north korea. so how did north korea achieve its nuclear ambitions?e show how their spies have been trying to steal blueprints for missiles. of course, they need technology, components, illicit activities to fuel the nuclear missile programmes. insiders who worked for the regime tell panorama how it uses secret front companies to fund its weapons programme. their top priority is building this nuclear arsenal. so what can president trump do as kim jong—un threatens the world? north korea is a situation that should have been handled 25 years ago, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago and five years ago, but i'll fix the mess. this is a live fire exercise. mr kim is ready for war. his ultimate target may be america, but it's south korea which will find itself on the frontline first. millions of people in the capital, seoul, just 35 miles away. this south korean village is only a couple of miles from the border. now villagers worry they could come under attack from their neighbour. 80—year—old lee ho—yong is in charge of the village's emergency bunker.

first, how can an economy the north korea, support its nuclear program? two, where did the personnel program come from? guest: that's a very good question. puzzled ve often been how a little country like north korea could possibly either out how to make nuclear weapons and icbm's and a other missiles. it is what they put their priority on. they devote probably 25% of entire budget toward the military and another percentage agileation of statues throughout the country and big leadership.s of the and have sort of scrimped saved and devoted resources, not oward helping their own citizens, who are malnourish, they have m starve, been put it on military program, weapons.arly nuclear the program is largely components they get from outside of north korea, but not something as some people them china or russia gave nuclear weapons. they have worked on it themselves because they don't their allies, russia and china, they feel they need to be self-sufficient. host: money and personnel aren't coming from those countries for the program? a lot is coming from counterfei

south korea relations and the potential threat of north korea's nuclear program. a panel debated how the global community should approach north korea. hosted by the center for strategic and ente strategic and international studies. >> the north korean nuclear crisis. for this panel, we could not have put together a more impressive panel. a wealth of knowledge and experience on the panel. academic and policy. it's an honor to have this discussion with you guys. i think it's not an examination race to say, if anyone has been following north korea for a while. there's always been crisis of some sort between the u.s. and north korea, south korea. we've had various crisis here and there, i feel like, at least for me the current state seems different. with north korea, two icbm tests in july, the six nuclear tests that followed. and north korea has been close to completing the nuclear program, catering to their capable where they can attack the united states and it wasn't in the sense that it's not acceptable. it's a sense of urgency, that something new and different, wh

it is not realistic to talk about the entire denuclearization, entire nuclear programs by north korea. that's not achievable. that's what i hear. so you have to manage the situations and you have to somehow accommodate some kind of nuclear arsenals that north korea may maintain. the reason why i say i have a concern about that is that might suffice american interests, because they haven't reached yet their missiles and they haven't developed yet to reach the mainland america, united states. but we already are being covered by the north korea missiles. so if you say that realistic approaches may be freeze, maybe some kind of the small reduct n reductions and we start giving all kind of economic cooperations to north korea, that doesn't work for us, because that sort of continuous threat from north korea. that's very important point. and we have to make sure in that negotiated settlement or solution, the most important thing is we have to make objective aim very clear. that's denuclearization. we have to stick to that point. and in that sense i'm rather encouraged by trump administratio

weapons program again. 2006, north korea tested its first nuclear weapon. since then, north korea has conducted five more nuclear weapon tests and dozens of ballistic missile flight tests threatening american targets. i'll ask you both. if a denuclearrization agreement is reached how can we ensure that the kim regime does not fool us again like they have over the past couple of decades? >> nor i agree with you. that is the challenge. we have to -- if an agreement is reached we are going to having to very carefully hold them to account. we cannot get to the same place we are in today and again, we would maximize it the pressure that we've put on in a calibrated way to avoid that, the perilous situation we're in today. >> do you care to comment? >> yeah, i think what we would have to do is make sure we have the entire international community on board for the enforcement of the agreement and it's very clear what the stipulations are in the enforcement that we have inspectors in. it would be an intrusive inspection regime and we would have to lay out of

in itself is creating increased tensions here and general mattis was at pains to warn north korea that any nuclear attack with weapons would be met with a very very massive military response and he did intimate that north korea could not win in that situation having said that his tone in the last two days has been more conciliatory than that of president trump you may remember his fire and fury speech at the united nations in august and also his threat to totally destroy north korea and he has resorted to a word a war of words of mass destruction and people are worried that the world may turn to weapons there was a lot of concern here the united states is upped its defenses its bought three naval carrier groups into the region it's flown it's moved its five stealth fighters to japan just in case the president trumps visit produces some kind of reaction from north korea they've conducted six nuclear test most of those have been underground but the north korean foreign minister has warned that they will conduct an atmospheric nuclear test and who knows what that will provoke but there is a lot of co

but we want to make sure iran does not go nuclear, that north korea does not expand its nuclear weapons stockpile. so i think our interests in the world are for nonproliferation and limit the availability and use of nuclear weapons. >> there was a great danger that north korea will then export even more of its technology to act as we do not now have nuclear weapons and who will do us -- who don't have our interests at heart, that's a real danger. >> and god forbid shots are ever exchanged. isn't there an equal chance that the kind of fighting that could take place between south and north, again perish the thought, is the kind you served in, kinetic warfare of the classic variety? >> much more deadly because you're talking about enormous number of soldiers on both sides. we have the capability of unleashing an enormous amount of conventional capability on the north koreans, so do the south koreans and the chinese. it could be a mess. >> the president has taken away the power of diplomacy. he said i'm not interested in that, only one thing will work. >> gentlemen, we'd like to have you bo

, we're looking at a host of problems, nuclear proliferation. we know north korea is a serial proliferator, proliferates everything for money. it has not yet proliferated nuclear technology or fissile material but they could if we continue with sanctions. there is also concern that north korea the not worried about reaching survival, but after they have this power or capability to attack was a nuclear weapon their eventual goal is to push out all the u.s. forces out of the korean peninsula and unify on its own terms because they're banking on united states not coming into aid of south korea because we don't want to risk san francisco for seoul. >> so a kind of nuclear blackmail that eventually unifies the koreas under north korean terms. >> right. >> something totally different from what we always thought, it's been the other way around. >> right, because north korea thinks under sort of america first policy or even just -- maybe not today but once they have this capability, will americans get back in there to save south korea in coming to an aid of an ally. that's

the american defence ministry says america will never accept a nuclear north korea. is spoke after speaking to south korean officials and said any use of nuclear weapons against the us or allies would be met with a massive and overwhelming military response. the united states does not accept a nuclear north korea. we have repeatedly emphasised diplomats are most effective when backed by credible military force in this sort of situation. make no mistake on any attack on the united states or our allies will be defeated. any use of nuclear weapons by the north will be met with a massive military response effective immediately. south africa is in trouble, a young democracy now engulfed by a spectacular corruption scandal. at its heart, allegedly, president jacob zuma and a wealthy family, the guptas, originally from india. it is claimed they used their close ties to win contracts and siphon off huge payments, claims they denied. from south africa, andrew harding reports. south africa is in trouble, a young democracy now engulfed by a spectacular corruption scandal. at its

the united states did not accept a nuclear north korea make no mistake any attack on the united states or our allies will be defeated you any used of nuclear weapons by the north will be met with the massive military effect of an overwhelming the u.n. secretary general is calling on militia groups in the central african republic to put down their weapons he's completing a four day trip to the country where violence between muslim and christian groups has been escalating nicholas hawk said this report from. the united nations secretary general received like a village. there were high hopes placed on this visit especially for the many here wanted to see an end to the fighting between muslim and christian armed groups. why are the u.n. peacekeepers so slow to react when asked what are you doing to help children going hungry asks another can you not desire these gangs that have taken our country hostage in the central african republic there are many demands placed on the twelve thousand un peacekeepers. the un's mandate is to protect the civilian population but scores have been killed a pe

alliance between seoul and washington is i had the clad the united states did not accept a nuclear north korea make no mistake any attack on the united states or our allies will be defeated uni used of nuclear weapons by the north will be met with a massive military effect of an overwhelming in south africa two white farmers found guilty of forcing a black man into a coffin and threatening to burn him alive had been jailed they were both sentenced to more than ten years the assault on a victim without sua was captured on a mobile phone and australia's foreign minister has become acting prime minister in the aftermath of a legal ruling that's forced the country's second in charge to step down now the country's highest court found that barnaby joyce and four other politicians were ineligible to stay in office because of their jewels citizenship the prime minister has decided against appointing a temporary deputy and his stead julie bishop as his standard when he travels overseas later in the week of course he is one of those stories on our website at al-jazeera dot com those were the headlines o

north korea staged a show of defiance in pyongyang. (crowd chanting) >> north koreans have themselves told me that they are willing to use nuclear weapony when they feel truly threatened. what i'm concerned about is for north korea to miscalculate and misunderstand our intentions and think an attack is coming, or regime change is coming when we're-we're not doing that. and this is a problem when there's a lot of bluster with very heightened rhetoric of "fire and fury" and "locked and loaded" and so on, because it could lead north koreans to miscalculate. >> narrator: in this propaganda video released two weeks later, north korea threatened to launch a strike on america's pacific base of guam. >> one of the biggest, hardest questions facing the united states and other countries is why, why does north korea want a nuclear weapon so desperately, and why is it willing to give up so much in order to achieve it? there is one school of thought, which says that they fundamentally just want self-defense. they looked at what happened to saddam hussein, muammar gaddafi and they decided that will never be us, we will never give up our weapons prog

defense secretary has warned north korea against escalating its nuclear and missile tests james mattis is in the south korean capital seoul for two days of talks and he says the threat of a nuclear attack from the north also known as the d.p. r. k. is excel orating if it remains on its current path of ballistic missiles and atomic bombs it will be counterproductive be in effect the d.p. r. k. will be reducing its own security. live now to our correspondent in seoul tony betty tony says the secretary of defense then offering up tough words for north korea but words of reassurance for the south. yes indeed very strong words again following the pattern that's been set in washington and he made it quite clear that the you know united states will not tolerate any nuclear weapons attack and that would happen if that would happen that would provoke a response a massive military response from the united states and that's words i think for south korea who is very concerned they're basically in the backyard of north korea they're very concerned about every step that north koreans take he was ver

certainly nuclear weapons in north korea. i think this is how they accept north korea would be a disaster opinion we are going to get regional nuclear proliferation. they're not just going to sit there about the fact of the matter is with north korea there is an impetus to get our own deterrent. >> there's another reality of calculation, misinformation, confusion or the sale of the proliferation issue, ladies and gentlemen. that plutonium nuclear reactor in syria that was taken out in 2007, there's no doubt in my mind there was money vans acted in that. and now the possibility of nuclear weapons out there, accidentally, purposefully, what have you, this is not where we want to go, let me end on this point. all options are on the table. i mention secretary of state rex tillerson offering exploratory talks to determine if negotiations can be done. they want to prove they have that capability of being a real existential threat to the u.s. that's okay. they have these miss ils and nuclear warheads, and they have their vitriolic st

now, with this deal and with north korea, you can slow down technological growth, but you can never stop it. iran, in time, will become a nuclearstate. north korea is a nuclear state that i don't think can hit the united states right now, but they are coming to that point. the country that has the problem with iran is israel and israel is a technological superstate,ic however the geographics are very small. basically, the size of rhode island. you need is to nuclear warheads to hit israel and israel ceases to exist. you can't stop it, you can only slow down, and one other thing, israel and saudi arabia today, they've got like a quiet alliance. they have to keep it quiet. saudi arabia, sunni muslim, iran is shiite muslim, they are at each other's throat.

north korea right now. one of kim jong-un's top diplomats says north korea's nuclear weapons program is nonnegotiable and the u.s. needs to co-exist with a nuclear armed north korea. our correspondents, analysts and specialists, they will have full coverage of the day's stories, but let's begin with cnn's sara murray. she's over at the white house. sara, the white house clearly standing by the chief of staff john kelly's criticism of congresswoman wilson. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. and nearly everyone involved in this has lamented, expressed regret that this incident has turned into some kind of political battle, and yet again today folks are trading barbs as this political fight spills into another day. the president's response to a u.s. soldier killed in niger devolving into a political brawl. trump taking to twitter again overnight to blast the congresswoman who accused him of being insensitive in a condolence call when he told myesha johnson, the would off of sergeant la david johnson that her husband knew what he got into when he signed up to the serve. the fake news is going crazy with whacky con

not not at all that's a pretty self serving argument honestly north korea has only had nuclear weapons for the past ten years and of course north korea wouldn't have acquired nuclear weapons if you had banned them earlier and actually been on the past on the credible past was designed and of course north korea sees that we as we have absolutely no intention of going towards nuclear disarmament they feel threatened and as a poor country was badly was very weak military they. think that they need nuclear weapons in order to keep themselves safe. now ex post claim that it's really because of north korea that we have nuclear weapons is clearly wrong since we have had nuclear weapons for seventy years and it's really the major powers that are protecting each as a from the pressure from the nuclear weapon free states. ok the thoughts there of lee hoffman tellme co-founder of i can germany many thanks and congratulations for winning the nobel peace prize thank you for having me thank you again. ok to a story now that's beginning to cause quite a stir in the united states american shoppers ina

military alliance between seoul and washington is ironclad that the united states did not accept a nuclear north korea make no mistake any attack on the united states or our allies will be defeated uni used of nuclear weapons by the north will be met with the massive military effect of an overwhelming in south africa two white farmers have been jailed after they were found guilty of forcing a black man into a coffin and threatening to burn him alive the two men captured the assault on a mobile phone they claim victim a lot more was trespassing the farmers were ordered to serve more than ten years each behind bars. australia's foreign minister will become acting prime minister in the aftermath of the legal ruling that's force the country's second in charge to step down the country's highest court found that barnaby joyce and four other politicians were in eligible to stay in office because of their jaw citizenship the prime minister has decided against appointing a deputy and instead has named julie bishop as his stand in when she travels when he travels overseas this week the deputy prime minister wil

we are already in one potential nuclear stand off with north korea. the domestic agenda is a whole another bag. do you really into this stew want to throw another nuclear stand off in the middle east, especially when top foreign policy advisers to your own administration are saying that iran is in kploins with this deal. i mean, it's sort of like we're in a little bit of a crazy hand here saying they're not but your own people say they are. i'm not sure what the end game is here. all i know is the top people around trump don't want him to do this and are trying to find a with minimum damage possible. >> hate when you guys come on here and insist on making sense. thanks. terrific panel. thank you all for coming on with us tonight. and coming up, a bold new prediction about how the trump presidency may end from someone close enough to trump to have an educated opinion about this. that and more when the # 1st hour continues. >>> welcome back. vanity fair is out with an article on this presidency. it's called i hate everyone in the white house. trump sooet

when we think of nuclear weapons in the united states we think north korea would never cross the nuclear line because for us that's a big deep dark red line that we would very reluctantly cross. north koreans don't think that way about emp, nor does russia or china or iran. in their military doctrine emp is part of cyber warfare. it's part of a combined arms cyber warfare campaign. the likelihood of a nuclear emp attack is exactly the same as the likelihood of getting into war with north korea. if we get into a war with them where they feel the regime is at risk, they will use everything within their power including a nuclear or emp attack, to prevail. so how likely is a nuclear war with north korea? it's not just up to us. it's also up to the north koreans themselves. they are entirely capable of miscalculation. last, i'd like to point in terms of what we should be doing. we're going in exactly the wrong direction in terms of our preparations for emp. just two weeks ago a senior official at the department of homeland security described the emp threat as theoretical and something we need

north korea? laura: that is a tricky one. north korea has been a disaster and i think he rightly says that we presided over the rise of a potential nuclearorea. madeleine albright was there and tried something, bill clinton was hopeful, george w. bush, barack obama, none of that work. so what is new, what is next? the war of words with kim jong-un, that is not something i would do. charlie: what is he trying to do? is it good cop, bad cop? because as you know, a lot of national security people look at that and say, that is not really the way to go. laura: again, i would say to the national security experts -- a a lot of these people are the ones who advised policies that led to the rise of a potential nuclear north korea. i get it. he is an outsider. charlie: when someone like senator corker says he may be taking us on the path to world war iii? laura: i would say that we are at this is because all of the establishment politicians from both parties, not just democrats, i think both parties have culpability here. donald trump comes along and says we are going to do things differently on north korea, east, on trade, on immigration, on tax

north korea has nuclear weapons. the search for details on the early life of kim jong un takes us to bern switzerland. kim's father north korean leader kim jong il is reported to have sent him here to attend school under an assumed name. there's a large north korean community unburned swiss journalists tito's plattner explains why they choose to live there. sixty just like no nice resist being no toilets she's the reason for that lies in the recent history of switzerland it's a neutral country and many international organizations are based hero too. switzerland has always been open to the north koreans they know that this is a peaceful country and that their privacy will be respected their. their joy and that's why a lot of prominent north koreans send their kids to study here he was going to deal she's books a plan that includes kim jong un here can join a plessis is a false rumors. in one thousand nine hundred ninety two swiss authorities received an application filed by the north korean embassy for a residence perm

tonight officials here not backing down from international condemnation of their nuclear program. north korea's vice foreign minister told us negotiation is only possible if u.s. nuclear weapons are also on the table. a nonstarter in washington. lester? >> all right. keir simmons inside north korea tonight. >>> now to a reality check on the situation on the ground in puerto rico. president trump today in the oval office with puerto rico's governor was asked how he would grade the white house's response so far. >> i give ourselves a ten. we have provided so so much so fast. we were actually there before the storm hit. >> the president grading the response a ten. but tonight on the eve of one month since the hurricane hit, nbc's gabe gutierrez remains on the island shows us the daily struggle the majority of the island still faces. >> reporter: in old san juan, eddie ramirez runs a bed and breakfast. but after hurricane maria, he's become his neighborhood's power source. >> you feel helpless even though we're trying to do as much as we can. >> reporter: when he installed these solar panels years

barr's legislation, the otto warmbier north korea nuclear sanctions act. north korea has continued to prove a dangerous and destabilizing force to northeast asian region as well as the united states and its allies. its repeated missile tests, nuclear weapons tests and heinous human rights violations demand that the united states continue its diplomatic and economic isolation campaign. today's bill is named for my constituent, otto warmbier, of wyoming, ohio, in the greater cincinnati area. otto passed away on june 19 after spending 18 months in detention by the north korean regime. the brutality of which was far beyond human decency or civility. the pain and hard ache endured by otto, his family and friends can never be undone or erased but congress can continue to take action by passing h.r. 3898 today and imposing the most far-reaching sanctions yet to be directed at north korea. there's no simple solution to countering such complex national security threats, but it's critical we utilize both economic and diplomatic rules to hold hostile regimes like nort

in addition, according to the council on foreign relations, recent estimates suggest that north korea's nuclear weapons stockpile contains 16-20 weapons and has the potential to go rapidly. furthermore, the center of nonproliferation studies estimated that north korea has between 2500 and 5000 metric tons of chemical weapons. and as we are all aware with the assassination of kim jong-un's half brother with a deadly nerve agent, those weapons have already been put to use. whether or not north korea intends to act on any of its threats to the u.s. directly, we must also keep in mind that pyongyang is willing and able to supply weaponry, expertise or k technology to other hostile nation states intent on destroys the united states. former department of homeland security secretary john kelly stated in april that the most imminent threat from north korea is a cyber threat. north korea's increasingly sophisticated cyber program has the ability to pose a major threat to the united states' interests. for example, federal prosecutors are investigating north korea for a possible role in an international b

it's not acceptable for north korea to have a nuclear weapon. and, you know, prior presidents, i think, in earnest tried to denuclear north korea, and we should continue to seek to do that. however, this president has applied an inconsistent approach. you've seen success at the u.n. where we've applied sanctions and then within 24 hours of a sanctions vote where you've gotten china and russia on board, which is not always easy, you see the president undermining that work by, you know, threatening nuclear action against north korea. i think you just have to do the hard work, continue to pursue sanctions, continue to engage china on this issue, and get other countries to have, you know, multilateral sanctions as well. and just as we did with iran, we will hopefully bring them to the table. but exhaust all of those options first before just immediately going back to the nuclear option and putting kim jong-un in a corner where he could act out and conduct a strike. >> but the kim jong-un regime clearly believes if it were to give up its nuclear capab

not not at all that's a pretty self-serving argument honestly north korea has only had nuclear weapons for the past ten years and of course north korea wouldn't have acquired nuclear weapons if you had banned them earlier and actually been on the past on the credible past was designed and of course north korea sees that we as we have absolutely no intention of going towards nuclear disarmament they feel threatened and as a poor country was badly was very weak military they. think that they need nuclear weapons in order to keep themselves safe now. claim that it's really because of north korea that we have nuclear weapons is clearly wrong since we have had nuclear weapons for seventy years and that's really the major powers that are protecting each as a from the pressure from the nuclear weapon free states. ok the thoughts there of lee hoffman tellme co-founder of i can germany many thanks and congratulations for winning the nobel peace prize thank you for having me thank you again. turning to spain our top government official has apologized to those injured by police violence in catalo

in itself is creating increased tensions here and general mattis was at pains to warn north korea that any nuclear attack with weapons would be met with a very very massive military response and he did intimate that north korea could not win in that situation having said that his tone in the last two days has been more conciliatory than that of president trump you may remember his fire and fury speech at the united nations in august and also his threat to totally destroy north korea and he has resorted to a word a war of words of mass destruction and people are worried that the world may turn to weapons there was a lot of concern in the united states is up to its defenses its bought three naval carrier groups into the region it's flown it's moved it's five stealth fighters to japan just in case the president trumps visit produces some kind of reaction from north korea they've conducted six nuclear test most of those have been underground but the north korean foreign minister has warned that they will conduct an atmospheric nuclear test and who knows what that will provoke but there is a lot of con

blackout drills and evacuation drills and north korea, susan rice had said a while ago that she believes that we almost need to accept and tolerate the idea of a nucleara, what is your take on that? >> i think that it is dangerous to say that we will not accept a nuclear north korea. my statement would be that kim jong un finds himself between a rock and a hard place and that the united states might launch some action against him. that could lead to a miscalculation in a major war that could be avoided. even if that is the policy. and it is a smart thing for the government to be pursuing saying that they are hopeful in the future to get negotiations. but i am not that optimistic. >> melissa: not a lot of optimism on that front. we have a lot of breaking news today, but thank you. >> jon: while we await paul manafort's first court appearance on charges of conspiracy and money laundering, there are new questions about special counsel robert mueller and what he might have known about the iranian deal, we have details on that next. booking a flight at the last minute doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight

the president is tweeting with the secretary of state in light of the nuclear threat posed by north korea as well as the imminent decision looming in iran over the nuclear pact there. this is a white house, that because of the president's inability to perceive, is not able to complete the promises he made to the voters last year. >> do you take mr. bannon at his word that we see back home that you'll have trump people being voted in in that building behind you? >> the question is how many trump people will win the primaries last year. even in states like wyoming where a low-key senator john rosso is facing some possible challenges. they may see some primary rivals, but at the end of the day, the republican party, in many parts of the country, still is just starting to pick up this breitbart tint. it's still in many places, a supply side chamber of commerce party. bannon is trying to change the party wholesale. we'll see how far he can get next year. >> so lucky to have the three of you to start things off tonight, robert acosta, ashley parker, john lemere. many thanks. >>> can he fill the

north korea. he doesn't call the dictator of north korea little rocket man and issue empty threats to raise the risk of a nuclear war and widely reported that president trump's national security team thinks that he should certify the iranian nuclear deal because the evidence is that they're in compliance. trump won't do that and trying to come up with a third way to de-certify and don't pull out and satisfy the president but don't unravel the deal and basically too smart by half and how the guardians of the national security are trying to deal with the number one threat to our security which is the commander in chief, the man in the oval office is actually now the greatest threat that we as a country face and thank goodness people like john kelly and mattis and mcmaster are there to rein him in. there's limit to what they can do because he is the boss. >> neera, we have a handful of republicans who have actually come out like corker, like jeff flake, fundamentally most republicans certainly most influential republicans elected are not doing anything about this. >> yeah. i mean, i actually -- i mean, i agree with

north korea should show starts right. now. governor corporate media is hyping up a potential nuclear war with north korea it's been seventy two years since nuclear weapons were first developed and dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki the destruction was so catastrophic that humans have not deployed them since but now some pundits are going as far as to promote a preemptive us military strike because diplomacy has continuously failed with north korea but that is because the only option presented to kim jong un and his father before him has been for them to give up their w m d's the nine hundred sixty eight international treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons prohibits countries from developing nuclear weapons however the united states france russia china and the united kingdom are exempt from these rules because they had already had these weapons prior to signing the treaty. therefore these countries are considered the world's only legal nuclear weapons states now several other nations do have nuclear weapons like pakistan and india which have not signed the treaty israel though it never is minute it most likely also ha