robert carlin had a 31-year career at the c.i.a. and state department. he was involved in u.s.-north korea negotiations, and traveled to north korea 25 times. he's now visiting fellow at stanford university. and uce ingner spent 20 years at the c.i.a., where he served as the deputy chief for korea. he's now a senior research fellow at the heritage foundation. gentlemen, welcome to the newshour. bruce klingner, to you first. how would you describe the state of relations right now between the north and the south and the u.s.? >> they're very strained. we've had five years of very strained relations under the previous president as he did not continue the unconditional provision of benefits to north korea that his two predecessors had done. orth korea ireased the rhetoric, increased the threats during his administration we've seen no change in the threat level since the new north korean leader came and the new south korean president. >> woodruff: robert carlin, have strained? >> i think the rhetoric is at a high level. i would hope that the events over the past couple of days in no