the firm at u.s. korea cooperation and alliance will not allow that. and the recent security council resolution is not simply about words. it is about taking up follow-up action and vigorously taking up the resolution. it will make sure we fully implement the un security resolution. like i said, the north koreans must understand that their past behavior will not stand, and of course not only the u.s. korea close partnership, but japan, china and the rest of the international community will take part in this effort. and now the north koreans will come to understand that this is different, that they will not be able to repeat the past or their past tactical strategies. i urge the north koreans to fully give up their nuclear weapons programs and ambitions and to become a responsible member of the international community. with regard to the complex to north korean authorities, are demanding unacceptable demand that we will not accept such demands being laid out by the north koreans. of course, the south korean government is very much for maintaining the in

korea says it should be recognized as a nuclear power. it says that as a precondition for relations with the u.s. and other nations. given its bulletin and response to the recent sanctions and the nature of its nuclear program, is your administration coming to the realization that recognise in north korea as a country that will have nuclear weapons for a long time is one way to go? if so, what influence does that have on your policy options? and to president lee, do you believe your country is currently under threat of attack from the north given its recent rhetoric? >> we have continually insisted that north korea denuclearize. the republic of korea agrees with this position. other allies like japan agree with this position. china and russia agree with this position. the u.n. security council reflects this view. we will pursue the globdenuclearization on the korean peninsula vigorously. we have not come to a conclusion that north korea will or should be a nuclear power. given their past behavior, given the belligerent manner in which they are constantly threatening their neighbors, i don't think there's any questio

host: north korea convicted two u.s. journalists, both working for current tv in north korea.he associated press report this morning from "the washington post" looks further into this. this piece writes that many analysts believe there's a good chance that the two women will be free. they're being used as bargaining chips in its standoff with the south korea and the united states which are pushing for u.n. sanctions to punish the north for its latest nuclear test. by sentencing them to prison north korea has paved the way for political pardon and a diplomatic solution says a professor of north korean studies in seoul. he noted that a part in can only be issued after conviction. good morning, on air independent line. caller: yes, i believe the president obama should take immediate, firm action. but do it in a way where we can get support from around the world. he should first go to the united nations and ask them to intervene. if not, it is simple and can be done by executive order. anyone who does business with north korea this not do business with the united states. very plai

is currently losing clean energy jobs and market share to china, germany, and korea. u.s. consumers continue to spend $400 billion a year to places like the middle east and venezuela every time we fill up our gas tanks. madam speaker, we have a responsibility to enact swift and strong climate change legislation. it's absolutely false to suggest this legislation would cost americans. it would cost us more if we don't act. with the consumer protections and increases efficiency this bill puts in place, american families will face hundreds of dollars each over the next decade. saving consumers money is hardly a tax. allowing american to stagnant while we address that pollution that is a tax the american people are tired of paying and have paid for far too long. the democratic plan declares energy independence and puts america on a path to economic recovery. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. revise and

it will clearly talk about the current situation in north korea and the u.s.-korea alignment -- alliance. as the president mentioned this morning, george mitchell will be departing for the region on sunday. he starts with a stop in norway and will travel to the region for talks with israeli, palestinian, jordanian, and egyptian officials. you will ask me, what about syria? that is a possibility. the arrangements are still being worked on. i know you were on that trip, but finally, you will probably ask about the current situation with the trial of the two journalists. we have no further information to provide as far as we know. the trial is continuing. we have had no further access through the suit -- 3 the swedish embassy, but we remain in regular contact with the families. now i will stop, the floor is yours. >> i was on a trip, but did they get their visas? >> they do. >> does he have any plans to meet with anyone related to hamas? >> no. >> you say that the trial in north korea is continuing. how do you know that? >> is started yesterday. >> we did not eve

photo in south korea as they watch the news developments of two u.s. citizens charged and found guilty by a north korean court facing up to 12 years in hard labor camp. how long, ultimately, do you think that they will stay in north korea? guest: i think they will will be for months, ma a year. the north koreans will use them as they now have some bargaining chips to get the americans back to the table somehow. host: what do you know about these journalists? guest: all we know is it what we've read or seen on tv that they were in north korea or close to north korea, trying to investigate stories about refugee that are coming up through tchine i can't and the north korean authorities grabbed them. as they have done with others in the past to use, again, as a bargaining chip to get the americans to come to the table and give something up in return. host: as a way of drawing the connection, as our audience probably knows by now, we weren't for one of the co-founders of vice president al gore who said he would travel to north korea. is that what the north k

u.s. to korea. after defusing a sensitive political situation that temporary halted our imports of beef to south korea. his determination to settle the beef issue underscores the importance commercial ties between korea and the united states. mr. speaker, i wish to close my remarks by offering a few thoughts of importance of reaffirming our alliance with south korea. the history of relations between our two countries which can be tracked back to a treaty of friendship more than 125 years ago has been marked by consistency and mutual solidarity between our two nations. with that, mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. bilirakis: thank you, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in strong support of this resolution. put forward in march by my good friend and homeland security ranking member, peter king,

korea. and, i think that we should do whatever we can, the u.s. congress, the administration to get these two women out of the country because no american women should be imprisoned in north korea. thank you for your time. >> thank you mr. cha. we will get back to you on that. mr. revere-- revere. >> i am here as somebody who has spent much of the last four years working on the asia-pacific region, much of that on the to korea, china and japan. i'm also here is someone who has been a longtime advocate of diplomacy in north korea and through several u.s. administrations during my career i made the case that diplomacy, dialogue and mutual respect for a lot more likely to yield the results that america sought and to yield that at a more acceptable cost where policy is based on confrontation and i base this judgment on years of studying north korea and on hundreds of hours over some 12 years of negotiating with the north koreans. through this experience i came to understand what motivates the north korean regime, it strengthened its weaknesses. my advo

korea. and i think we should do whatever we can, the u.s. congress, the administration to get these two women out of the country because no americans should be imprisoned in north korea. thank you for your time. >> thank you, mr. cha. i appreciate it. we'll get back to you on those. >> chairman, thank you. i'm deeply honored to appear before this committee today. i'm here as somebody who has spent much of the last 40 years working on the asian pacific region much of that on the two koreas, china and japan. i'm also here as someone who's been a long time advocate with diplomacy with north korea and through several u.s. administrations during my career as a diplomat. i made the case that diplomacy, dialog were a lot more likely to yield the results that america sought and to yield at a more acceptable cost than were policies based on confrontation and i base this judgment on years of studying north korea and on hundreds of hours over some 12 years of negotiating with north koreans. and through this experience i came to understand what motivates

nato reaching out to develop partnerships with japan, australia, south korea. the u.s. and the au working together to engage china and india on global climate change. north korea, i do not have to say much about that. the development of long-range ballistic missiles impact the debate in europe. this link has been apparent since the u.s. entered wwii. we will continue to flow our boat in the pacific. so we will now have someone introduce our speaker and later moderate the q&a session. this man is a pillar of the atlantic council. he provides me and the rest of our leadership strategic advice as well as sound legal advice. i am still free and have not yet been incarcerated because of this advice. i am grateful for your service, walt. [applause] [applause] >> thank you. it is a great honor to be asked to introduce that roe keating. he has that kind of resume that mere mortals only dream of. he graduated from the naval academy in 1971. shortly thereafter, began a distinguished career as a legal aviator. the most impressive thing is not the stress on his sleeve or the stars,

u.s. policy towards north korea. the witnesses include steven bosworth, a special representative to north korea for the state department and john kerry of massachusetts for the foreign relations committee. this portion of the hear something 90 minutes. foreign relations committee,. [inaudible conversations] >> the hearing will come to order. we are here today to discuss recent troubling developments in the korean peninsula and the road ahead in dealing with the democratic people's republic of korea. we're going to hear first from the administration point man on north korea and my friend and constituent ambassador stephen bosworth, the dean of the fletcher school of law and diplomacy at tufts university. but also. expert panel of witnesses who together have more than 100 years of experience in dealing with a challenge to that we face in north korea. north korea's test of the long-range ballistic missile last april followed by its second nuclear test last month are frankly reckless and irresponsible acts that do nothin

did the lack of a strong unified and persistent response by china, russia, japan, south korea and the u.s. to test a provocative actions by north korea patrick into p'yongyang decision to proceed with the latest nuclear test? do north korean officials believe their country's relationship with the iran or syria will be permitted to develop without consequence of those relationships include a cooperation on weapons of mass destruction? what is the nature of the cargo in number three and planes and ships arriving in burma? which is sometimes a transit point for further global destinations. russia has been transparent in its cooperation with burma in the development of a nuclear reactor reportedly for medical research purposes. it is number three a contributing to the development of burma's nuclear program and if so in one way. what level of international cooperation exists to scrutinize north korea's global trading network and its potential proliferation routes? and can such cooperation be improved? is there a clear understanding of the efficacy and current status of agreements relating to t

korea? >> to what degree is the u.s. policy with regard to trying to denuclearized north korea being held hostage to the fact that there are these two journals being held there and they have now been convicted and sentenced to 12 years at hard labor? >> i don't get any sense that the policy is being held hostage by that unfortunate decision by the north koreans and verdict by its courts. but, i have not heard it-- jennifer, frankly entering into the calculations within this department about how to proceed with the north. ob this is the state department has issued some very strong remarks about her government's disapproval of the way that incident has been handled but i have not seen it into into our discussions here. >> pan how do you read the intercepted message from the north koreans asking the waters to be cleared off of the east coast from june 10th to the 30 it? are you concerned? >> are we concerned? you mean in terms of a potential missile launch? i mean, obviously the secretary acknowledged that we were in mattel

i would like to ask a question on north korea. the u.s. government has been watching several north korean vessels right now, which are possibly carrying weapons. are you going to keep watching the vessel continuously? until when? second, do we have any expectation when the north korean launch will be, and what we are -- what we should be ready for? thank you. >> sure. our response is and is it 6:00? -- are we not supposed to finish at 6:00? [laughter] north korea as activities are disturbing and unsettling for all of us. as far as shipment of proscribed cargo, i cannot comment on operational matters like that with intelligence matters. our president has said he is satisfied that the pacific command and the military of the united states is well prepared to execute whatever did mention he gives us. you can read whatever or not you choose to read into that. as far as the launch from north korea, the recent launch following by a couple of years the july of 2006 launched, the secretary of defense just said a couple of weeks ago -- i think he sa

korea's recent provocations we have not yet found a lasting solution. as the situation on the korean peninsula continues to deteriorate the u.s. needs to take a central role in determining how best to engage p'yongyang and also send a clear message to north korea cannot use illicit weapons programs, demand concessions from the international committee of monorchid the arrest american citizens are apparently trumped up charges and find them guilty in a closed-door trial. these actions will only invite further isolation, greater hardship for the north korean people and the chorus continued rejection by the international community. i am pleased that president obama is seeking to engage meaningfully on this issue in the administration is working with many of our friends and allies in the region and that the united nations to craft a strong multilateral response. the stakes are far too high for an ad hoc uncoordinated policy and we must make clear the violations of international law and basic human rights actually have a serious consequence. ambassador bosworth, i believe north korea continues to be a critical threat to our national

korea? >> to what degree is the u.s. policy for north korea being held hostage to the fact that these two journalists are there and sentenced in hard labor? >> i don't get any sense that the policy is being held hostage by that unfortunate decision by the north koreans of the but -- koreans. but i haven't heard it enter into these calculations to proceed to the north. the state department his issued strong remarks of the government's disapproval of that handling, but not entered into our discussions. >> how do you see that of the north koreans asking for the waters to be cleared to the east coast. are you concerned? >> do you mean in terms of a potential missile launch? the secretary acknowledged in manila, that they are preparing for another missile launch. what kind or range is not clear at this point. so that, you know, that would yet be another sign that the north is going to undertake another provocative action, that would of course, not help diffuse or de-escalate an already intense situation. >> is the goal of thes

he ask for an assurance from the president that if there's a military strike against south korea that the u.s. will respond to that? that it's unequivocably undreamt unequivocal? >> we've had that type of relationship. >> and that's the way we should be the word firms and all that. >> absolutely. look, this is something that we have responded to. i think as we have said many times before, the increasingly -- the reactions of the north koreans in alienating themselves from their own responsibilities and isolating themselves from the rest of the world, that they are going alone down a different path. the president believes there is a different way for north korea, and i think what he discussed today with president lee was a continuation of the strong relationship that we have with the republic of korea. and the strong international reactions and steps that have been taken to coordinate that responds it could take some extremely tough actions, all of what ambassador rice outlined just last week. i remember not long after the first launch in late march and early april, there was some vast skeptic

u.s. markets and a policy towards north korea. the reason i rank iran first is because the regime is ambitious. north korea's objective is to just dominate people. my concern is they will build tend bombs for themselves and put the 11th on ebay. but as long as the regime survives within its borders, i do not think they will take aggressive action. iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism. so you would expect an emboldened iran would be tearing on terrorism with impunity. that puts us eyeball to eyeball with a hostile power. host: sutherland, nebraska. margaret. hello. you are on. caller: i have been worried for a long time about u.s.-china relations and our trade policies about china. i believe the u.s. is too involved with china and it is still and probably always will be a communist country. why are we still doing so much shade -- trade with china? they have so much interest, and they are not for the united states. guest: it is the most unbalanced trading relationship in the history of international trade, and this is b

activities we are talking about are covered under other sanctions applied to north korea under other provisions of u.s. law. including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means for delivering those. >> it does send a message to them and the world and highlights what we know has been going on, what continues to go on. there is little doubt as i look through this report, whether it is supporting activities of the revolutionary guard or material support to the taliban, militants in iraq, serious provocation. it seems we are holding our punches by not calling it what is. my encouragement would be for us to take this seriously. when we take them off the list, we rewarded bad behavior hoping to create good behavior and we got worse behavior than we ever had before. it makes no sense to continue with this and it amplifies a growing sense that americans are a paper tiger, full of talk and no action. it appears that this is one of the few things we could do at this point to put pressure on them. if you say we are already doing things like freezing their assets and the economic sanctions, the m

aid and trade and investment in north korea has expanded how can the obama administration and you are playing a central role on this encourage china to enforce u.s. sanctions and take a more assertive posture towards north korea. any thoughts on that? >> i think what happened with regard to 1718 and this is no excuse, but what happened is soon after that was passed we found ourselves back in multilateral negotiations with the dprk. i think house we go forward and has been the case the last few months the subject implementation of u.n. security council resolutions both the existing ones, 1718 and now of course prospectively the new one is the subject of active consideration in the relationship not only with the chinese but the cntries of the region so i think you can expect as we move forward we are going to continue to be concerned about implementation and other. >> anything you recommend? i know you were not in the business recommending what the congress should do but any recommendations how congress can be helpful on that narrow question of enforcement of the resolution? >> well, i think i'm never hesitant to recommend what congress should do,

korea? i think this falls into jennifer's category. >> is china with the u.s. on knot korea? well, they voted with us and the rest of the world unanimously to pass the united nations security council resolution which gives us unprecedented authorities to deal with the north korean threat. >> seems to be are the to testify into continued -- missile -- i mean, we -- within one week. do you have any update or information on that? >> well, i think, again, on this trip that we took a couple weeks ago, the secretary acknowledged publicly that we have seen some missile activity which has caught our attention and that that we are closely following. i'm not going to get into specifics about that but we continue to monitor all missile activity in north korea. obviously previous security council resolutions have prohibited the north from testing long-range ballistic missiles. we have seen mistal tests of smaller range and we have seen this warning put out to mariners off its east coast, so obviously there does seem to be some suggestion that is it may be gearing up for something. so we

we don't like many of those things north korea is doing, has done, and we will object to those and we will continue to sanction those is appropriate under u.s. law. >> thank you for bringing up the law because that threshold was met by north korea. the obama administration admits nothing ever changed, this was only change as an enticement, not because they ceased any of the activities. the legal threshold for being on the state sponsor of terrorism was that. they have been on the list since 1988 and there has never been any reason to take them off from a legal perspective. it was a diplomatic move to take them off. i hope we don't use that as an excuse not to move on this. i will yield to your research on the issue. i am looking as a way to appear more serious than rhetoric. what they're doing is a danger to the whole world. thank you for being with us. i will yield back. >> i will recognize senator f n feingo feingold. >> i am very pleased that this hearing is being held. it has been awhile since the committee explore this issue, and one that we agree is one of the greatest challenges to our national security. although we made some initial

u.s. compete with the e.u. and korea without an fta in end cra? -- india? >> i think that it is interesting to look at the evolution of india's ftas as claude was outlining, and the rubber is really hitting the road in the negotiations, india's negotiations with the e.u. because interestingly in india they can launch negotiations very quickly quite in contrast to what happens in the united states where we have to deal with fast track and congressional approval. i often looked with envy at how fast they can get things started. the question is what are they getting started, and what are they ending up with? with most of the negotiations to date they're very, very limited in scope and even with tariffs that wouldn't pass muster in the wto and certainly wouldn't be of the scale, anywhere of the scale we would be interested in. but what i hope is that we will build confidence and build building blocks for a much more ambitious relationship with india, and that is why we have really advocated starting with an investment agreement where progress can be made becaus

clear that diplomacy was not working with north korea and that he wanted tougher resolutions, and he said we would take it very hard look at how the u.s is approaching north korea. is this, the passage of this resolution, does this fulfill that, or does that sort of very hard look -- is that still underway and that we should work for future actions? >> our actions in the security council are one element of our larger approach to the challenge of north korea. these are multilateral sanctions that are tough and powerful. we have other abilities to act in different worlds, economic, diplomatic, and the like, -- in different realms, and those remain available to the united states. i think our approach to north korea remains under active consideration. >> how concerned were you as a negotiated about whether or not north korea would take action against the two americans as punishment for these sanctions? >> well, we view the situation of the two american journalists as being in a separate and apart -- as being separate and apart from the actions we are discussing and we took today in new york. obviously, there's is a humanitarian -- theirs

korea. we seek their immediate -- we seek their immediate release. >> ambassador, what makes the u.s. the world think they can enforce sanctions against north korean vessels when they have difficulty with a rag tag group of pirates off the coast of somalia? >> these are very different cases. first, in the case of north korea, we are not talking about small boats armed with individuals trying to climb up the side of massive vessels. we're talking about ships capable of carrying significant cargo with the wmd or missile technology on them. that is a different endeavour. this regime, as i have described, lays out a series of steps that ought to be followed -- that are to be followed by vessels, by member states, and the aim is to ensure that these vessels will end up ultimately, is not inspected, then in international waters -- ultimately, if not inspected in international waters, then in port where they can be seized responsibly. >> will there ever be north korean vessels in the u.s. ports? >> noty,k to my knowledge, but y could be in any number of states territorial waters. >> should i

u.s. and south korea have been pointed 11 underground sites in north korea where it it could conduct a third nuclear test. this, and of a summit between the two allies on the north's growing atomic threat. south korean president is on his way to washington for a meeting tomorrow with president obama appeared this just in it, prime minister von brunn's office says britain will hold a long- awaited in kuwait into iraq war -- prime minister board and brown. he pledged to examine mistakes made during and after the 2003 invasion. lawmakers and anti-war protesters have called for the inquiry to be held in public and to scrutinize what they say were a wide range of errors and post-war planning. the prime minister will make

now, unbelieveably, undp is returning to north korea with essentially no meaningful protections to prevent u.s. taxpayer dollars from again benefiting kim junge ill and his corrupt cronies. our -- kim jong il and his corrupt cronies. we have a collection agencies to retrieve over $7 million in u.s. taxpayer dollars mismanaged by undp in afghanistan. we might never know about undp's corruption and mismanagement without the help of brave whistleblowers. unfortunately, whistleblowers have few protections at the u.n. and the undp has reportedly retaliated against the number of them, including the one who exposed their operations in north korea. mr. chairman, this bill should do more in safeguarding our constituents' hard-earned dollars. nowhere which u.n. failures, which undermine u.s. interests, are clearer than with respect to the united nations relief and works agency, unra. unra has a humanitarian mandate to help refugees but it continues to compromise its mandate and our u.s. tax dollars. it does so by emitting propaganda against israel by hamas. it refuses to vet its employees and aid recipi

u.s. compete with the e.u. and korea without an fta in end cra? -- india?>> i think that it is interesting to look at the evolution of india's ftas as claude was outlining, and the rubber is really hitting the road in the negotiations, india's negotiations with the e.u. because interestingly in india they can

just last week we learned that north korea is planning to launch a missile towards the u.s. around the fourth of july holiday. to repeat phrase used by our president just last week, these regimes pose a grave threat to the safety and security of our citizens and our allies. yet the bill which is the subject of this rule, mr. speaker, sustains an inexplicable $1.2 billion cut from the missile defense budget. mr. speaker, the question before us is very simple. how do we reconcile gutting missile defense when it will defend against what our own president rightfully calls a grave threat? it simply doesn't make sense. the cuts include a 35% reduction to the ground base mid course defense program, a system located in alaska and california for the purpose of protecting this country against the type of missiles north korea is gearing up to launch. this is not the time to be reducing our commitment to missile defense. we must find the current missile defense system -- we must fund the current missile defense system that protects us today and the forward-looking programs that will pro

u.s. journalist imprisoned in north korea. illinois is next. your thoughts on the optimism of the white house on the economy? caller: you have afghanistan, iraq, we have health care issues. we have so much on the plate of the obama administration. one of my fears from the campaign is that people would want a quick fix. things were so dire for the last eight years. people's expectations were enormously high in the one a quick fix. we in america have gotten used to having things fixed in a hurry. information at our hands so quickly, so we want quick answers, and unfortunately the economic problems are so deep. host: you are breaking up a little so i will move on to the independent line in ohio. caller: yes, and not very optimistic about the economy. with this stimulus package that the democrats pretty much forced down our throat and did not allow anyone to read before they passed it >> we will leave this morning's "washington journal" to go to the white house briefing which is just beginning, live, on c- span. [laughter] >> re, sometimes those th

korea. despite billions of dollars in u.s. aid, they pardoned kahn. they released him from house arrest. h.r. 1886, but not the republican substitute, declares that the u.s. will work with pakistan to ensure our investigators access to suspected proliferators and to restrict proliferators from travel and other activity that could result in further proliferation. it also incorporates, as the chairman said, language from a bill introduced by several of us to require a presidental assessment and restrict military aid in the future. mr. chairman, could i have 30 seconds? mr. berman: i yield the gentlelady 30 seconds. ms. harman: i thank the gentleman. restrict military aid in the future unless pakistan cooperates in efforts to dismantle its nuclear supply of networks. this is the right thing to do. and i thank the committee for doing it. the world cannot afford another libya, iran or north korea. and we certainly don't want a new nuclear power called al qaeda. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california yields back the balance of her time. the

u.s. is considering putting north korea on the list of state-sponsors of terrorism? >> it is important to look at the question that secretary clinton got, which what she was asked about a letter from the senators about this topic, and she has received a letter. we are working and continue to work with congress to consider any and all ideas related to dealing with the situation with north korea. obviously, the statutes is clear and lays out a series of requirements, as she noted in the interview, and i think obviously the main focus for us is on what steps internationally can be taken and that we are working on in response to north korea's. lastly, this is also a very big issue about their actions. i have said this probably each and every day in here that we have done this, the actions they have taken the firm -- have further isolating themselves from the world. they are stepping away from their rights and responsibilities. the responsibilities and accountability that they have to not necessarily fall under the provisions of the law that she was talking about. we were

korea. >> but is not just bellicose rhetoric, they have been launching missiles, they conducted a nuclear test. >> and we are very concerned and that is why we work with our colleagues on the u.s. security council and with south korea and japan to come up with a real tough resolution. >> the so far north korea has done everything it said it would do. >> not surprised. >> is okay, it said it would conduct a nuclear test and it is so, and now it is saying that it is going to weaponized in nuclear weapon in enriched uranium so do you have any doubt that's what they're going to do consider your knowledge of the number three in a uranium program? >> a couple of things. one is we just passed an extremely tough resolution on friday, showed incredible unity among the security council of and with south korea and japan. where are going to be focused on implementing that resolution. and beyond that north korea knows what it has to do. north korea needs to give up all this. all this rhetoric and belligerent actions and return to the six party talks unconditionally. >> with respect to those talks, today the secretary made some with the president from south korea at the blair house later th

u.s. is shadowing off the coast of korea and count on domestic political support. will the president let kim jong- il make a mockery of u.n. condemnation? utah, good morning to dan, independent collar. caller: i just want to say i think obama is doing a good job by staying out of iran. also i think that the caller who called about is -- why always supporting is russell much? i think everybody should go to the internet and look of the uss liberty and research of that. it is israel tried to get us to go to war. " scud you think israel is involved in the iranian situation -- host cut you think israel is involved in the arena situation? caller: i just like the other person said, what have they done to us? host: what should be worked -- why should u.s. go to the liberty? caller: it was sunk by israel and they were trying to blame it on -- so we would get involved in their war. host: brooklyn in new york, stephanie on the democrats' line. caller: i totally agree with the navy serviceman who called, thank you for your service. i lost two uncles and vietnam. -- in vietnam.

u.s. should do regarding north korea? concerns about missile launches. there were two journalists currently being detained. guest: north korea and iran have for many years bent these extremely difficult problems where it is hard to see any solution. one thing that the strike me is the approach we have used for the past few years under obama and under bush doesn't seem to be working and maybe it is time for a little bit more of the silent treatment, maybe we should not be rewarding them with attention and promises of international legitimacy and respect when the act up. host: william now joins us on the democrats' line calling from winter haven, florida. caller: the first thing i wanted to say is i do not have any love for the va system. i'm 50 percent disability veteran and i live in winter haven, fla., and the closest veterans hospital is in tampa. no buses go from here to the va hospital in tampa. so if you are sick and you got to go to a hospital, you can't find one around here, you have got to go from here 30 miles away to another county and catch a

opinion the us dushes korea free trade agreement will bring tremendous benefits to both of our countries. international trade commission has forecast that the elimination of tariffs and u.s. goods under the agreement will increase our g.d.p. by about $11 billion a year. the agreement will also eliminate regulatory and other nontariff barriers that have historically restricted access by american farmers, manufacturers, and service providers. to the south korean market with growing difficulties, the health of our economy proposed, in my opinion this will be a win-win situation. a win for our workers, a win for our businesses, and a win for our consumers. but perhaps the most compelling argument supporting free trade agreement with this important

korea. asian powers playing a key role in stabilizing afghanistan. the u.s. and e.u. working together to engage china and india on global climate change. the g20 bringing together key asian and european partners to address the global financial crisis. north korea -- i don't have to say much about the. security developments in the pacific such as the development of long-range ballistic missiles impact the debate on missiles in europe. i think this link has been apparent since the u.s. entered world war ii in europe after the attack in the pacific so, admiral, the atlantic council will continue to float its boat as well in the pacific. i now want to turn the podium over to the honorable walt slocombe the vice chair of the atlantic council and former undersecretary of defense for policy. he's going to#9 introduce our speaker and will later moderate the q & a session. walt, who's now with kaplan and drysdale is -- and this is not an overuse of the word, a pillar of the atlantic council. he provides me and the rest of our leadership strategic advice as well as sound legal a

korea. asian powers playing a key role in stabilizing afghanistan. the u.s. and eu working together to engage china and india on global climate change. the g-20 bringing together key asian and european partners to address the global on a crisis. if north korea, i do not have to say much about that. security developments in the pacific such as the developer of a long-range ballistic missiles and backed the debate on missiles in europe. i think this link has been apparent since the u.s. entered world war ii double in europe. the council will continue to flood of boat as well in the pacific. and now want to turn the podium over to the hon. walter slocombe, vice chair of the atlantic council and former undersecretary of defense for policy. he will introduce our speaker and later a moderate the q&a session. he's now with kaplan and was a pillar of the atlantic council. he provides me into the rest of our leadership strategic advice as well as sound legal advice and is still free walking around and have not yet been incarcerated. that is because of wall slocombe. i

could you update the situation with north korea vessel in the chinese see tracked by the u.s. navy and do you have any plan to ask permission to the vessel to make interdiction? >> i'm not going to be able to tell you any more than i told you on friday. i think you saw what secretary gates and admiral mullen said last week. i'm not going to go into any details of any specific ship, except that, of course, as always, we call upon north korea to refrain from provocative actions. what we are focused on especially here at the state department is we are focused on a vigorous enforcement of a puzzle bush and 1874. and of course, ship inspections are an important element of this resolution. and we also call upon other u.n. member states to enforce 1874. >> on taiwan, and i read an article on defense news talking about taiwan plans f-16 upgrade. so what is your position on this -- >> you have to ask the defense part about that. >> thank you. >> you wanted something on the record, is that it? go ahead, ask. >> he won't answer. [laughter] >> on israel i was wondering what your that puts

u.s. government keep watching the several north korea vessel right now, which are possibly carrying the weapon. so are you watching the north korean -- the vessel continuously onto to when and do you have a sense of it? and secondly in north korea's icbm's do you have any expectation of when the north korean launch icbm and are you ready about it? thank you. >> sure. [laughter] >> aren't we supposed to finish at 6:00? please, this is a very serious situation. north korea's activities are very disturbing and unsettling to all of us. witnessing the united nations security council resolution. as far as shipment of proscribed cargo, i can't comment on operational matters like that or intelligence matters. our president has said he is satisfied that the pacific command, the military of the united states is well-prepared to execute whatever direction he give us. and you can read whatever or not you choose to read into that but that's where i'll have to leave it. as far as the launch from north korea, the recent launch following by a couple of years in july of 2006 launch, secretary of defense just s

u.s. pacific commander timothy keating on north korea's missile launches and the threats they may pose to the region. that is live at 5:30 p.m. eastern also on c-span. >> file sharing has just read havoc on our business. >> how is c-span funded? >> publicly funded. >> donations may be? i have no idea. >> government? >> c-span gets its funding through taxes. >> sort of a public money think. >> maybe, i don't. >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative. no government mandate. no government money. >> and now a house hearing on executive pay practices and how they may have contributed to the current state of the financial markets. the house financial services committee hears from obama administration officials about their proposal to regulate executive pay publicly traded companies. barney frank chairs the committee. this is just under four hours. >> the hearing will come to order. i am told that the ranking republican is on his way, so we will begin. we're going to have 30 minutes of opening statements by

the chinese view north korea and are more amenable to the thought that north korea is a problem for them as well, not just the u.s.? >> that remains to be seen. communicating that message was one of the purposes of the delegation led by jim steinberg, the secretary of state, to china a week or two ago. it was, yes, we understand your concern about instability in north korea and its implications for you, but you need also to be concerned about the implications of instability in northeast asia created by the behavior of north korea. since that visit was relatively recently, it remains to be seen whether it had any impact. tom? >> talking about iran and communications, the obama administration has announced a new initiative on the cyber command on terror. it is the pentagon watching what iran is doing, the government trying to control, monitor, shut down communications internally to draw lessons from what they might do offensively against this nation? >> to be honest, i am not aware of analysis going on along those lines, but there are 3 million people in this department, so somebody may be doing that, but not to my

last week, the green shoots shriveled and south korea, china, and germany, exports were declining once again. and the u.s., the federal reserve is beige book said economic conditions remained weak or deteriorated further from the period of mid april through may. and as an analysis as -- global industrial output is still missing dejecta as it was in 1930. the only question is, whether we can avoid 1931 and 1932. guest: of wolfgang is a very old friend of mine. it very insightful column. if you look at the data -- and your viewers can do this, the economic blocs. -- blogs. showing very indicators, industrial production, and ejector going down, compared to that in the early 1930's. unfortunately they are on the same track. obviously you do not have to go down as far as we did in the 1930's. no inevitability here. but it is disconcerting. i do think that viewers have to take with huge grains of salt all the headlines and commentary you here in the news now about green shoots and recovering, and stock markets -- it is self- serving, being fed to consumers by politicians who want to say the what they have done