paula hancock joins us now from seoul. and paula, how strong is the u.s.-south korea alliance, and will they be able to work together closely in concert to reign in the threat posed by north korea? >> reporter: well, christy, we often hear just how long the u.s.-south korean alliance is. it's been since the korean war. and what we hear from officials and military officials, it trance snds any leader. it's not the relationship between the president of the united states or the president of the south korea. tathat is almost peripheral between thuliance itself. so i don't think anyone's expecting the alliance to suffer. but it is a good question. what is the relationship between president moon and president trump like? now, we hear from the blue house they have a strong relationship. we hear nothing but good things from this relationship. but it doesn't appear as strong as it is with the japanese prime minister, for example, or with the chinese president. trump certainly doesn't speak of president moon in such glowing termases he does with those two. and nen m

. >> joining us now is cnn's matt rivers in beijing and paula hancocks in seoul. paula, let's start with that speech. many lawmakers in south korea were nervous that donald trump's remarks would raise pepgss wite with pyongyang, but this teamed to be a typical speech from a u.s. president, met with a standing ovation. >> reporter: that's right, yes. 35 minutes, a standing ovation at the end. to be fair, he had a stand ovation when he came in, as well. it's a slightly different tact than we've been seeing from the u.s. president, that's for sure. there were no direct threats to totally destroy north korea. there were no personal insults against the north korean leader. but really, the very blunt criticism and insults that he was leveling at the country may actually annoy north korea even further, pointing out this stark contrast between the north and the south, talking about the south's successes and talking about the north koreans human rights abuses, the gulags, the fact that they had a devastating famine in the 1990s, the fact that kim jong-un is more concerned a

. >> paula hancocks is here in seoul and joins me.is is an interesting time to be renegotiating the free trade treatment between south korea and the united states, when this is a time to be showing resolve and unity. what is this about? >> reporter: yeah, this is certainly not something that came from the south korean side. this was u.s. president donald trump, he said he wanted to renegotiate this free trade agreement. in fact, he at one point called it horrible, saying it does not favor the u.s. but penalizes the u.s. so what we've heard is that just about a month ago, south korean officials agreed that they would renegotiate, that they would look at it again alongside u.s. trade officials. and see what improvements could be made. i think there was some concern that u.s. president donald trump had said that it could be scrapped. so certainly this isn't something that is being pushed from the south korean side. there was some that believe it's not necessarily in south korea's interest, but they are hoping that it will remain largely

for more on this we're joined by paula hancocks in seoul. matt rivers is standing by in beijing. in los angeles, cnn political commentators dave jacobson and talk radio host and trump supporter john philips. paula, we'll start with you. a day earlier the president seemed to indicate his willingness to go into negotiations to make a keel. then this very blunt warning to north korea, specifically to kim jong-un. >> you know, this was an interesting speech, almost like he was trying a different tack. there were none of the blatant threats or the attacks on the north korean leader himself by calling him little rocket man, anything like that. but really the attack and the insults that we saw within this speech could well actually offend north korea more than the threats of war. when you look at what he's talking about, he was talking about the stark contrast between north and south korea. the fact that in north orea the human rights abuses have been devastating over the years. the fact that the north korean leader is more concerned with his nuclear and missile program than he is with f

to discuss this let's join our paula hancock, who is also in seoul. country extensively and i know you have spoken to president moon, we're also joined by phillip in san francisco great to have you both with us. paula, if i can get back to you. we know that president moon has a very different outlook on north korea from president trump. how do these men, these two men in this bilateral that is about to take place, how do they find a middle ground? >> well, it's interesting, we've seen the policy of president moon jae-in shift slightly over recent months. probably no small measure because of the intense nuclear and missile testing from pyongyang. but also presumably because he would like to be on the same page as the united states. the alliance is very strong. it's bigger than any one or two presidents. so certainly he wants to be allied with the united states. so we know that we've seen more of a push towards sanctions and pressure. but what president moon jae-in has been saying and ha he said to me when i spoke to him a couple months ago is the reaso