no positive impact on the country's dire human rights record. more than 200 north koreans it's estimated including children, living, starving and dying in concentration camps. many spend their entire lives from cradle to grave behind wires. the imposed mass starvation continues to this day. millions died in the '90s, and dissidents tell of smaller famines throughout the country. older people abandoned for lack of food, children being killed. when they take a political prisoner, they don't just send that person, they send three generations of that person's family. the only country in the world that has this draconian punishment. that and random terror and imprisonment and torture, which would make a chilling back drop to dennis rodman's visit. it makes a mockery of the footage and happy tw

they met with top officials, but certainly not kim jong-un. of the meeting. but you assumed it would take place and they would watch a little basketball together. >> we didn't assume, we hoped it would take place. we thought that because we knew of his love of basketball, and his love of the chicago bulls, much like his father, that he would come out. and he did. and enjoyed the game. and then you know, much to our surprise in reality, asked everybody back to his house. and they had supper and a lot of talks. and so you know, we're waiting to get the footage back with baited breath. >> we would love to speak to dennis and those guys, either from there to beijing, they have to fly from pyongyang, to beijing. would you let them know as soon as they have phone contact we would like to get them here in "the situation room," and get first contact eyewitness accounts? >> we certainly will, and we'll get ryan duffy, our correspondent, i am sure they have crazy stories to tell. >> i am sure they do, and the viewers around the show, our show, cnn inter

concern that north korea kim jong-un is backing himself back in a corner. trash talk and saving face. he prepared rockets to fire on south korea and u.s.. there he is . another shows him studying battle plans with u.s. main land strike plan. see it in the back. there it is. >> and close up show a black line with dc and left-sideand possible austin or austin. that they are also targeting hawaii. why they are i don't know . there is a broadcast of kim inside of his war room. >> [laughing] oh, oh, oh. >> we should be worried. the missiles do look like crayionings. terry should we go to war or would we go to war because this guy doesn't want to lose face. is this how war starts >> no, no. here's the thing. not are we china -- north korea is their (bleep) and does that make sense. >> great way to put it. >> because was that china will never allow north korea to ruin what they have. china right now owns us and love that we are distracted by north korea. we are wondering what china is doing to take our eye off of them. crayon missiles that is a real photo. we shou

concern that north korea kim jong-un is backing himself back in a corner. trash talk and saving face. he prepared rockets to fire on south korea and u.s.. there he is . another shows him studying battle plans with u.s. main land strike plan. see it in the back. there it is. >> and close up show a black line with dc and left-sideand possible austin or austin. that they are also targeting hawaii. why they are i don't know . there is a broadcast of kim

. >>> we begin with north korea where dictator, kim jong un, delivering a new ominous warning to the united states. kim said, it is time to, quote, settle accounts with the u.s. impeei imperials. >> he ordered rockets to be put on stand by and revealed what target he has in mind. we have that coming up >>> in rome, pope francis will preside over his first good friday service, being held at st. peter's basilica. during his short time as pope, he has set a different tone than his predecessors. those are live pictures we are looking at coming from the vatican yesterday. he broke holy thursday tradition by washing the feet of a dozen prisoners, including one woman, who happened to be muslim. >> in pakistan, the taliban are claiming responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing near the u.s. consulate today. the attack killed 31 and wounded several others. a suicide bomber on a motorcycle drove up to a security checkpoint and set off 22 points of explosives. >> no one from the consulate was hurt in that bombing. we are going to start with a massive rescue operation that is just now wrapping

courtside with north korean leader kim jong-un. now rodman is talking about his new friend ship and the one thing kim jong-un is asking for from obama. >>> now here's david muir with a look at what is ahead on world news at 5:30. >> coming up, queen elizabeth in the hospital, the first time in a decade. our correspondent in london there tonight. the major storm sweeping across the u.s., more than a dozen states will be hit just as the work week agains. ginger is standing by tonight in what is being called the fat what is being called the fat diet in every sense of the >>> california republicans picked a new leader tonight during the spring convention? sacramento. delegates elected jim grilchy and charmed him with repairing the image and recruiting more candidates. >>> former nba player, dennis rodman, sat down for an interview with abc news this morning. he talk about his trip to north korea where he met with and was entertained by kim jong-un. >> really great leaders. >> in the country, i saw a country. i saw people respect him and

star dennis rodman made history last week becoming the first american to meet north korean leader kim jong-unnt the next few days hanging out. dennis rodman wined and dined with kim jong-un. rodman has a moredictator's per than anyone in the cia. he shared the details on abc's "this week." >> when you say that you think he's awesome were you aware of his threats to the u.s.? >> i don't condone it. >> aren't they forced to? >> well, i say no, because i think he's -- he's a great guy. >> a guy who puts 200,000 people in prison camps. >> we do the same thing here. >> we have prison camps here. >> this is all politics. he loves basketball. obama loves basketball. he want obama to do one thing. call him. >> he wants a call from president obama? >> that's right. he said that he doesn't want to do war. >> he said in the past that he'll destroy the understand. >> i think that's coming from his father >> it seems like you're apologizing for him in. >> i'm not apologize for him. he's my friend. >> hypothetically a friend who's murderer is still a murderer. >> guess what, what i did, what i did was hist

so, kim jong-un's father was in power for 17 years. and he tested nuclear weapons and he issued his fair share of threats. kim jong-un seems to be a rather new and perhaps unknown quantity. should we be taking the threat more seriously? >> well, i think when you're dealing with nuclear weapons, you have to take them seriously. and i agree with what tom donlin just said. there are a lot of reasons why dictators behave the way they do. number one, they're insecure to start with. number two is they have an internal audience they have to play to. and i would imagine that kim jong-un is playing to his military as well. and he's also playing to the south korean administration, president park, who, i think, very wisely, extended the hand of friendship and reason to north korea. so this is maybe his way of sending a couple of messages. but it's always nice, and as mr. donlin said, you can't take chances on this. >> you were still with the obama administration when the two american journalists were held captive in north korea. and of course, pre

and how even maybe with dennis rodman's fans in the past must feel listening to this guy praise kim jong-unnguage he shouldn't have used. nobody's in love with kim jong-un. >> thanks to all three of you. >>> up next, what should have been a great sports story about courage and men and women. but then the media got involved. [ woman ] we had two tiny reasons to get our adt security system. and one really big reason -- the house next door. our neighbor's house was broken into. luckily, her family wasn't there, but what if this happened here? what if our girls were home? and since we can't monitor everything 24/7, we got someone who could. adt. [ male announcer ] while some companies are new to home security, adt has been helping to save lives for over 135 years. we have more monitoring centers, more of tomorrow's technology right here today, and more value. 24/7 monitoring against burglary, fire, and high levels of carbon monoxide starting at just over $1 a day. and now get adt installed for just $99. isn't your family worth america's number-one security company, adt? our girls got us thinkin

so kim jong-un's father was in power for 17 years, and he tested nuclear weapons and issued his fair e of threats. kim jong-un appears to be a new and perhaps unknown quality. should we be taking the threat seriously? >> when you're dealing with nuclear weapons, you have to take them seriously. i agree with what tom donilin just said. there are a lot of reasons dictator behave the way they do. they have an audience they need to play to. i would imagine kim jong-un is playing to his military as well, and he's also playing to the south korean administration, new president park, who, you know, very, i think, wisely extended the hand of friendship in reason to north korea. so this is maybe his way of sending a couple of messages. but it's always dicey. as mr. donilon said, you can't take chances on this. >> you were still with the obama administration when the two american journalists were held captive in north korea. president clinton went there, helped ensure their release at that time. at the time you said the former president did spend time with the korean leader, kim jong-il, that he

and i'm like, he's the first one, dennis rodman, to sit down with kim jong-un. omat or charge him with treason? >> i have no idea. one of the best basketball rebounders in of the history of the nba. >> kim jong-un? >> no. dennis rodman. but he must have hit his head on a basket too many times. several hundred people have died and in prison camps. they constantly threaten south korea and the west with missiles and whatnot. not goodst people. dictators. they're leftist dictating thugs. i don't know why we would even let rodman go to that place. >> the way the media covered it, i moon, diane sawyer, scott pelley, it was like watching e "entertainment tonight." this is a bad man. >> i have a feeling they didn't read the script before it was in the prompter. so you want to have energy, like oh, wow, this is a great thing and then as you're reading it, you're like, oh, wait. that's not the right tone for that story. maybe they are thinking twice today. i'm all for sports diplomacy. i think it works really well in certain things, especially withl basketball. but what de

he has spent more time one-on-one with kim jong-un than any other american. u know, you talk to experts right now. they say he knows more than anyone in the cia knows about kim jong-un, so anything he says about the dictator is interesting, but it will be interesting also to see his take on kim jong-un and whether he sticks by those words that he tweeted out coming off the trip where he said, "i love this man. he's awesome." hard to reconcile that with the human rights record of kim jong-un. >> and with 200,000 people in forced prison camps and no freedom of communication and all the repression in that regime, it's hard to reconcile that with him saying i love this guy. very much looking forward to your interview. >> me too. >> george one-on-one with the worm. george also has a big show coming up. as we mentioned, he'll be sitting down with dennis rodman and white house economic adviser gene sperling and republican senator kelly ayotte weighing in on what's next in the budget battle. >>> but moving on now, we're going to go to the shocking 911 call. a dispatch

northern capital friday, where tens of thousands turned out in support of north korean leader kim jong-un's call to arms. chanting, death to the u.s. imperialists. kim said earlier that the time had come to, quote, settle accounts with the u.s. this was in response to a u.s. show of force, b-2 bombers in exercises over south korea. kim has also ordered his missiles on standby to strike the u.s., south korea, guam, even hawaii. experts doubt he has the ability to hit u.s. targets, and think it would be pretty suicidal to try. they believe a full-scale conflict is unlikely, but do worry about a more localized provocation, perhaps around disputed waters in the yellow sea. there have been several clashes there in recent years and when i visited the area friday, i found the south most vulnerable islands just ten miles from the north on a high state of alert. the big worry is that a local skirmish or miscalculation could quickly escalate. >> ian, thank you. for more on what this means for u.s. allies here's our nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell. andrea? >> thomas, expe

kim jong-un and his wife gushed and watched the basketball match with rodman. it wasn't just basketball. there was a tour of a dolphin aquarium, ice rink, and last night, a private dinner with kim that apparently involved more than eating. a producer from rodman's sponsor vice magazine tweeting, so kim jong-un just got the vice crew wasted. no, really, that happened. >> i love it. he's awesome. >> reporter: awesome? kim parties while his citizens starve and he's repeatedly threatened the united states with destruction. and has the material for enough nuclear bombs to make good on that threat. and dennis rodman is our only direct contact? >> is rodman the man who knows more about kim jong-un than any american? >> he is that man. there's nobody at the cia who could tell you more about kim jong un personally than dennis rodman. that in itself is scary. >> reporter: but the state has no plans to reach out to the bad boy of basketball, stating -- with a straight face today -- >> he's never been a player in diplomacy. >> he's had dinner with one of the most threatenin

remember kim jong-un has only been in power 15 or 16 months, in no time since 1949 has a north korean to change the nature of the regime. that's why we need to be concerned because things could get out of control. >> have we ever been this close to a conflict with the north before, especially given the fact that the south korean leader is new and might be testing her? >> there have been a number of pretty bad incidents since the end of the korean war. this one is different though because we have someone who really is not steeped in the traditions of the kim regime. his father and grandfather were very good at provoking the international community and reach out and kill people but they knew where to draw the line. kim jong-un is inexperienced and has to worry about the generals he has to play to. a lot of things could go wrong. the other thing the south koreans after the two deadly provocations in 2010 where 50 people died, they are not willing to put up with anything from the north. that's another factor that is making this even more worse than it usually is. >> let's talk about the p

we all know this. >> kim jong-un, adding up his money right now to make the contribution. see if we can get him over here. >> tax treatment, this is -- they applied for 501c status, which is social welfare. >> the coke brothers have it? >> there you go. >> i just asked you a question. is that not the same -- >> we were talking about whether or not you can pay five hundred grabbed and get a sitdowns with the president. >> can i make one more point about rodman? he said all he wants to do is have the president call him. can you imagine that? all you got to do is pick up the phone and call me. as if the president of theists is going to call him. >> how beside the old adage the fish rots from the head? what does it say about the white house when the president plate tenantly lies to we the people. >> when we add it up, it's the equivalent in hour0s 5,000 border patrol agents. >> there are teachers now who are getting pink slips. >> flights to major cities like new york, chicago, san francisco and others, could experience delays up to 90 minutes starting tomorrow. everybody here

gets to grab a bunch of hot dogs and throw them through the mouth hole of north korean director kim jong- un 20 seconds, he's got ten points. jimmy! >> jimmy: all right. very good. as you can see, we -- that is kim jong-un. and here's a bunch of wieners right here. all you've got to do is you've got to grab your wieners and throw seven through the hole in 20 seconds. you think you can get your wieners into kim jong-un's mouth? [ laughter ] >> of course. i can do it. >> jimmy: great. all right. stand behind this. this will be the firing line right here. 20 seconds on the clock, please. audience, help him out. ready, set, toss those wieners! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ hot dog in a hole hot dog in a hole hot dog in a hole hot dog in a hole ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ hot dog in a hole hot dog in a hole hot dog in a hole hot dog in a hole ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: man, oh, man! time's up. hands off your wieners. that was pretty good. can we see some of that in slow motion, please? there we go. good. no? no, that was close. but then you got -- you got in a roll here. nope. i started doin

and how even maybe with dennis rodman's fans in the past must feel listening to this guy praise kim jong-uned language he shouldn't have used. nobody's in love with kim jong-un. >> thanks to all three of you. >>> up next, what should have been a great sports story about courage and men and women. but then the media got involved. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% (testosterone gel). the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy, increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or signs in a woman, which may include changes

do you think that this dennis rodman proposal is something the president should pick up and call kim jong-un don't see the president picking up the phone and calling kim jong-un any time. but the united states has been open to a negotiated settlement, and open to the resumption of the six-party talks, which the resolution today reaffirmed, which is our preferred means of insuring that the korean peninsula is in fact denuclearized. >> a year or so ago, you were in "the situation room." i asked you to speak directly to assad, the syrian leader. and you did, and you said this, i'll play the clip. >> i would say the united states stands with the people of syria. fully in their aspirations for peace, for democracy and for a brighter future. your days are numbered and it is time and past time for you to transfer power, responsibly and peacefully. the longer you hang on the more damage you do yourself, your family, your interests, and indeed, your country. >> all right, we're seeing it on cnn international, as well. they're probably watching it in damascus. do you want to speak to the syrian leader

and today they watched anxiously as north korea summoned thousands to pyongyang in support of kim jong-un's call to arms. ♪ tens of thousands turned out in north korea's capital, chanting "death to the u.s. imperialists." north korean leader kim jong-un presided over what was called an urgent meeti

look passed the picture of kim jong-un. there's a chart marked u.s. mainland strike plan, with missile trails aiming at hawaii, california, d.c., and for some reason austin, texas. it's wishful thinking on kim jong-un's part, they can't reach the u.s. yet. but they have a more limited strike, something short of an all out attack. >> i think it's more in the sense of north korea getting right up to the edge, stumbling and then falling over the edge. >> former ambassador chris hill says the real danger is the north shelling the border island like it did in 2010, and there's a wildcard here that worries the u.s., young, inexperienced and kim jong-un's desire to prove himself as a leader. >> are there any north koreans that have their doubts to whether he is really up to this. >> the north rhetoric has not been matched by any actual military moves, but it has no foreseeable end game and could go on for a while. north koreans protested on the streets one day after the u.s. flew b2 bombers on a training run, and it could lead to unintended consequences. >> c

and how even maybe with dennis rodman's fans in the past must feel listening to this guy praise kim jong-unused language he shouldn't have used. nobody's in love with kim jong-un. >> thanks to all three of you. >>> up next, what should have been a great sports story about courage and men and women. but then the media got involved. [ nurse ] i'm a hospice nurse. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, it takes all kinds of good to make a family. at new york life, everything we do is to help you keep good going. at od, whatever business you're in, that's the business we're in with premium service like one of the best on-time delivery records and a low claims ratio,

the north's new young leader, kim jong-un, has been threatening to attack the south and the u.s. on an almost daily basis. angered by tough new u.s.-led sanctions that followed the third nuclear test in the north. he's also denounced routine u.s./south korean military exercises which included two nuclear capable b-2 stealth bombers. south koreans have become used to the threats from across the border, but the shear volume and violence of the recent rhetoric has people on edge. i'm very afraid and scared, says this woman. though younger south koreans largely shrug it off, this one saying there is a slim chance war will break out. many in the south are now focused on the operations of a vast industrial zone, in calsong, just across the dmz, where 124 south korean companies directly employ more than 50,000 north korean workers. it's a big source of foreign currency for the north. it's weathered many ups and downs in relations and is seen as a barometer of the north's intentions beyond the rhetoric. today the north threatened to shut it down, which would be seen here as an ominous de

he talked more about how much he loved kim jong-un.ow awesome kim the younger is, and also talked a little bit about kim the younger's own personality, and what rodman, with all his insight, believes drives the north korean leader. listen. >> he loves power. he loves control. because of his dad. but he just -- he is a great guy. you sit down and talk to him, you know. the subject is -- >> a great guy who puts 200,000 people in prison camp? >> well you know, guess what, there's a way we do the same thing here. >> we previous prison camps. >> this is all politics. >> stephanopoulos handed dennis rodman a cop of the latest human rights watch on north korea and suggested read that. i don't know what they serve in the abc green room but poppy seed muffins seem to be available. >> jay carney, the who is spokesman was asked. they're clearly not talking that call for a call very seriously, and jay carney made the point that kim the young sheer be focusing on rather more pressing matters right now, with some -- >> instead of spending money on c

soundeds had chest bang and it's ready to fire missiles at the u.s., but are those threats from kim jong-un real or rhetoric? we'll tell you what two of the world's leading experts think. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase.

. >>> dennis rodman made friends with north korean's kim jong-un watching basketball game. >> he wanted to give president obama something to say. he wants president obama to call him. >> he wants a call from president obama? >> that's right. >>> check this out, washington state lawmaker ed orcutt came up with a reason to pass bicycling law. according to science, he's completely wrong one study said that driving car produces ten times more co2 emissions than riding a bike. >>> nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us now tracking the weather. another storm. >> the very unpopular --

you also wrote a column that was published that you referred kim jong un, ominous bluster. threats have become almost predictable. then we have kim jong un who clearly unpredictable himself. is that where the danger lies? >> that is certainly part of the danger. you have to remember he is trying to consolidate his position. he has been in power for less than 16 months. he hasn't been able to do that. he is purging the officials that were loyal to his dad and trying to change the north korean regime itself. at no time since 1949 has a north korean leader had a smaller base of support. that really means he'll do anything to stay in power. >> heather: is that his ultimate goal and the reason for this behavior? the north used deadly force before. how far do you expect they will go? >> i think they will do that again. basis of legitimacy of this regime has been using force against foreigners. so for them to do that again would actually bolster his position, especially because he has been purging top generals and whenever that happens your military is in a state of flux. he needs

. >> gregg: kim jong-un, the new leader, continues to utter threats and belligerent behavior and goingr as to suggest a preemptive strike against the united states. they're no match for the united states and in fact, they're no match for most nuclear power, so what's he up to? >> in part, it's a form of blackmail, but let's he not understatement the kind of hitler in the bunker mentality in north korea. that's why the threats have to be taken seriously, because that regime is simply not rational in our terms. and let's not forget, also, they have, we believe, chemical and biological weapons as well which are a direct threat to the people of south korea, the other half of the peninsula. i think it's clear, kim jong-un is no reformer, he follows in line with his father and grandfather and the world's only hereditary communist dictatorship, still run by the military, still a threat in northeast asia and because they're an impoverished nation and don't sell anything to anybody, a global threat, too. >> gregg: what should we do? >> well i think the only long-term answer here is the peaceful

. >>> courtside with kim jong-un. dennis rodman like you have never seen him before and trust me, that's a tough feat to accomplish. >>> you might have thought it was over but the wheel keeps spinning on the super sequester. both houses of congress are back today after the president signed the executive order friday triggering $85 billion in spending cuts before the fall. of course, "snl" played up the

victor, how much is a threat is kim jong-un? we saw those pictures of him with his new wife. a week ago, he's seen hanging out with dennis rodman. he's often pictured doing comical and weird things, like riding amusement park rides in pyongyang. and now we're supposed to take him seriously when he says he's going to attack the u.s.? >> erin, what these things have shown recently is unpredictable is the new normal when it comes to north korea. i think we had some sense of how kim jong-il, the former leader, operated, but there's a lot that we don't know about the current leader, and his actions, as you noted earlier, have really been ranging, far beyond what we've seen in the past with north korea. i think in the end, he does want all of these western accoutrements of life, whether it's basketball or amusement parks, but he also wants his nuclear weapons and his ballistic missiles.

kim jong-un has ordered missile units to attack south korea and the u.s. mainland after american bombers flew trianing missions across south korea. >> he is young, untested, and says he wants to settle scores with american imperialists. he rallied his generals to aim the rockets at u.s. bases in hawaii. north korea is on a war footing, with military parades in pyongyang. news broadcasts are full of theater and threats, 20 this far alone. from turning washington to a lake of fire and cutting military hotlines to south korea. it is an effort to eget washington's attention. they say the bellicose record only deepens the isolation in the u.s. and the u.s. remains committed to its allies, and demonstrated it. fromuclear capables flew missouri to the penninsula of korea. china appealed for calm. nobody believes north korea will launch rockets but a small incident could escalate. >> sergei lavrov saiys unilateral actions could mena it could spiral out of control. he may have meant north korea as much as the u.s. >> the war of words is part of the relationship wit

there he is, splashed all over the front page of their newspap newspaper, with the dictator, kim jong-un. and abc's john donvan tells us why. >> reporter: dennis rodman's arrival in north korea early this week, the diplomatic stunner of the year so far. a meeting by the basketball court with kim jong-un. no american gets in to see the north korean ruler. not even, say, google founder eric schmidt, whose visit was not well regarded by the u.s. government. >> we don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful. >> reporter: but maybe that's because schmidt was never an nba star. while one of the known things about the secretive kim's private life, from his days as a student at a swiss boarding school, is that he was an nba nut, especially big on rodman's old team, the bulls. and when "vice magazine" pitched north korea on bringing over rodman and some harlem globetrotters to do some exhibition play for its new hbo show, it was, "sure, come on in." and so, dennis rodman is there among the uniformly attired, stiff-faced north korean elite. the nba star, as known for his hair and for hi

former nba star dennis rodman and north korean dictator kim jong-un. believe it. the harlem globetrotters made the trip to pyongyang this week as part of a documentary project. there was no guarantee that they would meet kim jong-un, but turns out the north korean leader was up for playing host. here is the pair sitting courtside at an exhibition basketball game which was capped off with a party at kim jong-un's palace. it gets better. it seems dennis rodman failed to brush up on his koreas before heading overseas. check out this tweet. maybe i'll run into gangnam style dude while i'm here. that, of course, is a reference to the south korean rapper psy. not surprisingly given the tense relationship between the north and the south, psy was not amused tweeting back, i'm from south, man. >>> next, you may have noticed that every time a poll comes out about congress, their favorability rating is embarrassingly low. here is the question though. who are the 9% or 10% or 12% of people who do give them a thumbs up? "the new york times" did some digging after their own poll

kim jong-il used murdered effect itchly and murdered a number ever americans and south koreas but hoo got away with it kim jong-uno make himself appear better than his dad and he may miscal cuate. he don't know about him and we don't know how experienced he's going to be in things like this . this is the reason why it is more dangerous than in the past. >> how do you think that the u.s. is responding so far? >> we are reassuring the south korea with the overflights of b52s and need to reassure the south koreanings. but we need to talk to the chinese. you can be friends with us or friends with the north koreans. but not both at the same time and the other thing we need to do is step up our watch on north korea shipments and don't want them selling to al qaeda or iran. it is not just a north asia problem but a global one. >> we need to talk to china in a specific way and you are either a friend or not and with us or against us. but china has so far ignored concerns from the united states at this point. what makes you think they will really listen to what the u.s. has to say about this? >> it is it a problem because

the star says kim jong-un said i don't want to do war. the u.s. government is distancing themselves from the trip, which was arranged for a documentary. >>> so, rodman got so close with kim jong-un that he's delivering messages to the u.s. like this one. >> he want obama to do one thing. call him. >> he wants a call from president obama. >> that's right. he said, if you can, dennis, i don't want to do war. i don't want to do war. >> did you say why don't you pick up the phone and call president obama? >> it's a different story because guess what? the kid's only 20 years old. 28. >> by the way, we think kim jong-un is about 30 years old, but we'll give rodman some credit for getting close at least. john avlon and fran townsend join me now. you wrote a critical essay. a lot of people were joking about how funny the two look together. >> i'm sure it's a lot of fun, a great way to see north korea, watch a basketball game, get drunk with the dictator's enter rajai, but 3.5 million people have starved to death. he didn't experience the north korea the va

yesterday, north korean state tv showed rodman and north korean leader kim jong-un sitting courtside ame. rodman also said he and kim would, quote, be friends for life. kim jong-un, who's reportedliedreportedlily a huge basketball fan, invited rodman to his house for a party. well done. >>> first round of the honda classic played in florida. tiger woods tee shot finds the water. strips his socks and shoes off. throws on a pair of rain pants, little slickers there. he hacks and splashes. it actually works. right out to the middle of the fareway. he gets back on to the green and makes a par. wasn't all great, though, for tiger. finished even par for the day. he's 6 shots from the lead. >>> coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," despite the uproar over today's budget cuts, the sequester does almost nothing to tackle the biggest drives of deficit in our economy. the crew will discuss the fate of programs like medicare. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler where secretary of state john kerry dusts off his language skills during his overseas trip. jimmy f

kim jong-un is trying to establish himself. he's trying to be the tough guy.e is 28, 29 years old, and he keeps going furt ennher and fur out. his concern is he might have to save face, launch some sort of attack on south korea or some base in the pacific. >> reporter: any attack on south korea or pacific base would be a dangerous escalation of things. in response to all of this rhetoric from north korea, the obama administration has increased u.s. military capacity on the west coast and conducted training exercises with south korea and, of course, as i said, the white house, folks here are pays close attention to developments on the korean peninsula. don? >> athena, thank you very much. >>> in texas a district attorney and his wife murdered. this just two months after an assistant d.a. was killed in the same county. the fbi, u.s. marshals, now hunting for the killer or killers. is there a connection between the two brutal crimes? i'm going to ask an fbi profiler for his insight next. [ female announcer ] band-aid brand has quiltvent technology with air channe

could it happen again with kim jong-un? >> he loves basketball. obama loves basketball.et's start there. >> do you get any sense from him that he was looking to change the relationship with the united states? >> one thing i know about him, he's very humble. >> reporter: so what's next? >> i'm going back and find out more. what's really going on. find out more. >> next time you go back, you should bring this report from human rights watch. >> don't hate me. don't hate me. >> reporter: a white house official telling me tonight the u.s. has direct channelling to -- channels to north korea. other officials saying look at what the north koreans are doing, not what rodman says they're saying. >> something to see this morning. thank you. >>> speaking of the white house, the man who hoped to be living there, mitt romney, is talking for the first time about his loss and about how badly he still wants it as he watches washington now from afar. here's what he told fox news. >> i look at what's happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there, in the white house

city in flames while we are the world plays in the background, it becomes a little hard to take kim jong unest. this guy and his father before him therks come off as clownish but national security experts are not laughing. they're concerned about what kim jong un might do. three years ago north korea attacked a south korean sea vessel killing 46 sailors. that same year they shelled an island killing four south koreans. this is a very serious thing. they're testing weapons, talking smack. how scared should we be? >> well, i think we should be concerned. this has been going on for sometime but you have a young man who was promote today a four star general before becoming president who has very little worldly experience, who has no other show of capability other than his military and i think he is under enormous pressure to demonstrate his metal as such. what they're doing now is quite dangerous in terms of a possible miscalculation. there is very little flexibility on the part of the south korean president. i was in seoul in early january and because of what you mentioned before, the taking d

it's a question here not of one individual kim jong un, it's a question of a regime that's followed asince he took office of repressing its people and threatening its neighbors and nothing since kim jong un took power after the death of his father has changed. if anything, it's gotten worse. they've restricted the border to prevent north korean refugees from coming out and tested the nuclear device for the third time and there's every indication, increased cooperation with iran and i think the threat is growing larger and what vladimir lenin called useful idiots who go to north korea, eric schmidt of google, and dennis rodman played for fools by the north korean regime. >> greta: i've been there three times and i don't know if i'm one of the useful fools. >> you report things as you see them as opposed to the propaganda that these people are simply transmitting. >> greta: this is the -- this is probably the worst place on earth. i mean, these people have no free thought. >> it's a prison camp. >> greta: it is a large prison camp and we've been unable to bust through and have any commu

kim jong-un threatens to launch a preemptive strike against the united states. a 24-year-old intern killed by a lion at an animal sanctuary. the young woman's father joins us tonight. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, senator rand paul declares victory after a filibuster that lasted 12 hours, 52 minutes, and 11 seconds, because who's counting, the man who staged the randpage finally got the answer he wanted from the white house. >> does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an american, not engaged in combat on american soil? the answer is no. >> and in return, the white house got what it wanted too, john brennan was confirmed today as cia director in a 63-43 vote in the senate. it was brennan's nomination, of course, that paul was holding up with his close to epic filibuster. but not everyone in senator paul's own party is celebrating his win. >> all i can say is that i don't think that what happened yesterday is helpful to the american people. >> tonight, senator rand paul is som