we have paula hancocks with the latest. what is the threat and what is the reaction? >> reporter: john, this is what north korea has done. threatened washington and seoul with nuclear war. it comes at a time when tensions are high on the korean peninsula. today is the first day of those massive joint military drills with the united states and south korea. they are the largest ever, we're told. 300,000 south korean soldiers and 17,000 u.s. soldiers. they are significantly larger than last year. this is what north korea sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion. that the u.s. and south korea say they happen every year so the allies can work well together. this comes after january. you had a nuclear test from north korea and a satellite launch which everyone thought was a missile test. just last week, you had the u.n. sanctions against north korea. john. >> paula hancocks monitoring the developments for us. interesting to see what the north koreans threaten and what is behind it all. thank you. >>> all right. the democratic debate

we have cnn's paula hancocks in seoul, south korea.these happen, there is scary rhetoric. is it more scary given the recent history of provocations from the north? >> reporter: christine, you are right. we should expect this rhetoric this time of year. it happens every year. these drills are every year. pyongyang sees them as a dress rehearsal for invasion and they get jittering. this year, the tensions are higher. look at the run-up. january, a nuclear test. february, north korea with a satellite launch which was a long range missile test. then the sanctions which led kim jong un saying he wanted his nuclear weapons on stand by. you have this today. the preemptive nuclear war threat. we heard it before. it is still significant and worrying for officials around the world. the question is would they be able to carry out such a threat? the assumption is they are not there yet, but it is worrying they are carrying out this rhetoric. tensions will be rising. >> paula, thank you for that. >>> this morning, isis claiming responsibility for a

we have cnn's paula hancocks in seoul with more. is this more talk from kim jong-un? >> reporter: christine, what this does is it shows us that the north korean regime is concerned about these united nations sanctions announced this week. the strongest in more than two decades according to the u.s. it is having an impact. we saw photos being released by state run media kcna of the leader kim jong un test firing the rocket. it is unclear which day. it is a quote from him saying he is ready to use the nuclear weapons anytime. they need to be at the ready. also saying the situation has reached a dangerous phase. he has the choice words for south korean officials. they believe this is the first time he named the south korean president and criticized her. really upping the rhetoric against south korea. saying president park's haste will worsen her destruction. we have seen u.s. forces and also the south korean officials signing a memo talking about deploying a missile defense system in south korea. they say it is necessary because of north korea. this missile defense syste

for more on that paula hancocks joins us from seoul. hat are we hearing from allies in the region? >> reporter: well, isha, the very fact that we are hearing from the allies in the region is sichblt in significant in itself. they are concerned enough with these comments they're making comments of their own. usually they don't say anything to individual statements from a u.s. presidential candidate. but we have statements from both japan and south korea, from the foreign ministers. the south korean foreign minister saying that our government is continuously contributing and playing its part in maintaining and strengthening the south korea-u.s. joint defense capability and providing a stabilizationing environment. the u.s. public, including its government and congress, sees south korea's role and contribution positively. we also heard from the u.s. ambassador to south korea, saying also that he believed that this was a very positive alliance. and then on to japan, another alliance that has been lasting decades. the foreign minister there s

so let's get our, get to cnn's paula hancocks in seoul for the very latest.ning about these short-range projectiles? >> reporter: well, rosemary, we've just had an update from the joint chiefs of staff. they now believe five short-range projectiles were fired into the safe japan, what koreans called east sea. and they had a range of 200 kilometers, so they are less of a concern. obviously, the medium and long-range concern them. but for japan and south korea, that is a concern that they are still testing these rprojectile against u.n. resolutions. certainly, if they turn out to be ballistic missiles, they are against u.n. resolutions. also a message from the joint chiefs of staff saying that since that satellite launch on february 7th which many thought was a thinly-veiled nuclear test, 15 projectiles have been fired. this is to be expected. we are in the middle of the u.s./south korean military drills, and every year, north korea carries out these exercises, they have their own military drills, of course, or these projectiles, missiles, rockets being fired o

paula hancocks following it from seoul, south korea. paula, thank you. >>> u.s. says she is donating her brain to science. the two-time world cup champion says she will give her brain for research into chronic traumatic brain injury. they believe it could be tied to repeated hits to the head such as heading the ball in soccer. well, she is now a 47-year-old mother. chastain is a long-time advocate of soccer safety. >>> well, a family in the u.s. is thankful they didn't throw away a paper bag with a treasure inside. they found seven rare baseball cards just like this one in their great grandfather's home. the cards date back more than a century. >> wow, what a treasure. and the players profile there, that's ty cobb. he played for the detroit tigers for 22 seasons starting in 1905. the cards are worth millions of dollars. >> what a find that must be. >> totally. >> it's awesome. >> this is "cnn newsroom." still ahead, it was short on substance. it was long on insults. the best and the worse in the latest of the republican presidential debate. that's ahead next. kel

paula hancocks is live in seoul for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, michaela.ts were expected at this time of year. north korea certainly did not disappoint. threatening the preemptive and indiscriminate nuclear strikes against the u.s. and south korea. these drills are the largest they have ever been. they have just is started today, just wrapping up the first day. they are obviously not going to be changed in any way because of this threat. we know south korea's ministry is upping its surveillance to see if there is any imminent attack. they see no movement. every year pyongyang gets tanningry by the drills. they believe it is a dress rehearsal for an invasion. they are defensive in nature. they happen every year. they are not in reaction to any geo-political events. we have seen this rhetoric all year. in january, a nuclear test from north korea. february, a missile test. and sanction passed last month. certainly tensions are high on the korean peninsula. >> thank you very much. we'll take a quick break. this morning, a nation is remembering nancy reagan. af