is north korea. it's a country so impoverished, so backward that it's sometimes seems to be from another century. the economy of south korea is 36 times larger than that of the north yet somehow the north korean leader now commands the center of the world's stage. this is the story of kim jong-un, his past, his present and how has managed to bring an american president to his doorstep. ♪ december 28th, 2011. kim jong-un had just inherited the cruelest, most repressive dictatorship on earth. his father kim jong-il was dead from a heart attack. in icy pyongyang, tens of thousands lined the streets. for many mourners, it was a chance to catch a glimpse of their new leader. >> people believed he's too young. he's too inexperienced. >> there were real fears that kim jong-un still in his 20s was not up to the job. >> he looked like a boy. there he is sobbing over his father's casket. >> some doubted that he could ever command the kind of cult-like worship his grandfather and his father inspired. a reaction

and north korea continued in new york the participants included robert cullen an expert on north korea's nuclear program who's visited the country often. november two thousand and ten are sick heard that professor john morris and me they took us to young ground they walked us into this facility which we were not really expect we thought maybe we would see a few centrifuges i don't know how many ten the hundred were just small and we would say oh yeah it's really impressive. instead they took it took us into this building. took us up to the viewing window and there are. two hours in centrifuges . they let us in our jaws dropped and we were sort of speechless as we tried to come through centrifuges and then they were steps out of there because they didn't want us to see them. causing too much point worse somebody weiners an order. and that this and that the situation become more common. kim jong il died in december twenty seventh he was succeeded by his son kim jong il and many western experts doubted whether the inexperienced young man would be up to the job. kim soon launched the first i

president has met a north korean leader. really great to really take you to a lot of progress really very fatherly better than anybody expected comparable to. well i dream brown reports on a historic day that many people thought would never come up in this diplomatic drama here was act one for. getting to know you the handshake to could change the course of history president donald trump it said he'd know within a minute of meeting kim jong un if he'd get on with him so this was the moment he began sizing him up from. the start perhaps of an improbable relationship. in improbable times. two nuclear armed leaders one of former real estate developer and reality t.v. star the other an international pariah. we were. speaking through an interpreter kim jong un said the way here had not been easy. in the region it wasn't easy to get here and oprah did as in practice has worked as obstacles in a way forward but we overcame all of them and we're here today. they met at nine am local time in singapore so prime time viewing in the uni

of north rea. we would have to talk about the facilities and we use the term dismantlement which meant partial dismantlement of the facilities. in 2007 it meant destruction of the cooling tower. so there we have to find out different elements and kind of phrases elements in the right order. it is very challenging in terms of this is going to be a very technical process and there is a limit to what we have. there are a lot of challenges going ahead. >> this is where the rhetoric has left the road. these gentlemen over here and one over here. we will do this one first. people are saying that the u.s. is a driving force with u.s. president negotiations. it is not a driven force because the u.s. has been on the forefront for many years. it is in the interest of the united states and prevent the unification of north korea which can be an economic powerhouse they have not worked out their own plan and what we see now is just addressing and what is presenting to trump is something that has already been tr

we have war in north korea and north korea weapons.looking at it from a journalist, can you just avoid to keep it unstable because it allows them to rebuild in korea and prevent north korea or south korea which can be a power house in the united states. so a meeting between the korean officials and russia. so not work out that this will be taking in themselves. and it is presented to trump is already something that we're already doing. and trump is going to go with it just like in atlantic city. >> all right. so that's plan e for expelling the u.s. next one, please. >> thank you for coming. this is a good quality compensation care. i feel that this is the first of many sum mitts to come. summits to come. it's so complicated, it's going to take a long time. there has to be a lot more. i was talking to nuclear experts, so-called experts. i don't know if they are but they're real knowledgeable people. they were saying it will probably take ten years -- ten years or even longer as he mentioned. that's a lot of years. there's a step to foll

ground presence. >> reporter: north korea granted such access as part of a clinton-era deal, but northea kicked out the inspectors after the bush administration accused it of cheating. this time the trump administration wants to destroy the weapons itself with assistance from other countries. components would then be shipped to a research lab in tennessee. depending on how truthful kim jong-un is, that process could take anywhere from two to ten years. another challenge, monitoring north korea's nuclear scientists. how many people in north korea know how to build a nuclear weapon? >> there would be hundreds of people involved in the actual making of a nuclear weapon. they could steal documents that are highly classified. you have to work with those people to make sure that they're not encouraged to go out and sell their skills to others. >> reporter: so jeff, this isn't just about nuclear weapons. the u.s. also wants north korea m give up its nukes but to end its ballistic missile program ogd get rid of all their biological and chemical weapons. this is a very big ask. >> glor: it is i

regime change has been spoken about in north korea after the death of kim jong il, kim jong—un‘s north the death of kim jong il, kimjong—un‘s father, we know the status quo was maintained for the following six years and we fast forward to this moment, james, describe for me how much of a difference this truly is for north korea? we also understand that the state newspaper is covering this now, front—page addition, showing kim jong—un doing the now, front—page addition, showing kimjong—un doing the rounds in singapore last night. this is something? this is an apocryphal change. in civil terms, why didn't kim ever leave north korea, it wasn't just his rubbish kim ever leave north korea, it wasn'tjust his rubbish plane, but if he left, someone could chuck him out ina if he left, someone could chuck him out in a coup. even the fact that he is here shows enormous self—confidence. even though donald trump has been a large part of this risky approach, lots of it is kim, he killed his half brother and uncle and loads of other people and now he feels relatively secure and he has decided the tim

to first find his motifs in the north. the similarities are often striking although those portrayed sometimes disagree. human and. start off in no i was surprised that the girl on the right wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the north korean counterpart she just said so that's what she looks like ok one of them and i'd expected her to say something like oh i'm with the same. major but with totally different of the she just didn't go than to. to book. in this case. the project started in two thousand and nine as talks on north korea's nuclear program were collapsing. last year south korea elected a liberal president who has brought new momentum to relations between north and south korea. many see this as a turning point. so they must have gone a bit confused by all the momentous changes underway you know consider to model the meisner and was able to do this project because the two countries are so different but the good to go kind of if they grow closer my idea wouldn't work as well the book to be honest i'm glad i mana

korea already has is north korea ready to give up what they really have or not now the north has always argued that if washington expects it to eliminate its nuclear stockpiles it will have to lead the way it will have to abandon this hostile policy possibly easy going on exactions decrease its military presence in south korea and japan if the united states flexible on any of those two points and the reason i'm asking is because during the previous administrations the answer would have been a definite no but with champ it's not bad simple and it's not that clear i can easily imagine him trying to play that angle to get more concessions or get more money from american allies be it south korea or japan and at the same time solid as a concession to north korea well i think that. flexibility will be the key word for this process for this negotiation i'm not sure how much the american administration is ready to be flexible on this bus for sure flexibility on both sides will be the key word because. usually people focus on the military security aspect of the nuclear weapons so north korea wan

and china for north korea's far going forward. >> right after the news of the north korea-u.s. summit, there was serious concern in beijing worrying about china being sidelined, being marginalized and losing control. i think that -- we even heard wide concern from chinese experts in extreme cases -- there was a chance that when the u.s. and north korea might make some deal in which they collude together against china. because china knows for a long time that north ren't really like china. if conditions were right, they would be more than happy to establish a close relationship with washington. north korea wants to play this role. many conservative chinese always believe the u.s. doesn't really worrabout north korean nuclear threat. the u.s. knows very well north korean nuclear weapons are simply for survival. north korea would never use nuclear weapons without being seriously provoked and invading invaded. therefore, the u.s. has to begin using north korean nuclear threat as an accused to strengthen -- given the deep chinese disrupt toward the united states, there was extreme c

north korea tack against north korea has the possibility of escalating into a nuclear option that's the difference between today and one thousand nine hundred . we are prepared to take more drastic actions in ninety four there were prepared today and short nuclear weapons do work as a deterrent they were for the united states as a deterrent but they also work for north korea that in turn and that's exactly what the north korean leadership knows and that's exactly why they built the nuclear arsenal to deter the united states from taking military action against there is in my judgment no military option against north korea today. into orbit while his fans watch from the earth the truth is that if a new young oak is president if i did not get to fight what makes. alexander a guest is heading back to the i assess after two years of intense preparation what's the german astronauts mission and what challenges does he face. today. thirteen w. . we make up for but we watch as a officer that found out that if we are the civil service or. the want to shape the continent's future shifts should be

to the north korea and ask for the future policies on north korea includes the us north korea summit meeting, we have details for aligning our position. as i have already mentioned, japan and the united states are always together but japan and the united states will be in full alignment for the historic us north korean summit meeting in singapore. >> thank you very much maximum pressure is absolutely ineffective. we don't use the term anymore because we're going into a friendly negotiation perhaps after negotiation, i will be using it again . you know how well we will do with the negotiation. you heard me say we are going to use maximum pressure. we knowthe negotiation did not do well . there's no reason to say. we in the meantime agreed on sanctions. have a list of over 300 massive in some cases sanctions to put on north korea and i've decided to hold that until we can make a deal because i really believe there is the potential to make a deal and i don't think it's nice knowing in under those circumstances but yes, the campaign hasn't changed. china has continued to hold the border.

north korea. kim il sung was forced to find new sources of foreign aid to help him revive the country's stagnant economy. and ninety ninety two came from states and states said you must reconcile yourself with your commitments to the international. going to. be made pursuing. your history between our frustration treaty which. soviets insisted before giving you where you need your assistance but you do so so this is. the root of the problem they are drawing the train you're pretty except safeguards and of course it's a sequence. ultimately except inspections and inspections turn up an inconsistency in their. hunts flix director general of the international atomic energy agency visited the young young nuclear facility in may nine hundred ninety two. north korea played a game of cat and mouse with international inspectors and this went on for to hear this. on some days they would allow the inspectors access to sensitive sites on others they threatened to expel them. later blix admission that he had l

that north korea wants. well, according to the south korean delegation, i m with kim jong ts t noh rea said. according to chinese press after kim's visit to beijing, this is what north korea said. we're not getting a lot straight from the horse's mouth. but also when north korea has announced things, it's not that it's code words, but it's using phrases that people have been following it for a long time know what they mean. even in the south korean delegation read out of their meeting with kim, he's willing to talk about denuclearization. and in return for security assurances and they didn't use end of u.s. hostile policy, they used a different phrase. well, security assurance of which they have been provided many times, including in the september, 2005 document, all to no avail. and the end of the u.s. hostile policy is the long list of security and diplomatic and economic demands and even sort of demanding curtailment of south korea's actually protected freedoms of assembly and expression. wh they talk a t

north korea abounds with rich natural resources. north korea has diligently work for. if north korea is willing to take steps toward the right direction, north korea can see a bright future ahead for itself. japan, based on the japan/north korea/pyongyang declaration, is prepared to tackle the unfortunate past to normalize our diplomatic relations and to provide economic cooperation. japan wishes to play the role as much as possible. donald, i value highly your strong commitment to world peace and prosperity. in closing, i wish to add that japan stands ready to make every effort to assist you for the success of u.s./north korea summit. thank you. >> appreciate it. so we'll take a few questions. >> mr. president, on the subject -- i have a question for the prime minister as well. on the subject of north korea, how far are you willing to go in terms of the economic security, political guarantees with kim? are you willing to move down the road to normalizing relations with north korea as the prime minister suggested he was willing to at some point? you teased this as well

to first find his motifs in the north. the similarities are often striking although those portrayed sometimes disagree. you're not alone for my netflix that's all thin no i was surprised that the girl on the right wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the north korean counterpart she just said so that's what she looks like ok more than i'd expected her to say something like oh i'm with the same . maged but with totally different because she just didn't go that. took both. the screw. the project started in two thousand and nine as talks on north korea's nuclear program were collapsing. last year south korea elected a liberal president who has brought new momentum to relations between north and south korea. many see this as a turning point. so. i'm a bit confused by all the momentous changes underway you know and sort of to model them with and i was able to do this project because the two countries are so different. if they grow closer my idea wouldn't work as well. to be honest i'm glad i managed to do it when i did my. mi

wants north korea's denuclearization north korea wants u.s. security guarantees commitments that have been promised and redneck done before trump is confident that this time will be different but his past efforts have shown it's a long way between a handshake and peace. as we await the two leaders who are about to sign a document in a short while joining me in studio once again is yank our talib transatlantic fellow in the asia program at the german marshall fund of the united states thanks for sticking around is this sudden apparent thawing of relations a sign of things to calm. well see i think what we can definitely say is that once this donald trump needs this one day and has planned this and she will benefit from this so i think there's a lot to gain from it for a lot of sites here but caution is i think the word of the hour at the moment you have to wait and see what comes in the next day and as we've seen in the past that one creep can destroy a lot of progress in a heartbeat so we will see what happens later you know we have seen that

china, north korea's chief enabler, already is easing pressure on north korea. north korean goods already are becoming more abundant in china despite being banned by united nations security council resolutions. and immediately following the summit, the chinese foreign ministry suggested making adjustments to existing sanctions on north korea. if china wants to be taken seriously as a responsible global power, it cannot shirk its duts to enforce sanctions on serial violators like north korea. and if north korea back slides at any point, china must be tougher on north korea, oil exports to the north o tf korean regime which still flows in every day from china. three, focus on the threat at hand. north korea's nuclear warheads and other dangerous weapons and their delivery systems are real threats. the administration must not fall for north korea's inevitable theatrics and false concessions, as we cannot afford to be sidetracked. after all, nothing would stopped north korea from conducting another nuclear or missile test if it even believes its warheads and missile

will be north korean commitment to a complete denuclearization. of north korea.to be said. or trump can't really claim he succeeded. for north korea the deliverable is american commitment to begin to remove sanctions. >> but. is kim jong un ready to make a deal? >> you have two unpredictable people. we have never had this kind of negotiation before. of the stakes are incredibly high. the risk of failure. and the blowing up and return to fire and furry. is catastrophic for the world. >>> what i think is quite clear is the country wants to move in a different direction. >> a half century after his death, robert f. kennedy remains a hero to millions of americans. he was tough. >> whose back are you going to break? >> yet compassionate and idealistic. >> negro citizens are being treated as second class people. that's something that needs to be done about it. >> today as in 1968, america is deeply divided. >> what's going on in poor

this is the highest-ranking north korean who's been allowed to visit north korea in 20 years. the immediate former head of the north korean intelligence service who in fact built that service. are you sure this is definitely the one guy you who want to let in? are you sure there's no particular risk about him in particular coming over here? i mean, technically there is the matter of him being sanctioned multiple times personally by the u.s. government. legally he's not even technically allowed to set foot in this country. but they was. eating filet mignon and vanilla ice cream we're told with mike pompeo at some new york restaurant last night. and then this afternoon we got this note. "kim yong chol will meet briefly with potus in the oval." what? that news moved at about 1:00 this afternoon. and then infrastructure he did show up. and it was not a brief meeting with the president in the oval office. it was nearly two hours. and you know, from a distance without captions on what you're looking at here, he's this quiet-seeming older gentleman. sort of a short guy compared to ou

and north korea weren't talking here. that prompted the letter from president trump threatening to scrap the summit. >> trace: and just to get this reaction, we're 11 days away. the early going, they said one of the reasons this is in singapore because they weren't sure how kim jong-un was going to get there. they're still flying these old military planes from russia that can't go more than a couple thousand miles. that was also a factor that played into this. now we're back to the drawing board, how does he get there, what will happen. a lot to play out. >> when you're talking about a logistic team between china and the united states. it's north korea. a different ball game. the first time that xi jinping hosted kim jong-un, kim jong-un left the country as leader for the first time. he took the train to china. >> trace: took the train. rich edson, great information. thanks so much. kim jong-un's father wouldn't fly at all. he was afraid the planes would be shot down. one more time, the trains he was on had to be guarded

it allows those north koreans to launch north korean cyberattacks from other geographic locations. which is helpful in terms of avoiding accountability. but it also lets those north korean de facto spies, it lets them learn about international innovations in the cyber innovations in the cyber war field and it turns out when they compete around the world they are as good as anyone or better. in 2015 at a global hacking competition that's called code chef, 7,600 teams competing from all over the world. at code chef 2015 north korean teams came in first, second, and third place out of more than 7,000 teams competing worldwide. that's what kim yong chol built. so for people who follow this stuff closely, particularly national security and in foreign policy who have watched north korea not just for its nuclear program but have watched north korea in this very short period of time turn into this global cyberwar, cyberespionage powerhouse it was a remarkable and very specific thing when it was announced that north korea would be sending somebody to the u.s. to talk to the trump administra

they have always angered the north.suggestion to remove troops from the peninsula in the future. it's a mistake to cancel alljoint us—south korea military exercises. the united states needs to maintain a sufficient level of readiness and preparedness on the peninsula, because the north korean nuclear threat is still there. that is why many will find today's announcement disappointing. kim jong—un is now leaving the island of sentosa, having gained the summit and the status he has longed for. he says the world will change. the problem is we're not sure what that change may mean. now that the missile launches have stopped, china appears eager to ease back on the toughest economic sanctions it has ever imposed on its neighbour. today, north korea took its first tentative steps out of the shadows. how far it is prepared to go is still uncertain. laura bicker, bbc news, singapore. the british government has averted a damaging defeat for its brexit strategy — a mix of last—minute promises and negotiations persuaded a majority

what the north koreans wanted was propaganda. they wanted to humiliate the united states, the kim family, which was in charge then as now could demonstrate to the people how strong they were. they would sign confessions saying they were so sorry they had done this. the american government had sent them on this terrible mission they never wanted. to go. they were apologizing to the korean people and they were so impressed what they had seen in north korea. the first couple weeks while the men are being beaten into these confessions it's pretty brutal. after that they are locked in a prison camp. things become a mundane daily life in a north korean prison camp. still absolutely horrible but not that bad. there's another wave of beatings towards the end that the men say is the most brutal, horrible experience any could have imagined. they are released in december right before christmas but in a way the scars always say because the navy drums them out of the service. they're given very little, in some cases no medical treatment, psyc

this test sites in north korea but we don't know. there will be any independent experts on the grounds to collect evidence that this missile test site is really being destroyed and we have to keep in mind that shortly before this summit in singapore the north korean plants to destroy a nuclear test site in the country and they even invited to join the lists to witness these events but later u.s. secretary of state home kayo criticize they were no independent experts no inspectors to confirm that this site was really destroyed it. was wonderful norman in singapore thank you. are in south korea president moon j. and his promise to write a new history with his country's northern neighbor it was full of praise for kim jong un's decision to go ahead with the summit and a statement released by his office president said leaving dog days of war and conflicts behind we will write a new chapter of peace and cooperation we will be there to go with north korea along the way let's get more reaction then from a south korea correspondent and jason

north korea summit in singapore. more not -- more analysis on the summit from the white house for nader. on northyl kimball korea's nuclear capabilities. be sure to watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern tuesday morning. join the discussion. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy event in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> good evening from washington where it is in :00 east coast time. tuesday morning in singapore. these are pictures of the island where the meeting will take place in singare. a historic meeting. only the third time that can on -- kim jong-un has traveled outside the country as the leader. president trump spent the day meeting with leaders in singapore. the white house issuing a statement on a beat out of a conversation that

how can north korea be certain that the u.s. will keep their part of the bargain something that we will ponder for another shall i thanks to all of our guests today that's all the time we have be sure to follow along at al-jazeera dot com for updates on the singapore summit and of course. all of that at. the be. a history of guerrilla warfare. a place in the state. they organisation created for stateless population. for fighting for their land while. fighting for independence from her papers. chronicling the turbulence the struggle for honesty and. history and her mother she. just. really felt liberated as a journalist loved going to that slows as i would say that's what his jobs bill. a new series of rewind a care bring your people back to life i'm sorry and bring you updates on the best of al-jazeera documentaries the struggle continues. to. use distance rewind continues with australia's lost generation recovery from. is a really important issue suicide writes do a mind very high twice the national average rewind on al-jazeera

north korea.ns reacted sharply to that and the argument from the doves is this is something we have to hold for the future, get the ball rolling and bring it up maybe in the future. i'm hopeful. this is why there is so much anxiety with north korea, it isn't your run of the mill dictatorship, it is 0rwellian, like 1984, there will be lots of pressure. . . 1984, there will be lots of pressure... if this keeps going and it becomes a major long—running dialogue between the us and north korea, there will be pressure from the human rights communities and others to get the north koreans to be changed and less horrific to their own people before we normalised with them. if we have normalised with them. if we have normal relations with them then they need to be a normal state, which it isn't now. very quickly, briefly, i wa nt to isn't now. very quickly, briefly, i want to break down the language, the doves and the hawks, talk us through that? on the left, the doves, the argument is to reach out to north

this is very rare with north korea.ically if he travels or if there is some type of an event or a parade, kcna, the state radio and television apparatus reports on it after the fact. so it's very interesting to hear that they're sort of following him as he goes. >> normally it's all reported of in full once all successful and everything is done and dusted. when it comes to the preparation for the summit, this is how the u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo sized up kim jong-un a couple weeks ago. >> the conversations are professional. he knows his brief. he does follow the western press. he'll probably watch this show at some point. he is paying attention to things that the world is saying. >> on the other hand, the u.s. president has g every rea to believe hed of winging it. is it possible? is it a diplomatic strategy that mac maybe kim jong-un is stumble around in the dark and somehow find the golden ticket? >> i was talking the a colleague and they used the phrase even a blind squirrel gets an acorn once in a while. w

-north korea diplomacy. from the stimson center, this is just over one hour. >> welcome to the stimson center. i'm the codirector of the program here. we are delighted to have our four very interesting speakers here to chat with us a bit about what is beyond the trump kim summit. when i give that title, beyond trump kim summit, please imagine the heart attack of me seeing that news, but sure enough, it now seems that the summit seems to be back on. we are basically getting whiplash moments every day on this one where the summit is going to be on, off, on, off. who knows what happens. in light of that, we are delighted to have our guests here. one formally served on the past committee expert panel. and jenny town from 38 north, which i am now proud to say is a part of the family. and my other codirector, my better half of the program is here as well. what i'm going to do is open the conversation with this four people by asking a brief question. i want this to be a dialogue rather than each of them giving 10 m

and north korea signed and ratified this. perhaps a test ban treaty i think that's a really crucial step and they also have to avoid legitimizing nuclear weapons one of the dangers to see with today's summit was really that it kind of the gym isis can really move us a nuclear armed you know leader and that's a pretty dangerous sign to show that nuclear weapons equals power and for states they do forgive me for our involvement forgive me for interrupting but we have an example the whole point of debate diplomacy is dealing with what is happening on the ground now so north korea has nuclear weapons the plan is to denuclearize i accept what you say about the difference in interpretation but that's just the facts of life the north has nuclear weapons this is a step along the road to ridding them of those. now of course but we don't must not equate this with christine and that is a it's a good thing these so weapons of mass destruction inhumane illegal would violate the laws of war they're talking about mass murdering civilians wi

the website 38 north which carries authoritative north korean analysis says we can only be sure thato said that last week north korea destroyed a stand for testing ballistic missiles. at a separate facility. today, donald trump said he's also requested an engine testing facility be dismantled, and he said kimjong un agreed. the challenge we have here is assessing the importance of these commitments. andrea berger is a senior research associate at the middlebury institute of international studies. the north koreans have agreed to denuclearization for a very long time. the real question is, what a spec to see in return for that? they frame it very much as a long—term ambition that is tied up in a potential major transformation of their security relationship. make no mistake about it, from the north korean perspective, denuclearization is something that will come quite far down the road. and a d cup -- decommissioning i've been describing, that would disable the whole programme? no, not even close. those are steps that are not only reversible, but there are things of the north koreans a

the united states and north korea have been holding direct talks in preparation for a summit and north korea has confirmed to us its willingness to denuclearize. a comprehensive whole of government effort in support of president trump's upcoming summit is underway. white house and state department led advance teams are finalizing with logistical preparations and will remain in place in singapore until the summit begins. the president is getting daily briefings from his national security team. the fact that our two leaders are coming to the table shows that the two sides are very serious. the diplomatic model we use today is different from past efforts. our efforts give us hope that we can find real success where past efforts have fallen short. president trump is hopeful, but he's also going into the summit with his eyes wide open. we've seen how many inadequate agreements have been struck in the past. you can be sure that president trump will not stand for a bad deal. the united states has been clear time and time again. the complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the

for north korea. in 2000, kim jong-il came out of his antisocial shell and engaged the world visit -- vigorously for a series of summit meetings. kim jong-un on affected a very dramatic image maker -- makeover from a dictator to a reasonable global statesman with whom the world could do business. nuclear negotiations. standardso set a new for international shakedown. extortion. let me explain. in may of 2000, kim jong-un made his first foreign visit as the national leader. he went to beijing. in a fortnight he had a very important summit coming up with south korean president. after having pocketed $500 million in cash secretly wire transferred to the south korean government to kim jong-un owns secret personal accounts, he then received president vladimir putin on july 19. it was the first ever visit to north korea by the leader of russia or the former soviet union. chinahaving softened up south korea and russian, then he turned to the united states and special envoy to the white house. that envoy came

on the trip to negotiate with north korea, nor should he. >> so this was about north korea?of course it was in large part, absolutely. >> as trump was going to singapore -- >> well, you know, one thing leads to another. they are all related. kim must not see american weakness. >> but the most incendiary comment came from the white house trade adviser with what appears the harshest words a u.s. trade delegation has ever used to attack a foreign leader. >> there is a special place in hell for any foreign leader who engages in bad faith diplomacy with president donald j. trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door. >> kaline heldman and john thomas join us now. john is a cnn political commentator. starting with you, john, a special place in hell for the prime minister of canada? i mean -- >> that's a little extreme on the rhetoric. >> some people have pointed out that's the k of language an administration uses before they begin military action. this is canada. >> well, that's true. however, if larry kudlow is right, and i think he makes a fair point tha

and if north korea backs lies at any point they need to cut off all exploits to the north korean regime that is everyday from c and numberhree the nuclear warheads and other dangerous weapons in the delivery systems are real threat administration must not call for those the asterix and false concessions as we cannot afford to be sidetracked. after all nothing wld sto north korea from conducting another nuclear missile test if it even believes the warheads and missiles need more testing. number four the american diplomatic capability and infrastructure diplomacy is a team sport and a matter what commitments leaders make to be well staffed and resourceti diplomatic corps that it becomes a reality. the statee department must have the resources it needs to conduct american form policy around the glo and the outcome of the summit clearly indicates how much we need t carr diplomats and technical experts and also come to congress to achieve ati lasting solution but the trump administration must work with congress to shape the contours of any future deal. and any final agreement should be a tre

when mao tse-tung was looking at how north korea and the north koreans were developing and they were going to the old stalinist ways. they were abandoning marxism, leninism. it was the cult of personality. i know victor hasritten about this, as has gordon, as have you come at the cult of personality. to some extent with this young man, his grandson. we can't look away from that dynamic either. >> there is site gigantic statue in north korea of kim il son. when they put it up, it was plated in gold on the chinese government said we are a communist regime. who should be plating idols in gold. north korea is a function of the personality cult in their literature, they attacked the idea that a personality cult is a bad idea because in their perspective it's onlyhe leader who bestows political life onto the population. it gives kim jong un some leeway in the fact that since the leaders, the ideas are law, he's free to contradict him self and everyone will applaud him. new play that clip earlier of ben rhodes, if you can't pronounce kim jong un when correctly, maybe you shouldn't be flappi

wants north korea's denuclearization north korea wants us curity guarantees commitments that have been promised and burnett done before trump is confident that this time will be different but its past efforts have shown it's a long way between a handshake and peace. alexandra how is the singapore meeting likely to go down with the us photos we have to remember that there are some very pivotal midterms coming up mid-term elections coming up later this year in the us how does this make president trump luck. yeah and we have to keep in mind that there were many experts that they were very skeptical at how the of this summit and political opponents were criticizing you asked president for holding this meeting in the first place or being ready for having we needs to have this summit without having guards and the concessions from the north korean regime so there was a lot of criticism going on the in the you asked i think that we will see a lot of you know people applauding the u.s. president if this summit is indeed going to be a success or if the president can claim it's to be successful h

and north korean delegations. president trump: [indiscernible] working to the -- together, we will get it taken care off. -- of. translator: speaking korean. >> [indiscernible] [indistinct conversations] president trump: we will be successful. it will be done. thank you very much. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. thank you very much. host: on one side, the north korean delegation, on the other side the president of the united states, donald trump, seated next to him his secretary of state, mike pompeo and john bolton in general kelly. this is another live to you. you can see the flags, the north korean and u.s. lags way that handshake took place. we should the camera situation has been moved out. you are seeing a live picture of the resort island hotel. temperatures in singapore in the mid- to the upper 70's. late spring,ly, early summer day in singapore with a 12 hour time difference. it is called they compel a hotel sentosaapella hotel on island. ghity and a favorite for celebrities who visn island tha

will be not happy to hear and briefly what's at stake for the north. i think that for the north koreans is a huge p.r. victory to be here to meet with the u.s. president donald trump because now they can say and addressing it to the domestic audience that look we are meeting with the you asked president and that means that he is treating us as equal but of course what they want what they long goal is to get the sanctions relieved to get economic growth for the country i was on the phone normally in singapore thank you. we'll of course be on the ground throughout this historic meeting if it happens there is still time for anything to happen moving on the prospects of a peace deal for the north korean peninsula is raising hopes that families divided by the korean war could be reunited the next report from bastion hearting we meet a south korean man who thought his older brother had died during the war until a letter smuggled to him from the north proved otherwise. a few old photographs and a couple of letters that he only proved one sign has that he has

think the north korean -- north korea is kim jong-un on an north korea is kim jong-un one. he has identified himself with a nuclear weapons program, with this particular brand of north korea, this modern, young, on the move north korea. nuclear weapons are part of north korea's identity, and kim jong-un's identity. that is why i think it i difficult say tt he is going to give up all of this after having completed what his iandfathertart, to say, am going to start getting rid of nuclear weapons. ms. demick: do you think he could get it -- give it up question mark would he have the support -- give it up? go for economic integration? with the military stand behind him? ms. pak: after the so-called purge, the recent purge of the three hardline military people with moderate military people, i be carefuled to about characterizing any north korean official as hard-line or moderate. poste are our terms thate on to them. they will be hardline when kim wants them to be. the person who met with president trump last three, when he became the united front director, everyone thought he w

it's much less than either of those, and in each case then north korea backed off. given that they've gotten a lot of the things they've already wanted, the worry, very real, is that they will back off here too having taken their little bag of goies homeng us empty handed leaving the president empty handed so it is too early to say because we don't have anything yet. >> last one? >> [inaudible]. >> the corker amendment, leader mcconnell has said he wouldn't allow to the floor. we would like to see a vote on the corker amendment, and there's been a proposal that makes it far more palatable to many that it be just directed at nato allies, canada, the western europe, because how can they be national security concerns with them if they are members of an alliance like nato? thank you, everybody. >> health and human services secretary testified this morning on president trump's prescription drug pricing plan before the senate health education labor and pensions committee. watch the hearing tonight at 10:00 eastern time here on c-span 2. >> suny night, television and radio