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i'm martha raddatz, great to have you with us from ho chi minh city, vietnam. we're here with secretary kerry. tracking developments here in the region including stunning news in north korea. the leader kim jong-un has executed his uncle and mentor and we're following several other developing stories this morning, including the funeral service for nelson mandela, prince charles and jesse jackson are among the guests for the private ceremony in mandela's home village this morning, capping a ten-day good-bye for the former south african president. ♪ >>> meanwhile, back here in the city, formerly known as saigon, this is secretary kerry's first trip since he the vietnam vet has taken on his new post, a busy first trip for the son of a foreign officer, now the top american diplomat. just this week a dramatic shift in syria, is al qaeda gaining ground there? plus, those alarming new revelations over an american being held in iran. but, we start it off with that shocking move by north korea's young dictator which has rattled governments throughout the region. mr. sec

martha raddatz traveling in the region with new reaction from secretary kerry. >> reporter: good evening. the diplomatic tour brought him here to vietnam where we asked about the startling developments out of north korea where kim jong-un, the leader, had his uncle executed. a long-time power broker in the secretive nation. what does this tell you about the danger coming from north korea? >> it tells us how ruthless and reckless he is. it tells us about how insecure he is. this is not first execution. there have been a significant number of executions taking place over the last months which we're aware of. >> reporter: and this was so public. >> it really reminded me of a video we saw of saddam hussein doing the same thing. having people plucked out of an audience. and people sitting there sweating and nobody daring to move or do anything. >> reporter: we also asked the secretary about robert levinson who disappeared in iran seven years ago. his family said he was working for the cia and the government has now abandoned him. >> to suggest that we've abandoned him or anybody has abandoned

abc's martha raddatz spoke exclusively to secretary of state john kerry about this for "this week," whichs hosting later today from the region. martha. >> reporter: good morning, dan and bianna. secretary kerry is here in vietnam as part of a diplomatic tour. but we asked him about the stunning news this week, north korea's young leader has executed his uncle, considered one of the most powerful men in that nuclear arms nation. what does this tell you about the danger coming from north korea? >> it tells us about how ruthless and reckless he is. it also tells us how insecure he is to a certain degree. >> reporter: kerry also told us that he believes that the iranian government could help find the american whose family told abc news that he was working for the cia when he disappeared in iran seven years ago. kerry says that the u.s. has not abandoned him, as the family has charged. >> thank you, martha, and you can see her exclusive interview with secretary of state kerry later on "this week." >>> moving on now to a little bit of a lighter story, often as we all know, police rely on survei

martha raddatz joins us from washington with the details. od morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, george. this is a tale of out-of-control drinking, fraternizing until the wee hours with two suspicious foreign women in russia. and conduct that left his aides and colleagues stunned. this is an air force two-star general, who commanded our nation's arsenal of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. 450 of them and close to 10,000 people. the behavior began in zurich on the way to a security exercise in moscow. an inspector general's report said major general carey appeared drunk and was bragging loudly about the importance of his command. and how he, quote, saves the world from war every day. but he gets worse once he arrives in moscow. dancing, drinking, slurring his words. here are a few choice descriptions from staff. he was not totally coherent. and did not have all of his faculties. he needed assistance standing and was frequently rude to both his fellow delegates and to his russian hosts. in addition, he met two women, w

abc's martha raddatz traveling in the region. she joins us, now, from vietnam. martha? >> reporter: good morning, josh. the news of the execution has stunned this region of the world. not only has kim jong-un executed a powerful older family member. but the execution was publicly announced. something the secretive nation just never does. photos were released of the uncle being arrested, bound and later dragged before a military tribunal. accused of trying to overthrow the young leader. he was called a traitor for all ages and despicable human scum. experts fear this means the younger kim has an even greater lust for power over the nuclear armed nation and will tolerate no dissent. josh? >>> meanwhile, big changes could be coming to the government's secret surveillance program. overnight, we learned a white house advisory panel is expected to recommend new limits on the nsa spying program. even suggesting that civilians and not the military control the program. however, a collection of phone call data is expected to continue. >>> and a new setback of sorts for airline pa