dai visited north korea to discuss mounting tension on the korean peninsula triggered by the north's s on south korea. >>> north korea's secretive stance makes it extremely difficult to gather information about its real motivations. nhk world's shuhei ikihata traveled to china's border with the north to get a closer impression of everyday life on the other side. >> reporter: the chinese city of changbai in the province of jili lies on the border with north korea. across the yalu river is the north korean town of hyesan. the stream here is so narrow, you can literally hear voices from the other side. in the winter, the river freezes and becomes a natural bridge for the countless north koreans hoping to cross into china. the shore is lined with old wooden houses and traffic is sparse. even on a normal weekday, the city seems to be cloaked in silence and most factories appear to be at a standstill. despite a temperature of minus 10 degrees celsius, many women are washing clothes by the river. the bridge linking hyesan and changbai is one of the trade routes between north korea and china.

validate a country led by a dictator constantly desires to destabilize the region. >> meanwhile north korea's agenciesthe government will continue stres if south korea violates a disput sea border. south koea's president has vowed to retaate strongly if thenorth attacks again. ephram gram cbn news. >> north korea is one of the most repressive nations in the world. a place where christianitis out lawed and believers are put into labor camps simply for owning bible or attending a prayer meeting. recently, cbn news sat down with carl muller and spoke about the brutality prisoners face the camps. >> one day i hope the world understandwhat these camps are like. they are worse because of the extreme inhumanity of people than the camps at oush its. they are designed to work people to death. they are intentional in making people suffer. they have gone so far as to experiment people just like they did in nazi germany. these are not second hand accous. we have firsthand accounts of people that have witnessed these in the labor camps. i truly believe christians, our brothers and sisters in north korea a

do you need a north korea. these military drills as provocative we know that they certainly the u.s. and japan's involvement with south korea has provoked seventy five state threats today though they've loosely said that they perhaps we willing to have to face that they'd be willing to welcome the i.a.e.a. in to examine clear facilities and we know the new government in south korea. perhaps coming under pressure from the public especially in the wake of the attack to make them but to really take a tougher stance towards north korea that is the russian ambassador to the u.n. . the u.n. saying that it's really hate now that talk to me and this sort of situation can be a peaceful situation could be resolved. if the situation is spiraling out of control. ok sara for thanks so much for that. and in fact for more on what's happening on the korean peninsula we're now joined by your guitar ryan the director of korean studies at the institute of economics in the russian economy of sciences thank you for joining us here

. >>> the united states says it's too early to resume the six-party talks on north korea. according to a senior white house official, the north isn't remotely ready for negotiations on its nuclear program. china has proposed holding an emergency meeting of the chief delegates of the six-party talks, but the white house repeated its skepticism on tuesday. >> the belligerent actions that the north koreans have demonstrated over the past many weeks i don't think provide anybody the confidence that they are even remotely ready to resume in a responsible way those talks. >> gibbs said the talks will be restarted when the north shows a willingness to change its behavior. north korea has shown a more flexible stance in recent days. it reportedly consented to u.n. nuclear inspections of its uranium enrichment during talks in pyongyang with bill richardson. he's the governor of the u.s. state of new mexico. but gibbs said the united states is not interested in words but in actions. he said north korea is not living up to its obligations. >>> a giant christmas decoration has been ill

vowing a retaliation against north korea. while the japanese foreign minister saying his nation's military ties with south korea would slowly increase in response to the north. a radio address president lee conducted yesterday. the south has held a series of military drills apparently intended to show the north that it is ready to strike back forcefully if provoked again. guest: this is a change. i think that would ever political calculations -- and some were correct and some were not necessarily as strong as the could have been -- the south has always tried to diffuse situations in which the north aggressively attacked. but in 2010, the north has killed, murdered 50 south korean civilians, unprovoked attacks. i don't think a democratic government can survive not responding in some way. what we have seen first is there has been a very strong chains and the rhetoric on the part of president lee and south korea. very little talk of going back to the six-party talks anytime soon. very little talk, except from china, about diffusi

the inspectors left north korea i think in april of 2009. but the situation in terms of the nuclear program is a lot more complex. the north koreans announced a new facility at the main i don't think bee i don't think complex and almost every expert who has looked at this believes that there are other facilities around the country. there's no indication they would let the inspectors outside of... >> i certainly agree we look better than we did yesterday but i saw the north korean statement they said they did not need to respond to the childish behavior of the south koreans but they also said there will be a second strike and a third strike, implying there will be more shelling along the lines of what we've seen before and/or other sorts of provocations. there's one thing we can say about the north koreans since 2006 is that despite international pressure and chinese pressure, they are prepared to continue to and we're also seeing the south korean government is considerably more hard line because of domestic pressure that they have to respond.

the statement commits north korea to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs. another condition is that the north must accept inspectors from the international atomic energy agency again. north korea expelled them in april 2009. >>> during his recent visit to pyongyang, chinese state councillor dai bingguo conveyed what the u.s., south korean and japanese ministered had discussed. dai had meetings with kim jong il among others. according to japanese officials, north koreans were quoted as saying they would not heighten tensions if the united states and south korea do not launch acts of provocation. the north koreans also reportedly said they would consider accepting iaea inspectors. the japanese government says it plans to keep calling on north korea to meet the five necessary conditions for resuming the six party talks. >>> in the commodities market crude oil prices are on the rise again. the benchmark wti futures rose above $90 a barrel in new york on wednesday. for the first time in 26 months. higher oil prices worldwide are pushing up the cost of petrochemic

its facilities to inspectors from the international atomic energy agency. >> north korea has officially acknowledged it is constructing a light water nuclear reactor and is operating a uranium enrichment plant. the foreign ministers of japan, the u.s. and south korea are scheduled to meet in washington on monday to address tensions on the korean peninsula. maehara said he wants to discuss with his u.s. and south korean counterparts which conditions must be met before the three countries accept china's proposal for talks. >>> large scale joint japanese-u.s. military drills have begun in various locations across japan. the eight-day exercise kicked off on wednesday involving 60 ships and 400 airplanes. 45,000 personnel from japan's self-defense forces and the u.s. military are participating. >> continuing to build the u.s. navy's relationship with the japanese self-defense forces is an important step forward as we work together for the defense of japan. >> the maneuvers include training on shooting down incoming ballistic missiles. they are simulating defensive drills in kyushu and okinaw

ministry spokesperson kim young sun said it is as yet unclear what activities north korea will allow the inspectors to carry out. he added south korea needs to take various factors into consideration before it can determine north korea's intentions. >>> that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo. we'll be back in half an hour. thanks for joining us on nhk world.

refusal to start the dialogue is to really should north korea even to get into concessions well that was korea that you ordered from the russian capital. now a group of influential iranian m.p.'s have voted for to round to break all diplomatic ties with the u.k. after its ambassador criticized the country's human rights record the move comes on the back of iran's claim that britain's intelligence service was involved in the assassination of a top frances. was killed during a bomb attack in the reigning capital last month to round base a political commentator can the party says the threats to break off ties is a warning that iran will not stand for britain's meddling iran doesn't seem to have a problem with britain and the us for as long as. i could i mix and scientists are not assassinated in broad daylight in tehran very little happens here when things like this happen when bombs go off it is almost always from overseas seems to still be you know. person. type of. and it feels that it speak out against the domestic affairs of other nations it will whereas iranian lawmakers quite clea

>> there was no basis for any other response by north korea. this was an internal matter for north -- for south korea. its military has a right to exercise within its own borders. it was not a threat to north korea. south koreans announced the exercise in advance. it was not a surprise to north korea. this is exactly how countries are supposed to work. >> so they don't get a gold star for not doing anything? >> no. >> this is not something you think is positive? you have been pushing them to take steps to reduce tensions. >> there was no basis for a provocative response like there was to the exercise last month. >> what about what the north koreans told governor richard send -- richardson about letting inspectors back in? >> and a joint u.s. north korean and south korea and hot line or something? >> governor richardson is on a private visit. he did not ask our permission before he went. we did not approve his visit. we would expect to get a report from him when he returns from north korea. it will have that perspective as to what it was north ko

nuclear program and express nod interest in re-opening the dialogue with north korea. they say the three country also call on china to increase pressure on the north. >>> the federal reserve says the u.s. economy is continuing to improve gradually but its outlook remains uncertain because of a sluggish housing market. on wednesday, the u.s. central bank released it's so-called "beige book" the latest survey of business activity and says the overall economy is on a recovery tract including chicago and new york improving at a faster pace than before. manufacturing is growing and most districts due to the auto industry. consumer spending is picking up especially in new car sales and tourism. that may bode well for the holiday shopping season. employment rose slightly in most districts but businesses are still cautious about hiring or raising wages. meanwhile, the housing market has worsened over the past six weeks with home prices falling in some districts. >>> the u.s. manufacturing index also continued to grow in november. that's the 16th straight month it's pim proved b

you consider that you consider president leaves hostility toward north korea. it's his policy of confrontation the escalating war games and it's hard not to conclude that south korea is trying to precipitate a fight to pick a fight trying to provoke its northern neighbor and briefly does the u.s. have any role here in fanning the flames it all does of course pledging continued support to the south and the north. absolutely i mean the united states' policy for the last sixty years has been to see the collapse of the north korean state and its absorption into the south. the lead government is more closely aligned with u.s. foreign policy goals on the korean peninsula than say the government's president's role in president kim. in south korea. president lee is often times seen as a puppet of the united states and the area around his office is called by many south koreans the news united state of south korea is there ever a danger do you think that the north would ever play the car that it's that it's brought out yet again talking about maybe using its nuclear deter

to change north korea does not want to change north korea's prepared is doing everything possible to avoid this change because it simply cannot sustain any economic or political change so resides on the other for a north korean regime it's a survival south korea is doing everything possible to destabilize the situation either militarily or using to provide the traditional usual for this time trying policy they can use on truck about destabilizing the region the south has been staging these nonstop military war games i think approximately forty nine times this year alone what's the logic behind this well south korea is a security ally of the united states and united states is presence in the region united states really wants to influence its control over the group in utah united states our station for this station in the sky. and part of the korean peninsula these what irritates north korea tremendously sort of feels threatened intimidated cornered. this very fact actually creates the paranoia from the north korean side and north korea has to spend more and more resources on its se

> meanwhile, political analysts say north korea is expected to seek a dialogue with the united states and south korea next year on its nuclear development. >>> north korea's move to accept u.n. inspectors is being taken as an indication that the north is preparing to take a softer stance on the nuclear issue. but they also say the u.s. and the south will possibly reject the north's call for discussion if they find its measures abandon its nuclear program insufficient. north korea could then possibly conduct a third nuclear test or test launch a long distance ballistic missile. on economic matters, north korea wants to be what it calls an economic power. analysts say the north will have to intensify its efforts to reconstruct its economy next year in order to help strengthen the authority of kim jong-un who has been appointed as the successor to his father, kim jong-il. >>> south korea raised its foot and mouth disease alert to the highest level to deal with an outbreak spreading across livestock in the country. the virus was confirmed in late november in pigs on a farm in the southern

by north korea by china by russia until now the u.s. has only been talking with south korea and japan two countries that it occupies and has occupied for sixty five years so they really have no political military independence in a situation like this so the very fact that the u.n. security council meeting took place was an important step yet nevertheless the danger increases as long as all of the ships aircraft carriers troops are in the region and continue these very dangerous military maneuvers again and again every one of them is a provocation any one of them really could lead to a wider war. i think everyone has at this point the announcement from north korea saying that they would not respond to these provocations is an important important step but the real step is to push south korea and the u.s. japan to stop these military maneuvers when some of that is our country which is that involved in this situation which is all they are willing for this is russia it's calling for calm in the region how important would you say the country's

i think that the south korean goals are to pressure north korea. even reached a conflict to. isolate and to further further influence north korean regime supposing that it will. later which is absolute and based on have been saying it's ready for talks for several months already. it has been said to the chinese it has been said publicly. so parrot is ready for dialogue or dialogue both on the issues of nuclear nuclear program and the broader issues of security in the korean peninsula unfortunately that's the u.s. and south korea who are not ready for the dialogue and this gives us another suspicion that the real goal of both exercises this. refusal to start the dialogue is to really pressure north korea into concessions of time been watchin north korea close with this for last thirty five years i would say that the danger war is now is now real and it can start actually unpredictably you never know what what what may happen and you never know how far the conflicts will develop. your way that we are still ahead for you this hour a campaign of fear the u.s. media around scaremon

all of these men and women escape from north korea and are living here in the south. this man served the north korean army for 16 years. he says that the south korean army has gone soft and they need to toughen up. hawkish attitudes are essential to these veterans with dark glasses. many are calling not just for a stronger response but to a pre- emptive strike. south korea is not ready to let a former enemy soldiers in to their army, so the commanders spend their time giving power point presentation is on the abilities of the north korean military. the colleagues will share the task of defending the streets. public support for a tougher start might be growing but among the army's newest recruits, it is not just the women who confessed to being scared. >> the tokens left behind by mothers forced to abandon their babies in 18th-century england have gone on display at the museum in london. thomas coram was supported by the artist william hogarth among others in his founding of the hospital. >> here, every page in every book is infested with a motion. each one recalls the

north korea. on the south poles. right across the border. no longer with the. big shots to take cover in the kaiser report coming your way next. for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. bringing you the latest in science and technology from the realm of. the future are covered. imax kaiser and this is the cause the report i'm here in london where the backers are demanding their year end bonuses and the government is asking the blues mr don't steal any money and the bankers are saying wait a minute if we can steal your money we might leave.

the north korea has now responded to these military drills to the carried out this morning by south korea despite previous threats that they said that they would respond but she was taken they've not said that the north going to retaliate the reason that they cited that this was the south korea actually changed its firing say and say the shells that came from that military. actually learned of further away from north korean territory i know from previous military drills that are being carried out unconfirmed reports of these shells. on north korean territory and that's possibly what provoked the attack that we saw the last time this military drill was carried out but we have heard of course north korea saying that is cool. this is cool there's a military provocation and they despite the risks south korea did go ahead. to take these pills this morning on the island of. the speech at sea territory we had about two thousand feet people were evacuated from that frontline border. move people who had moved to the mainland save the weekends when the warnings had. no this also comes off to a toes

north korea. also true with iran. and as i watched president bush, bush 43, come into office i was hopeful there would be a bolder position with regard to our posture with north korea and iran. i remember serving in congress some of those years and watched how the political handcuffs were put on george w. bush in such a way he didn't have the political support to use the bold actions that i believe might have been necessary then to avert the nuclear power that has materialized in north korea, nor the impending nuclear power that appears to be materializing in iran. i don't think george bush was able to utilize the tools. i don't know if he had the will. i believe he did. i believe he had the judgment but not the political tools because this congress was so lined up against president bush, there were so many debates on this side of the aisle that were lined up against the commander in chief, 44 votes forced by this speaker of the house designed to unfund or undermine our troops to diminish the power of the commander in

north korea's a member of the united nations and so there is no problem with our engaging with north nd of engagement to take place in what we would like to see under the circumstances are a clear indication from the north than it wants to pursue dialogue for the purpose of achieving concrete results. we are prepared to address concerns that north korea has in the context of a meaningful dialogue so long as we have a clear indication north korea is prepared to meet its own obligations. >> the there are. >> i know this friday the president is going to meet some chinese dissidents in the white house and it is on the eve of the nobel peace prize laureate ceremony. can you talk more about who the president is going to meet and in what form it is going to be in, which room in the white house is going to have the meeting. thank you. >> as you may have noticed in the introduction i and am the deputy secretary of state so you will have to direct your question to the white house. >> mohamed of reuters. can you shed any light on how you would like china to make clear to north korea that its act

they could solve north korea in

security council remains divided over north korea's artillery attack over a south korean island last month. envoys held unofficial talks last monday. japan and the united states demanded that the council condemn the north for shelling the island last month. china's deputy minister said that peace is in the interest of both the koreas and is urging both parties to exercise maximum restraint. susan rice said because of the impasse it was not productive to continue discussing the matter. >>> north korea has not reacted to south korea's live fire drill on monday. the north is showing restraint in order to engage the united states in direct talks. the south resumed their drills in the yellow sea had been suspended since the north's attack last month. the north threatened military strikes if the south goes ahead with the drill and said the consequences would be more serious than last month's artillery attack. the north korean issued a statement on monday dismissing the drill as not worth responding to. >>> the u.s. governor of new mexico, bill richardson, is currently visiting north korea a

saiki expressed hope for russia's diplomatic efforts to rein in north korea, noting that north korean foreign minister pack ui chun is scheduled to visit russia next week. >>> south korea's government and weapon manufacturers have resolved to boost the domestic defense industry amid growing tensions on the korean peninsula. on thursday the south's defense ministry and arms manufacturers held a seminar to discuss the country's military capabilities. south korean forces struggled to effectively respond to a north korean artillery attack on yeonpyeong island last month due to problems with waep weapons deployed there. a member of the presidential advisory commission asked weapons manufacturers to analyze the problems and quickly improve domestic capabilities. an industry representative pledged to help enhance the country's defenses. an official said the government continues to support the defense industry as a pillar of the nation's growth strategy. south korea's government and military industry are jointly promoting arms exports. on thursday president lee myung bak agreed with indonesia

oh wow i mean i think in terms of the bottles it will clearly be science in north korea with the americans assisting and less with troops than with if you want naval and air force components that will try early on to take out a north korean nuclear facilities and possibly the north korean leadership. and i suspect that in terms of winning a conventional war the the the americans the south koreans opposed to the japanese have got forty times more weapons potential than the north korea i don't see the chinese joining in so it would be an easy military win for the sides but i think maybe a longer term of it out enormous cost the estimate is a million people could die it's not a career in this seven day war so it's. it's it's a what we call in a pyrrhic victory it's a victory at enormous cost to be a victory when almost cost what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and stop the stop on a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example could give up their their fuel rods from the young real nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that migh

is able to do and north korea doesn't want to be dictated to by anybody. certainly united states and korea but not china. there are clashes between chinese and north koreans postal forces in which people are killed. so i think china wants to stop this north koreans aggressive behavior but they don't have a strong hand to tell them to stop it. >> rose: do we know much about north korea? >> yes, we know quite a bit about north korea. i can't go into details, but the patterns of north korean behavior as i've watched the intelligence on it have been pretty well predicted and understood. the particular incidents not so much so, but the general places at risk. we also don't know... again, we don't know things that the north koreas themselves don't know. how long the regime will hold on. when kim jong il will die. some of those sorts of specific things. but we know in general the way the system works. >> it always amazes me the process is happening in egypt it happened in syria and is happening in north korea twice now. where a family wants to pass on control of t

north korea says it's ready for use its nuclear deterrent and what it calls a sacred war against the south the north defense minister's statement was reported by state media there the minister accused seoul of deliberately stoking tension by staging successive joint military drills with the us next to the north territory he said the latest exercise one of the largest in the south history was an outright preparation for an attack against pyongyang the maneuvers involved heavy military machinery fighter jets missile launches and hundreds of troops from as hell just thirty kilometers from north korea the series of war games comes in the wake of the recent cross border artillery exchange that killed four south koreans foreign policy analyst stephen garlands told me that seoul has designs on its northern neighbor. i think that peeling. has very few options you must recognize that north korea is a military pipsqueak in relation to south korea whose military budget is many times larger than north koreans and south korea is integrated with the preeminent military power in the world today the

relations with north korea no concessions no cooperation or talks to south korea expects north korea to change north korea does not want to change north korea's prepared is doing everything possible to avoid this change because it simply cannot sustain any economic or political change so resides on the four north korean regime it's a survival south korea's doing everything possible to destabilize the situation either militarily or using to provide the traditional usual for the sunshine policy south korea is a security ally of the united states and united states is presence in the region and states really wants to influence its control over the group when you throw united states aspasia station in the southern part of the korean peninsula china's next door from the korean peninsula and of course if the united states loses control or influence over korea korean peninsula north korea if so unified korea becomes a new dependent state well the certain interests of the united states' national interests might be jeopardized. let's not check some world news and brief the president of the mar

two people died, dozens wounded, when north korea decides to open up on some island. your reaction? >> i have two reactions. first of all, south korea isn't even signing a trade pact with us. they make hundreds of billions of dollars of let's call it profit on the united states. the president goes over there recently and they embarrass him by saying we want more. you wouldn't believe me. this deal that we're making is so bad and they won't even sign it. then they get bomb and we send -- i say two things. why aren't they paying us? they make a fortune. why aren't they paying us for security? why are we doing this for nothing? we are the dumbest people. i see that they embarrass us by not signing the trade pact, then i see the boats sailing, these magnificent destroyers, most incredible thing i've ever seen, and they're all going over, i mean, what's wrong with us? why aren't they paying? by the way, i'd say number one, sign the pact that we want, not the pact that you want. and number two, and more importantly, i want you to pay us for protection. you know what, they'll do it. all you

coast many miles north of the demilitarized zone that in itself is a provocation so here is south korea us and backing support and u.s. participation and the united states moving nuclear power to nuclear weapons aircraft carriers still regularly into the region off the coast this these are really dangerous provocations and i think the u.n. security council meeting was an important effort to call on all sides but but nevertheless in the even in the face of that and world calls. south korea and the u.s. went ahead with these military exercises on its way here naughty tangled in a web the reports whole and free zones playing victim to agreements sensationalism . and want your grown ones to come to its ties with you take it down to just. moscow has warned lawmakers in washington that any change to a new nuclear arms reduction deal could destroy the percs foreign minister in the role of said that for russia the start treaty is not up for renegotiation meanwhile the u.s. senate rejected all amendments from republicans seeking to do that either ratification to january when they hear a majority

on north korea at the north korea for its part has that that it's not going to welcome i.a.e.a. inspectors to come and examine its nuclear facilities at the moment russia and china certainly made it clear that there are pacing any actions that can be seen to inflame the tensions there are existing at the event. well some more reaction to this your guitar ryan from the russian academy of sciences says the probability of war between the two koreas is now at its highest point for decades first time i've been watching north korea close of this for the last thirty five years i would say that the danger war is now is now real and it can start unpredictably you know have been saying it's ready for talks for several months already. it has been said to the chinese it has been said publicly. so parrot is ready for dialogue for dialogue both on the issues of nuclear nuclear program and the broader issues of security in the korean peninsula fortunately the u.s. and south korea while not waiting for the dialogue. gives us another suspicion that the real goal of more exercise is. a refusal to

the united states constantly holding various military drills in the region in fact even after north korea's attack on that island south korea and the united states hold a new set of military exercises south korea's has also recently held the new moreland which is calling for even closer ties with washington and this is definitely an intimidating factor for north korea and such close ties with the united states at this point where this moment may make the tensions even higher so the two foreign ministers are definitely have a lot to talk about here in moscow all right we're going to scare now live from the foreign ministry let's keep the conversation going we're joined now to talk about the situation on the korean peninsula by going to tell the riaa who's the director of korean studies at the russian academy of sciences thank you for being with us why do you think these talks are being kept behind closed doors. well that's a normal practice them that talks between foreign ministers are held between hold closed doors and only after them the mayor says may or may not and the cost of the press

i think that the south korean goals are to pressure north korea and even to reach the conflict to. isolate and to further. further influence north korean regime sup of supposing that it will capitulate which is excellent and based cannot have been saying it's ready for talks for several months already and it has been said to the chinese it has been said publicly. so pale it is ready for dialogue or dialogue both on the issues of nuclear nuclear program and the broader issues of security and we've been slow unfortunately abates the u.s. and south korea were not ready for the dialogue and biggest gives us another suspicion that the real goal of both exercises and. a refusal to stop the dialogue is to really fresh enough that we integrate into concessions of first time to watch in north korea close the best for last thirty five years i would say that the danger war is now is now real and it can start actually unpredictably it's you never know what what what may happen and you never know how far the conflicts would develop. but the u.s. already fighting two wars and has been revealed as

north korea calls all jittery drills by the south are reckless military provocation . to refrain from retaliation despite previous threats of war council to avoid further tension. prosser is battling with an overflow of illegal immigrants of the trend shows no sign of slowing down even though they come from poor central asian states that are not doing that much better in this country. and poor living conditions and with paid jobs. there is more news than around thirty minutes time but now with some to put a link here as we go to sign to explore a stunning nature is in the heart of the russian wilds. siberia's largest city and a major industrial center. a unique nature reserve called the crescent. the pillars can be found only four kilometers away from the city here thousands of.

early morning thursday, already here, we're getting ready to head off to north korea in the next fewerrs. i'm here with governor bill richardson, the former ambassador of the united nations. he's been invited by the north koreans to go there. i'm going along to cover this trip and we'll speak with him in just a moment. tom foreman is standing by. this is an incredibly tense moment. the tensions may be the most serious since 1953. set the scene for us. what is going on with north korea's missile capability. >> that is one of the reasons that it's so tense. it's a relatively small area and it's been building up power over time. let's zoom in here to look at what we do know, which is somewhat limited. they have three main types of missiles that we pay attention to. the scud missile, you've heard a lot about it. it's a limited range. if i show you how far it will go, it's about 200 miles. it's not a huge range. it hit south korea and half of that country, if you're firing from the middle here. it gets into china a little bit and that's about it. if you look at the second type of missile, t

north korea says it will not retaliate against the south close to a disputed maritime soon but how can the minute you drills calling them a reckless provocation russia called for a u.n. security council session warning that the war exercises could further destabilize the already volatile korean peninsula. because i reports from. the events of the last couple of days are definitely the threats and warning signs that have been coming from north korea have been having the international community certainly walking on egg shells here in new york the united nations security council has been meeting round the clock throughout the weekend these emergency sessions were called for by russia which is certainly not taking the tensions between south and north korea likely whatsoever for many different reasons one of them of course being russia's proximity to a possible conflict as well as a serious threat that any tensions including a war would cause to the international community let's take a listen to what the russian ambassador to the u.n. said here in new york last night. there may be a divisio

south korea suspended the drills in the wake of north korea's shelling of the island on november 23rd, that killed four people. south korea plans to resume the drills between saturday and next tuesday depending on weather conditions. the south says, artillery shells will be fired at sea in the opposite direction to a u.n. designated maritime border. but the north does not recognize this border and claims that the waters around the island are its territory. the north's official korean central news agency reported on friday evening that the military had requested in writing earlier in the day as south korea immediately canceled the drills. >> a south korean military official acknowledged they had received the request, but said they do not have to give into the north's threat. >>> u.s. joint chiefs of staff vice chairman james cartwright has expressed concern that tensions could escalate on the korean peninsula. >> if that is misunderstood or if it's taken advantage of as an opportunity, if north korea were to react to that in a negative way and fire back, that would start potentially a

bbc news, brussels. >> artillery shells into the disputed see border with north korea. live fire in an exercise, but p'yongyang says it is not worth reacting to although it is a reckless exercise. american politician bill richardson is traveling. we have this report from seoul, korea. >> it was not just the liberal threats from north korea. south korea counted down for its live fire exercises. they blamed the u.s. for being a bigger threat on the peninsula and north korea and called for the drills to stop. but despite such concerns of other voices of restraint in the region, south korea went ahead with eli fire drills on schedule. on the island, villagers and journalists were moved to bunkers and the exercise went on for about 60 minutes, and then they asked why north korea has to carry out these at such a sensitive time. some believe it was that they wanted to prove a point. the government here is try not to be prescriptive about when and where military drills can take place. >> the ongoing live fire exercise on yeonpyeong island is a standard and legitimate defense exe

ambassador to seoul that north korea had already collapsed economically. chun also reportedly said china has less influence over the country than is widely believed. another u.s. document shows that a chinese foreign ministry official in april last year told a u.s. diplomat that north korea was acting like a spoiled child to achieve its demand of bilateral talks with the united states. another leaked cable dated in june of last year shows that a chinese official criticized japan's stance on the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program. the official reportedly told a u.s. diplomat that japan's obsession with the abduction issue reminded him of a chinese proverb about an individual who's too weak to make something work but strong enough to interfere. >>> meanwhile, one of the latest pieces of information shows china opposed japan's bid to become a permanent member of the u.n. security couns. embassy in logged the document in april of last year. it reveals that a senior chinese foreign ministry official told a u.s. diplomat the u.n. security council s

respond that it will respond we haven't seen any response from north korea yes but we've seen over the past couple of months these tensions rising between the sides of the last time the south korea carried out one of these military drills and they found the twenty third on the same island north korea responding by shelling of the island in one of the worst since the north korean war ended in one thousand nine hundred fifty three and that is to civilians killed and team really close outrage among the south korean public and amongst the why did international community to say south korea said that these are stunted military drills that they carried out square with saying that you know they still this woman even. with these military drills being carried out today. this as the provocation now we've also heard the. government. under pressure from the public also the recent attacks to take the stuff the stuns tools north korea and we know north korea has been saying we need that is perhaps willing to enter into some discussion into tools we know that the gangs that inspectors and they're will