melissa: people always go back to talking about what was the thing that happened that caused otto warmbiere had taken down a sign, you know they said it was i guess going to be a keepsake or something we will never know what the true story was but this was the idea. it turns out you do get a briefing before you land in north korea and there's a long line looking at it now there is a long list of rules that you are supposed to follow. you can't take pictures, there are places where you're supposed to bow at specific statues and they get to decide whether or not you're following the rules. is it as dangerous for say chinese tourists to go in there as it was for obviously one american? >> well, i think that they have more strict restrictions on americans and they're going to be more weary of them and also they can use americans to make a point if the regime is trying to send a message to washington on nuclear negotiations or others and another american was sentenced to hard labor for leaving a bible behind in the men's room at a bar. he was trying to get it to north korean christians who are

otto warmbier was a u.s.udent who died shortly after being released from captivity in north korea. they joined families, calling for the return of japanese citizens, believed to have been abducted by north korea. north korea aca knowledged abducting 13 japanese people but japan says pyongyang has taken at least 17. ♪ molly: several democratic presidential candidates are in pittsburgh today for an education summit. allison barber has details. >> reporter: we have seven p today, cory booker had to back out. he had to cancel a couple events in the last two days because his team says he has the flu. seven candidates are here. we just heard from senator bernie sanders. we expect to hear from former vice president joe biden soon. the focus of today's forum is public education, public education groups and msnbc are hosting it. they are taking questions from the audience, many teachers and students. one of the organizers said candidates need to lay out their plans for public education. listen here. >> it's critical o

he was involved in the hostage negotiations that led to the release of american college student otto warmbierador, thank you for being here. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> thank you so much. >> are you surprised that christmas is coming on and so far no missile test? >> i must say somewhat, but if you look at the original statement from kim jong-un, you mentioned end of the year and it's a flexible concept and it does not end on december 25th and i do still expect something could happen within the the next couple of weeks, but also remember that early january is kim jong-un's birthday so this period could extend, i would say, two or three weeks or so. >> that's a very important perspective, but the harsh reality is nothing that the administration has done since that first summit in singapore has stopped the north from continuing to build up its weapons program. its arsenal and earlier this week the president's former national security adviser john bolton said this. he said the idea that the idea that we're exerting pressure on north korea is unfortunately not true. do you agree with jo

. >> group of senators announcing the final passage of otto warmbier north korea sanctions act, mappedtoryn institutions that do business with north korea. >> i am still traumatized by what north korea did to our family and certainly what they did to our son today, i'm overjoyed at the commitment that these senators have put in their efforts to make a difference in north korea. >> french labor leaders arriving for talks with government ministers on changes to a controversial pension reform plan, which has led to nationwide strikes france's prime minister meeting with unions on potential amendments to that reform package. >>> here at home, actor sylvester stallone surprising a group of students in new jersey when he greeted them at the rocky statue in philadelphia he ended up taking a picture with the group and then they posted that on social media. >> i ran up the steps when i went to philly the first time. >> did you >> congratulations. >> got to do it. >> did you trip. >> contessa! >> jump around. >> we have video of that. >> yeah, right. >> sue, thank you. >> you got it, wilf. >>> presi