>> we were talking about this, on a trilateral bases would be ideal and on a bilateral basis if necessary and if it comes to that in allegro. but what we thought based on the conversations that have taken place this last week with deputy secretary steinberg of the state department and our representatives, a.s. the gregson as well as admiral when phil from the joint staff to travel to the capitols in the region this past week, they came back very encouraged particularly from seoul and tokyo about their willingness to pursue this on a trilateral basis. i think they came back feeling as though, in fact this was sort of a historic opportunity to work with the koreans and japanese on a trilateral bases on matters of national security like this. >> it is not about raising-- increasing u.s. forces in the region? bead this secretary is never talked about adding additional personnel and we have a lot of personnel as it is in the region. i think we have got 28,000 in korea and roughly 35,000 in japan. we have significant force presence as it is in those countries, not to mention the rock forces and

>> we are talking on trilateral and if it comes to that, unilaterally. what we have found with our representatives and admiral littenfield that traveled to the regions, they came back very encouraged particularly from seoul and tokyo to pursue this on a trilateral basis. they came back and feeling this is a historic opportunity to work with the koreans and japanese on trilateral basis of national security. >> it's not increasing the forces? >> has never talked about adding additional personnel. we have a lot of personnel, i think 28,000 in south korea and also more in japan. and we have significance in those countrys and not to mention the rock forces and japanese forces. that as now is not a part of discussion. anything else on north korea? >> to what degree is the u.s. policy for north korea being held hostage to the fact that these two journalists are there and sentenced in hard labor? >> i don't get any sense that the policy is being held hostage by that unfortunate decision by the north koreans of the but -- koreans. but i haven't heard it enter int

we will hold trilateral talks to allow these government to work through these issues. we would like to get resolution in the near future. as you know the arbitration is coming up in july. the timeline for these discussions is very short period the united states and the rest of the national committee is doing what we can to create an environment where these issues can be looked at and resolved in a way that is mutually beneficial to the north and the south. >> is this your observation that the level of violence has increased and is a related to resources? >> i will say that the level of violence is greater and we have seen an uptick in the violence in the south. it is very difficult at this time to treat it to the resources. it is very concerning to us. >> could you give us a sense of context about the meeting next week? what are you hoping comes out of that? >> as far as i know, there have been meetings to coordinate dollar contribution and those kinds of things. as far as i know, this is probably the first meeting at this level and of this type. i am not aware of othe

we just concluded a trilateral exercise which was unthinkable in the 1980's. it was high end technical exercise where we were using division tactics and exercising weapons, techniques, and proced. that are pretty high in. two years ago, india participated in a five-way it says including u.s., japan, singapore, and australia. unthinkable in the mid-1980's, and it is now a matter of course within yet. we think this is a great example of partnership and of the benefits will derive from increased dialogue, increased cooperation, and increased understanding of what we are all about are in the aor. readiness -- does not do is any good to have all matter -- manner forces that cannot get out there and exercise, cannot respond to military operational directives come to provide assistance to countries to do not quite have all these capabilities, and to get out there and exercise it. as an example, some may have participated in an exercise in thailand held every year. this year, five countries involved. 10 countries, india and prc included send observers to large ships,

we just concluded a trilateral exercise, unthinkable in the '80s, japan, united states, india in the sea of japan and it was a fairly spirited, high-end technical exercise if you will where we weren't just doing division tactics we were exercising weapons and techniques and procedures that are pretty high end. two years ago, india participated in a five-way exercise and including u.s., japan, singapore, and australia. unthinkable in the mid-'80s and it's now a matter of course with india so we think that this is a great example of partnership and the benefits we can all derive from increased dialog, increased cooperation and increased understanding what we are all about in aor. readiness. it doesn't do us any good to have all manner of forces that can't get out there and exercise, that cannot get out there to respond to military operational directives from the president of the united states to provide assistance to countries who don't quite have all these resident capabilities and to get out there and exercise with them. as an example, cobra gold, some may have participated in cobra