richard engel, thank you so much for joining me. stay safe. from nbc news, richard engel.and appl

richard engel, thank you so much for joining me. stay safe. from nbc news, richard engel.eers and appl captioning sponsored by comedy central captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> stephen: that's it for the report, everybody. good night! ( cheers and applause )

richard engel has the story. >> reporter: defenses across asia are at the ready. japan with anti-missile batteries now in place says it will shoot down any north korean missile that threatens its territory. the u.s. with two american warships and a land-based missile interceptor now in the region would be able to track a missile seconds after launch and could destroy it in flight. a shootdown would not likely happen if the missile heads out to sea. from north korea more talk. a video shows attack dogs the let loose on an effigy. >> this could be the start of the next interkorean conflict. that's something the whole world should be aware of. >> reporter: south koreans remain calm but are increasingly asking what if? this city of 1 million is just a few miles from the north korean border, and now city officials here are telling residents to be prepared for nuclear, chemical or biological attack. stockpiling food and medicine and knowing how to quickly reach shelter underground. workers distribute thousands of pamphlets. what to do if you see a mushroom cloud or if a

nbc's richard engel is in seoul. he has more on the negotiations and growing concern that the north may test-fire a missile as soon as tomorrow. >> reporter: here in seoul, we are still waiting to see if north korea will, in fact, test-fire at least one missile. we've been waiting for days. is it just hype? will it actually ever happen? we may find out tomorrow. tomorrow is the anniversary in north korea of the birth of the country's late founder, kim il-sung. it is a time traditionally when there are military parades and military displays. of course, the missile launch, if it happens, could be timed to coincide with that anniversary. across the region, people are still on edge. countries are still worried what this missile test could mean. diplomatically, we could be seeing some progress. particularly between the united states and china. secretary kerry who's now in japan was earlier in china and had what seemed to be productive meetings. both the u.s. and china appearing to agree to return to diplomacy, to resume n

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us once again tonight live from seoul, south korea. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the launch window is now open but what's happening here has implications far greater than that. north korea is showing that because of its weapons, it can't be contained. at the dmz this morning, tensions are peaking. south korean troops guard buildings used for negotiations with pyongyang, now empty. north korean soldier is seen just yards away, until he sees us filming. the entire region is on edge. in japan, the defense minister inspected missile defenses around tokyo. jumpy officials in yokohama had to apologize after accidentally tweeting that north korea had launched a missile. north korea itself seems to be living on another planet. people dancing in the streets, a state-sponsored mass waltz, even as the government said the situation is inching toward thermonuclear war. >> north korea has been with its bellicose rhetoric, with its actions, skating very close toward a dangerous line. >> reporter: analysts say north korea

>> richard engel watching it all tonight from seoul, south korea. richard, thanks. >>> in a case of curious timing we have pictures of a new weapon the u.s. navy has been testing. a ship-mounted laser cannon that can destroy aircraft. the video released today shows a low-flying drone that gets turned into a fireball, eventually plunging into the sea after being hit by the invisible beam. remember aimed from a ship at sea and under way. the navy says the laser could be deployed for real as soon as next year. >>> up and down the california coast millions of americans are dealing with strong santa ana winds. increasing the wildfire danger. winds clocked at upwards of 70 miles per hour in places today, knocking down trees while l.a. saw huge waves this afternoon. farther east to the rockies in parts of wyoming, south dakota, colorado, nebraska, they are expecting a large storm, up to two feet in places. as that system moves to the east much of the nation's mid section will be dealing with severe storm and a high risk of tornadoes. >>> in afghanistan this

and let's go back to seoul, south korea and richard engel. ifficulty before. richard, i was asking you about the kim jong un threat to rebuild the yongbon nuclear complex, which the cooling tower as you know had been blown up in 2008. as part of an international agreement. so are all bets off? >> washington was involved in that agreement. it was billed as a major accomplishment and now diplomacy is being rolled back. that deal was to offer north korea fuel in exchange for giving up some of its nuclear capacities. kim jong un is now saying that he wants that nuclear capacity, he wants to be able to produce the weapons-grade plutonium for his nuclear weapons. a statement by north korea said that putting this facility yongbon, back online which could take several months, is designed to enhance and enrich his already-robust nuclear program, nuclear weapons program. so it is a very real threat. i don't see short of military action or any kind of direct interventi intervention, what would stop him from doing this. this is certainly within his territ

>> richard engel part of our team in seoul tonight. richard, thanks. >>> now to this country and the big storm system that brought extreme weather to most of the country this week on its way east. it continues to move to the east coast tonight with snow and ice storms still trailing it across parts of the midwest. in the south, violent thunderstorms and tornadoes have left a lot of destruction behind. nbc's gabe gutierrez has the report from mississippi tonight. >> holy -- >> reporter: an up-close look at a violent twister near prairie point, mississippi. >> look at the house. holy mackerel. >> reporter: the man who shot the video says he watched his friend's house disappear. fortunately no one was home. >> the folks that are here that have lost everything that they have, it can't get much worse for them. >> reporter: the storms that killed one person and injured five in mississippi thursday were part of a massive system that stretched from canada to the gulf of mexico. >> we have been tracking the storm complex for four days across th

as richard engel reports, the world is watching to see if the country will test fire a missile to mark the occasion. >> reporter: here in seoul, we are still waiting to see if north korea will, in fact, test fire at least one missile. we have been waiting for days. is it just hype, will it actually ever happen. we may find out tomorrow. tomorrow is the anniversary in north korea of the birth of the country's late founder, kim il-sung, a time where there are usually military parades and shows of force. the missile launch could be timed to coincide with the anniversary. across the region people are still on edge. countries are still worried what this missile test could mean. diplomatically, we could be seeing some progress, particularly between the united states and china. secretary kerry in japan was earlier in china, had what seemed to be productive meetings, both the u.s. and china appearing to agree to return to diplomacy to resume negotiations to try to get north korea to give up its nuclear weapons. pyongyang said they will never give up the weapons, they are fight vital, it says,

and yet north korea maintains the world's fourth largest military. >> that was nbc's richard engel on the korean peninsula for us. >>> outrage over what many are calling an abusive basketball coach at rutgers university. a video that aired on espn showing coach mike rice using gay slurs during practice with players. [ bleep ] [ bleep ] >> he also threw basketballs at the players and grabbed them. the rutgers athletic director said the video was the reason the new jersey school suspended rice in december for three games and fined him $50,000. >> i talked to everybody in the program. we looked at hundreds hours of practice film. needless to say there was a lot of behavior that was unacceptable. >> rutgers said it will reconsider its decision to retain rice as the basketball coach. a spokesman for new jersey governor chris christie said it's not the type of leadership we should be showing our young people. >>> nba superstar lebron james tweeting, quote, if my son played for rutgers or a coach like that, he would have some real explaining to do, and i'm still going to whoop on him afterwa

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has reached seoul, south korea tonight and starts us offfrom there. >> reporter: good evening, brian. south korea thinks the north is bluffing, but pyongyang is playing a dangerous game of brinksmanship which the u.s. is matching with a show of force. military exercises by u.s. and south korean forces.

richard engel, nbc news, seoul. >>> a busy week ahead in business, including several hotly anticipated announcements from silicon valley companies. scott mcgrew brings us news. >> reporter: good morning, it starts with tesla, the ceo says he's got another big announcement coming tuesday, but this morning posted tesla already on track to be profitable in the first quarter. tesla says sales are better than expected. they say customers prefer buying the most expensive version of their new model s sedan. so many people, in fact, tesla is dropping the cheaper, lower range version of the sedan. of course cheap is $57,000. now, looking ahead, on friday we'll get the latest jobs data, monthly unemployment number. remember, these are the most important numbers there are. inflation would be second most important bit of data. then a day before that, thursday, we've got facebook. they will announce new software. we do expect it will be more than an android app but a whole version of android software for your phones soup to nuts with facebook as the primary focus. so for example, i'm just making th

richard engel has more from seoul. >> reporter: patriotic celebrations in pyongyang today. and more heated rhetoric. north korea saying all it has to do now is push a button and "the strong holds of our enemies will be turned to a sea of flames." more likely the ocean will be the target. pyongyang has two intermediate range missiles likely unarmed, loaded on mobile launchers, filled with liquid fuel, more than 36 hours ago. the u.s. and japan have defense systems ready, should the missiles pose a threat. >> the united states will take all necessary steps to protect its people and to meet our obligations under our alliances in the region. >> reporter: showing force here is everything. along the tense militarized dmz where north and south korean soldiers stand yards apart, they post their tallest, biggest men. appearances matter, as they did when kim jong-un came to power a year ago today. we were there for his first speech, the parades, the military rollouts. a little showbiz and plenty of goose stepping. since then, kim has proven more reckless than his father. u.s. officia

richard engel watching all of it is live for us tonight from seoul, south korea. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. all signs are north korea is putting on a dangerous show. we traveled to the dmz and saw no indications that a conflict is coming but north korea isn't walking away from this. not yet. the border today as cold as relations between the two koreas. south korean troops patroled the so-called demilitarize zone, the dmz, that is also a hair trigger between enemies. on one side at least 30,000 south korean troops backed by almost 30,000 american forces on the peninsula. >>> across the valley 70% of north korea's million man army. both sides watch each other so

richard engel, thanks for your advice and counsel and your expert eye tonight.he mother of these two suspects said in an interview this evening she thought it was all an fbi setup. she said "nothing in my sons' computers has gone unseen by the fbi for years." the father, well, you'll hear from him in a moment. but people who knew both of these young men used words like kind, friendly, warm, and approachable. what a huge disconnect between those words and what these two young men did. our report on these two suspects tonight from nbc's ann curry. >> reporter: in a telephone interview this evening, anzor tsarnaev, the father of the bombing suspects, denied his sons had anything to do with terror. >> translator: you could kill me, but i would never believe they had anything to do with this. >> how do you explain why authorities are saying that your two sons are suspected of terrorism? >> translator: this is nonsense. it doesn't add up. >> why would your sons be angry at america? why would your sons want to bomb and hurt people in america? >> translator: they would

nbc chief foreign current, richard engel is live in seoul.rd, we're seeing the first redeployment here, it's one, one missile battery. it does indicate that perhaps this is more than just bluffing, it's very hard to read the tea leaves. >> intention is one of the most difficult things to do, to understand, what we do know is that this missile has been moved to the east coast the north korea, that it has a range of maybe 2,000 miles. japan is very worried, since if you look at the geography, the missile is pointing pretty much towards japan. there could be a test firing in the waters around japan and there would be another escalation. would this then be over? or does north korea have something more in plan? than we don't really know. but there is growing concern in the region that it is not just rhetoric any more. they closed that economic zone, which was a real action hurting themselves mostly. but taking a step and now moving weapons, it's beyond rhetoric. >> one of the things that they threatened and there's bane lot of bluster, they did th

there are other options other than do nothing. >> nbc news richard engel, thank you for joining us. >>> coming up, politics, celebrity and media came together this weekend in washington, we'll bring you some of the best lines of this weekend's white house correspondents' dinner. what the fertilizer explosion in west, texas reveals about our treatment of the american wor r worker. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. befo i do any projectsh on on my own. what's the rush? at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i've always kept my eye on her... but with so much health care noise, i di out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart atta

i'm joined by richard engel, of course, nbc correspondent. have you been to chechnya, yourself? >> i have not. i've reported on the separatist movements but not spent time in chechnya. >> this nation over the last multiple decades has been a civil conflict and conflict with the nations around it. north ossetia and the russian government, itself. >> and it's also spilled over into dagestan. this is a separatist movement that has been clobbered by the russian government, by the russian military and gotten more and more extreme. people there have lost hope. they believe that the world has ignored them. it has often served as a recruiting symbol for people who want to go there and volunteer to fight the same way iraq became a recruiting zone for international volunteers who wanted to join the jihad, chechnya is also a place like that. >> i recall as you do the hostage siege in 2004. 1,100 hostages. 777 children. ending in the deaths of 380 people. and these were terrorists sent by shimel baziyef who demanded recognition for chech knnya. >> were these pure chehen separatists or an am

i'm joined by richard engel. we're glad you're here. >> thank you. >> i loved what you said on "rock center" last night, fascinating about how this has all sparked so much on terrorist jihadi websites. talk about that. >> well, all day yesterday while the city of boston was covered with police and they were sweeping house to house, there are jihadi chat forums. these are chat rooms, sometimes they're password protected, other times you just need to know where they are, and there are a lot of al qaeda sympathizers, people who believe in the cause, believe the united states is on a crusade against islam, and they were very much celebrating what was going on in boston because they were filled with statements like look at what the united states government is spending, all the millions of dollars on security that are being wasted, look at the people who are being locked into their homes and are cowering in fear, and the general consensus was that these two brothers were more or less lone wolves, that they weren't part

that is a great question, richard engel, chief correspondent. you, richard, where do we get this information from? is it hard -- >> based on what we have been hearing from other intelligence agencies it seems pretty solid, that particularly the british were able to smuggle out some samples that show that sarin gas was used on a very small scale, more than once, including a few months ago in allepo. and i think what is interesting about the clip you just showed was that the defense secretary was reading from that statement. and the white house and the administration general is very cautious on this one. they want everyone to be speaking on the same line. and that line, so far, coming from the obama administration is we are still in a wait and see mode. there are varying degrees of confidence in these assessments. they are not going as strongly as -- in condemnation, or in any kind of definitive way as we have heard. >> can you didn't at the right time or now, whether they are hesitating because of the surety that they used chemical weapons, or th

let me turn to richard engel and don from the fbi. city that was based on my pronunciation, but the six months of travel, massively significant. >> that could be the key to this. and a lot of the witnesses you've been describing also describe a change in personality. you interviewed former classmates, former coaches, they describe the brothers as people who didn't seem to be involved in any suspicious activity and then something changed in the last couple of years. there was that facebook post that one of your, one of the people you interviewed described. that the brothers were fine, then they're posting on facebook that it's immoral to have female teachers at their school indicates a change in personality and i know when people look at individuals who become radicalized, it can happen fairly quickly and they're going to want to know what he was doing in russia for the last, during that six month period. just a short while ago in 2012 and then did he go to travel, did he go to dangerous areas? if he has family there, it wouldn't be a b

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is monitoring it all from seoul, south korea. richard, good morning. >> good morning. the assumption here is that the north will fire its missiles. it has moved them to the coast. and that it will carry out some sort of test. not a missile launch involving a nuclear weapon. nothing that could reach the united states, but a show of force potentially in the direction of japan, maybe guam, not to hit either of those locations, but to land in the water. now, if this is a test of force, timing is everything. and there are some speculation here, and a clear idea of when that timing could come, if it does come. look toward mid-april. there are some key dates in north korea. the one-year anniversary of the rise kim jong-un's rise to power. and the 101st birthday just a few days late he of the late founder of north korea. also not to be discounted, there will be, in that period between april 10th, and april 15th a visit to the region by john kerry. so if north korea suddenly is launching missiles in the region, those missiles could potenti

richard engel, thank you for your advice and counsel and expert eye tonight. the mother of these two suspects said in an interview this evening she thought it was all an fbi setup. she said nothing in my sons' computers has gone unseen by the fbi for years. the father, you'll hear from him in a moment. people who knew both of these young men used words like kind, friendly, warm, and approachable. what a huge disconnect between those words and what these two young men did. our report on these two suspects tonight from nbc's ann curry. >> in a telephone interview this evening, the father of the bombings suspects denied his sons had anything to do with terror. >> translator: you could kill me but i would never believe they had anything to do with this. >> how do you explain why authorities are saying that your two sons are suspected of terrorism? >> translator: this is nonsense. it doesn't add up. >> why would your sons be angry at america? why would your sons want to bomb and hurt people in america? >> translator: they would never, never, never do that in their

richard engel in seoul for us. richard, thank you very much. >>> well, even on opening day, folks, when we say the hill, we're not talking about the pitcher's mound. we've got two congressmen just a bit outside of their usual stomping grounds. democrat adam schiff and republican luke messer will be here in our studio to talk about some of the potential curveballs to compromise. but first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. it's all baseball, folks. yes, there is some serious business going on at the white house. what we all want to know is where is the president going to be at 1:05? is he going to be on south capital street right off the anacostia river, doing that left-handed pitch of his? we'll see. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ kate ] many women may not be absorbing the calcium they take as well as they could because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. my doctor recommends citracal m

i want to bring in now nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. ichard, we were talking earlier today about the link between chechen rebels and al qaeda. i'll read an excerpt from the council on foreign relations, they talk about the newer size between al qaeda and chechen groups, chechen militants fought alongside al qaeda and taliban forces reportedly and the u.s.-backed northern alliance in late 2001 and the taliban regime in afghanistan was one of the only governments to recognize chechen independence, osama bin laden backed chechen rebels in the 1990s during their civil wars with the russians. tell us more about the interlinkage and the rat calization of that part of the world. >> it's not just chechnya, there's also a region called babistan. these are areas that long wanted independence. when you had the soviet union collapse. some of the former soviet republic gained independence. the muslim areas of chechnya and dagostan didn't get as much independence as they wanted. they regained some degree of aton aautonomy, but not full independence. i

richard engel is nbc news' chief foreign correspondent. he "new yorker" magazine. i want to start with richard, then to david. richard, why did the russians let him in if he was a problem for them a year earlier? >> it's common where you have governments watching people to give them some slack, to let them travel, to let them come into your country. it actually can be helpful sometimes if you're watching someone to see who they're talking to. we see that time and time again when someone actually does something. >> why did they do it, then? >> they do that to see where their trail will lead. >> why didn't they do it? why didn't they trail him and find out what he was up to over there so we would have benefited from that? if that was their intention of letting him in, why didn't they follow up? >> it seems to me they weren't sure how far along he was in this radicalization process. just believing in a radical ideology is not any kind of criminal act. it's once you decide to take action on it. why the russians didn't do more, why the fbi didn'

richard engel, starts us off again in seoul, south korea. chard, good evening. >> good evening, brian. it wasn't just more threats this time. north korea took an action, violating an agreement. north korea doesn't operate like other states, brian. it's run according to a strict ideology that now sees nuclear weapons as directly linked to its survival. kim jong-un today undid years of diplomacy. vowing to reopen the yongbyon nuclear reactor, capable of producing enough plutonium to make a nuclear bomb a year.

our chief foreign correspondent richard engel monitoring it all from seoul, south korea, live for us again tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. north korea got the world's attention by threatening nuclear war. now a clearer picture is emerging. what it may want the world to see. april in pyongyang is parade season. north korea seems determined to celebrate it with an international provocation. south korean military sources now say the north has moved not one but two musudan missiles like this one to the east coast, perhaps preparing for a launch. they say a firing, possibly toward japan or guam where the u.s. has troops could come with little warning. the missiles are not believed capable of carrying nuclear warheads. they may not be armed at all. speculation about a launch centers on mid april. last april 11th, kim jong un came to power. april 15 is the 101st birthday of north korea's founder and kim jong un's grandfather. last april pyongyang tried to launch a satellite, but it crashed into the sea. the musudans, if fired, could do the same. today pyongy

we'll want to begin with our chief foreign correspondent richard engel in seoul, south korea. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. as north korea made what appears to be its most explicit threats so far, the united states said it is sending an advanced anti-ballistic missile system to guam in the pacific. responsibility for what happens next, according to north korea, sits with the united states. north korea's military declared today it had, quote, final approval to launch merciless strikes on the united states,

andrea mitchell has just arrived in the region, but first our chief foreign correspondent richard engelarts us off once again from seoul, south korea. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. as we have been reporting for days that north korea can put a nuclear weapon on a missile is what makes this story important and not just bizarre. no signs that the missiles that north korea could launch really at any time are armed with anything but it's about demonstrating intent and capacity. patriotic celebrations in pyongyang today. and more heated rhetoric. north korea saying all it has to do now is push a button and the

>> richard engel starting us off with what it's really like these days in seoul, south korea. richard, thanks. >>> a stunning new assessment of national numbers came out today. it got the attention of a lot of us. it's about attention deficit, adhd and the extraordinary number of cases now being diagnosed. like one in five high school age boys in the u.s. 15% of all school age boys. 11% of all kids in our nation. these numbers show a 16% rise in cases just since 2007. all of it is leading to questions about whether adhd is being overdiagnosed and whether the medicine to treat it is being overused. our report tonight from our chief science correspondent robert bazell. >> reporter: 14-year-old ky and his 12-year-old brother kasen spend a lot of time outdoors staying as active as possible. the boys have a tough time sitting still. both were diagnosed with adhd when they were younger. their mom karen first noticed it when the boys had trouble completing simple homework assignments. >> it was such a struggle. we only got six problems done in one hour. in between that time, he just b

>> richard engel starting us off again. seoul, south korea. richard, thanks. let's go to our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom. andrea, not to get flip about this, but the reason people on the west coast of the u.s. aren't heading to shelters and stocking up on water and canned goods is our calculated analysis that they don't have the delivery system beyond, what, 1,000 miles. >> reporter: exactly. there is no sign of mobilization. that doesn't say though that they can't use short-range nuclear weapons which would be devastating to our allies and would inevitably get us into a war and would expose u.s. troops. also what's worrying is they did take that step of shutting down that joint economic zone. that's $2 billion of shared trade across the border. very important hard currency for the north. much more important to them than to the south. so far our efforts through china have not worked out. diplomacy has not worked out. the real worry is proliferation. eventually. as one south korean leader, a ruling party leader said

we have two reports again tonight beginning with our chief foreign correspondent richard engel in seouluth korea. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this may all seem random, even a little crazy, but there is a pattern here. from when north korea last tested a nuclear weapon in february to moving a missile today. it's all about recognition. north korea wants the world to accept it as a nuclear weapon state and to treat it as one. north korean state tv declaring the united states would be, quote, smashed with cutting edge small, light nuclear strike means. but pyongyang today went beyond talk. nbc news has confirmed north korea has moved a medium-range

>> richard engel live for us once again tonight from seoul, south korea. richard, thanks. >>> again, it is hard to believe we have to talk about what a u.s. military response against north korea would look like, especially though in the event of a missile launch they are, as you might imagine, watching this closely at the pentagon. that's where jim miklaszewski is on duty for us tonight. jim, good evening. >> good evening, brian. u.s. officials stressed tonight there is no sign that north korea is preparing for all out war. nevertheless, the u.s. and south korean militaries are prepared for the worst. two u.s. guided missile destroyers are already in position to shoot down any ballistic missiles launched by north korea. defense secretary chuck hagel warned this week that north korea's threats of a nuclear attack cannot be ignored. >> we take those threats seriously. we have to take those threats seriously. >> reporter: in the unlikelihood of all out war, u.s. cruise missiles, american bombers, and south korean war planes would launch air strikes. north kore

we'll go to seoul to talk to richard engel. off and running. weighed down by the economic crisis, health care hangover, bp oil spill, president obama got going on the 2010 campaign very late. this time around in leadup to 2014, he's doing things a bit differently. in april of 2009, the president wasn't out doing fund-raisers for congressional democrats in april 2013 he can be. after a pair of fundraisers last night, today he'll hit two more in the san francisco bay area for house democrats and dnc fulfilling a promise he made to them to bank early campaign cash for 2014 since the obama campaign didn't provide much cash at all in 2012 for house and senate democrats. he was at the san francisco home of hedge fund billionaire tom steyer and then headed to the getty mansion and today at the home of a private equity magnet and levi straus heir. mindful of republican knocks that his main focus is politics and getting a democratic house to secure his legacy, he went out of his way to emphasize he wants to work with republicans before the campaign begi

nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel is in seoul. so far, a quiet day.iven me the latest on what happened. >> well i think what's important is what didn't happen so much. there was no major military parade. there has been so far no test firing of a missile. a missile that nobody thought would be armed with nuclear weapons. a missile that people thought would just splash into the sea. even that hasn't happened. and north korean leaders didn't use this occasion to make more bombastic threats about turning the sea into fire or attacking the united states. instead, it was a celebration in pyongyang, people brought flowers, they went to the giant statues of past north korean leaders. and it went off pretty much without a hitch. now the question here is, is thks a sign that north korea wants to deescalate the situation? that they are interested in taking stock of the last few weeks and seeing if they can go forward? and north korea is very much interested in having direct negotiations with the united states. that is something they have long wanted to do. they

our chief foreign affairs correspondent -- chief foreign correspondent richard engel here in the studioith us tonight. there's a lot of ground to cover, but you find meaning in the most interesting things that we have witnessed tonight. that is from the applause that came at the end of the night to the people who saved the day to the fact that this suspect is alive. why those two things? >> i thought those were the two things that struck me about what we saw today. first that he's alive. because now he can be debriefed and we can answer these questions that counterterrorism officials have been asking themselves and looking in to all day. were these just two brothers who decided to motivate themselves, who according to their internet trail were looking at jihadi websites about pakistan and about chechnya, and decided to do something for the cause, and throw some bombs. or were they actually in contact with groups outside the country? he's alive so we can know. we can find out if there are other organizations out there that are affiliated with them. were they planning other attacks? did t

chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live in seoul, south korea, with more for us. good morning. >> good morning, lester. we are still here in seoul, and we are waiting for north korea to test fire at least one missile. we've been waiting for you for days. is it hype? will it actually happen? tomorrow is a possibility. tomorrow is the anniversary of the birth of north korea's founder. it is a time when there are traditionally military parades, military displays of power. it might happen then. the region remains on alert. so much so that one japanese official yesterday accidentally issued a warning to airports saying that the missile had already been fired, causing at least one airline delay. what you mentioned, however, on the diplomatic front, with secretary kerry in the region, could be the most significant development so far. the u.s. and china appear to be getting on the same page regarding north korea. both sides saying that there should be a resumption of negotiation, that there should be work to denuclearize north korea. north korea, however, says it will nev

. >> that was nbc's richard engel with that for us. >>> to washington now where the centerpiece of president obama's gun control bill facing an increasingly uncertain fate in the senate. but despite threats of a filibuster on the issue of background checks, the president is not going down without a fight. families of the newtown massacre are lobbying for gun control today, and they traveled there in presidential style. tracie potts is live in washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the president was there yesterday speaking to connecticut residents about the laws that they have changed, hoping that congress here will do the same. take a look as they landed here in washington with the president with the mission of coming to capitol hill today and telling members of congress that everyone in this country who buys a gun needs to get a background check. that's the one part of the president's plan that seems survivable, although it is still up in the air. and we've also learned that mayors against illegal guns, that's the group that mayor bloomberg is behind, has put

. >> that was richard engel reporting. >>> back here at home, the beltway is buzzing about the 2016 presidential ticket after hillary clinton and vice president joe biden spoke at the same awards ceremony last night. tracie potts joins us from washington with details and the speculation. all kinds of speculation this morning. >> especially about hillary clinton. good morning. she comes with an impressive resume, former first lady, secretary of state. it's politics, until she says no, absolutely no, the answer could be yes. sharing the stage, hillary clinton and the vice president complimented each other. >> there's no woman like hillary clinton. hillary clinton, that's a fact. >> the vice president, biden and i worked together on so many important issues. >> reporter: their mere presence together, her first since stepping down as secretary of state is fueling questions about whether either may run for president in 2016. >> it's joe biden waiting to see what hillary clinton is going to do. if she gets in, it's going to be difficult for him to make the race. >> reporter: both can draw big cash. cl

. >> nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, is in seoul jiends and joins us li. richard, april 15th is almost over. this was a date a lot of folks were watching to see would this be the date that kim jong-un would try to do this. >> nothing happened. >> after today could we be in the clear? >> the news might be today what didn't happen. there were festivities in pyongyang, but they were generally not hostile, not belligerent. there were people dancing, laying flowers at the memorial of kim il-sung but not giant military parades showing off weapons, no belicose speeches threatening to destroy the world. north korea hasn't been issuing for the last two days or so the same kind of strident threats that we heard over the last couple of weeks. still a harsh tone but nothing like we were hearing even just a few days ago. and of course those test firings didn't happen. could they happen still going forward in the next few days? perhaps. but today was a day that had been wildly -- that had been widely estimated to be the day that if north korea was going to do it, it woul

nbc's richard engel with that report. >>> back from a two-week break, mixed reports on whether the senate is close to a gun-control law agreement. senate aides say joe manchin and republican pat toomey are finalizing legislation to expand background checks on all gun sales. president obama is taking his message to connecticut where the nation's toughest gun restrictions were just signed into law. new york senator chuck schumer saying he believes lawmakers will find compromise on at least one key issue. >> we go to the floor, i'm still hopeful that what i call the sweet spot, background checks, can succeed. >> debate on the measure by the full senate could begin as early as tomorrow. >>> secretary of state john kerry is in israel this morning. trying to revive peace talks that stalled back in 2002. he just finished meeting with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. abbas says he will not negotiate until israel stops construction in the west bank. >>> meanwhile, tensions in the region have risen following rocket attacks from the hamas-ruled gaza strip. israeli warplanes followed with its fir

nbc's richard engel following developments from south korea. >> this is yet another escalation in a very. today north korea said it would reopen closed nuclear facilities, in particular one a uranium enrichment plant capable of producing enough plutonium to produce one nuclear bomb a year. the plant had been closed since 2007 as part of international negotiation and to build trust in that process. the cooling tower there had been destroyed. pyongyang now says it will rebuild the facility. it's unclear how long it will take before it is up and running. south korea is very considered about what is going on in the north. the south korean government said it will respond to any aggression from the north with force of its own. >> the current crisis has already gone too far. nuclear threats are not a game. military posturing only result in actions -- >> pyongyang says it needs these fats to produce some electricity and also to impose the quantity and quality of its nuclear stockpile. that is a very bold assertion. the other one said it needs it to produce electricity, there's a problem with tha