visited washington for talks with president truman but at the top of her agenda was preserving the iran nuclear deal which trump wants to abandon the israeli army has struck six hundred naval targets in the gaza strip it says it was in response to a so-called mass infiltration attend three palestinians were killed as demonstrators marched right up to israel's border fence more than forty people have been killed since the end of march during rallies held in the run up to the seventieth anniversary of the mass expulsion of palestinians remaining as president is urging the prime minister to resign saying he wasn't consulted about a plan to relocate their embassy in israel to jerusalem prime minister voted see it and chiller visited israel earlier this week and she wants to follow america's lead by moving the embassy from tel aviv the president warned it could break international ball more than half of syria's largest palestinian refugee camp has reportedly been destroyed as fighting between government troops and deisel fighters

continues government jets and artillery pounded areas around go to war in southern damascus over the past twenty four hours dar media's acting prime minister is refusing to hold talks with a leading opposition figure as antigovernment protests continue karen nick out of bed and called off tours with. an accusing him of trying to dictate the agenda those were the headlines here on al-jazeera back in with more in half an hour next it's inside story do stay with us. stepping into history kim jong un becomes the first north korean leader to set foot

in the south since the korean war small step giant breakthrough brings an end to decades of hostility this story. hello there and welcome to the program. it was just one small gesture one small step forward but the significance of the move by north korea's leader kim jong un has stark will be remembered for to come kim became the first north korean needed to visit south korea the end of the war between the two countries in one nine hundred fifty three he was warmly welcomed and embraced by south korea's president . of the decades of military standoff between the two sides their leaders made a declaration of peace and promised

a nuclear free korean peninsula we'll get to our guests in just a moment. to reports from and south korea. technically they are still at war but this was carefully choreographed to create a new atmosphere of peats north korean leader kim jong un entered from the north side of the demarcation line the south korean president moon j in waited at the concrete block that marks the start of his country's territory. a historic handshake. and then something in all the years since the korean war that kim's father and grandfather never did the north korean leader crossing into south korea. but. it was followed by a reciprocal gesture moon jay in very briefly crossing the line into the north.

both leaders seemed relaxed and was smiling but of course they hope this summit is only the start of a process and that's likely to be complicated and will involve difficult negotiations. among the most men on the dame's this meeting i hope that there is new history written with regards to p. for prosperity and i will approach this with the feeling of a brand new start i'd like to discuss all issues as standing honestly and frankly i would like to take this opportunity to say that i hope to have a very good conversation the president today honest frank and we intend to. come on . when the supreme leader across the demarcation line on this historic moment there is a mensa expectation almost all over the world and i hope this discussion is productive let's approach this discussion boldly in wishing for peace and i like to give something very big to the people looking at us we have all day to talk and that's

to sell and make up for the ten years that we have that passed. over lunch the north korean leader. and his fast moving security detail headed back to the north side so he could confer with other members of his delegation then a few hours later a symbolic moment of tree planting using earth from the mountains in the north and the south and water from the two biggest rivers on both sides another image filled with symbolism as the two crossed a footbridge together then in a move highly unusual in international diplomacy they stopped the two leaders sitting face to face alone with not even no takers for overhaul for now an awning out the final issues of the declaration it was signed and they made these statements. the child human touch on it's very significant that north korea took a measure of freezing its nuclear activities first it will be

a valuable beginning for the contemplate denuclearization of the korean peninsula came jong un and i declare that there will be no more war on the korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun a good i also know your eye injury and you know i feel that we are part of one family and both countries will have a new policy of cooperation after years of disputes we are here today to say that nothing will make us different again and i will say this for north koreans and the south koreans are now sharing one spot on the map and they represent one country in one way or another and we hope to achieve the ambitions and hopes of both countries the fact that this summit took place in itself is historic but if some of the things in this declaration actually happen they too will be landmark developments of formal end to the korean war a peace treaty between north korea and south korea and

a return visit by president moon to pyongyang in the fall. one part of the agreement though will face could to kill a scrutiny and that's the pledge of denuclearization of the korean peninsula the language used in the declaration gives no concrete details and no timeline. the wives of the korean leaders join the delegations through the banquet to end a long day of diplomacy but this is only the start of a lengthy and very difficult process james bays al-jazeera apush you in south korea. let's bring in our gas now and in exeter we have the u.k. we have eighteen fossa kotha are a senior research fellow in sociology and modern career at leeds university in beijing tones out fellow at the nuclear policy program at carnegie center for global policy and ansel just picking director for conflict management investing in

south korea by war welcome to all of you just but let's start with you there's a big day here you say that the north and south korea where you are what was the standout moment for you well i think the standout moment occurred right in the very beginning i mean if there is a bullet that started world war one in europe then maybe a hand should or could bring about peace in the korean peninsula northeast asia and what we're looking for is agreement is momentum positive momentum and they don't want anything the real through the next round of talks recusing a bit star struck so what they want is cautious a cautious approach and i think we have an agreement that's very broad based has lots of oratory language such that every party every leader can look at that and extrapolate from it what they want and bring it back to their constituents and claim it when ok well look a little bit more about the end of the joint declaration in a moment first of all a than just want to focus on the actual day itself because it was

a huge day of symbolism was that every step meant something and the same to base of a genuine warmth between these two men what did you make of the report these all that i was encouraged by that i mean i've been watching this for so long and been disappointed before that i was trying to sort of stop myself getting carried away but we do live. as we didn't probably in the last two summits i would say we were in pyongyang where media access this took quite what it is and in south korea but i thought i thought there was a lot of warmth and know people were remember the visuals and there are all kinds of things like a envisaged a member if you're stepping into the north i think that was an unscripted rather clever move by by by kim jong un and as you say it is sitting in that rather beautiful sort of bucolic rural environment and yet of course it's panmunjom where only a few months ago north korea escaped in the hail of bullets seen so many conflicts so all of the symbolism and not in a similar sort of there's an israel it's another kind of fact it's not the same

a substantial piece but i think it was a very good start yes yes but that bridge that the that we saw the two leaders sitting on for almost an harf an hour of course the big question everyone wants to know is what were they talking about then what does the speculation has been rife there and sell what are people suggesting yeah i mean it would have been great to be a wallflower and just just try to listen in and what we know we sat use most of it which is kind of like improvise i mean they were scheduled to meet and talk but definitely not for that long and while we don't know exactly virtually what they were talking you know about we know from their non-verbal so they're non-verbal communication that what they're doing is signaling cooperation with each other and although they probably get into the details exactly what they want is to create an experience for which an agreement written and verbal can wrap around the spirit of trust something that's been missing in the korean peninsula arguably for decades so i think when they're talking when you see that they're to relax they're smiling but

also serious it sends a very very powerful message to the world but most importantly to each other that they're willing to cooperate and is that the message tom talbot's being read from this in china by saying china saw a very positive and encouraging message from this meeting of the two need there's really should. showed a great deal of waiting is too great to significantly improving their political relations in fact when kim jong un was walking together always when joey in in front of the the honor guard and when you know this is this was a scaled down version of the. guard and you could see the full version if you come to the group can join immediately responded i would love to go to blue house whenever you invited me so that really shows north korea wants to continue this high level you engage humans with korea continue to open up to not only with

korea but also potentially to village other countries in this region i think kim jong un has shown a willingness to gradually transform north korea into a normal member of international community and also another interesting moment during the summit meeting when it was when kim jong un was talking about inviting the south korean president to north korea he joked. he would be embarrassed because of the poor road conditions in north korea asking about another city no north korea wants to focus on economic development from now on and would welcome international you and. cooperation in trade and economic development i think that's important signal that we the international community should seize upon these opportunity to encourage the north korea to further

liberalize and further open up i think china would feel very encouraged by that signal ok and do you do you agree with that is this an opportunity here is there a chance to see that we seeing kim jong un wanting to transform north korea to open up would you would you go that far i wouldn't it. quite that far and this to swear. if you do have to look at precedent and well into other things such as the small fact of u.n. sanctions one of the things we're going to have to weigh very kathleen and look at kathleen in the in the weeks and months ahead is first of all how far will the very concrete things on this specifically into korean stuff the non-nuclear stuff say though it does include some security measures if not all get simply meant it but then you know there's talk of economic measures kim jong un it's true has always said that he wants economic development but so far it's always been part of what was called don't join which roughly means in tandem and the other thing that he

also wants to have is nuclear weapons he cannot do that there are un sanctions which prevent all manner of investment such as there was in the previous sunshine era if america when they want seventy sanctions or sometimes none at all so it's actually we can't take this on trust there's nothing in the nuclear issue in the statement other than generalities when it comes to the summit with trump we're going to have to fill that box as concretely as the in the north south box if you see him saying here was very filled with some very concrete things in the into korean some and we've got to have that you know maybe want to go into that have a bit of running ahead but you know very quick ation declaration in trees all sorts of stuff without which i don't think we can go forward unfortunately on all the other stuff yet no it's ok let's let's let's run with that for a bit just to ken what do we need to say we've got this commitment today nico is the peninsula house and said do you think kim is to that commitment what do we need

to see happen well in terms of optics i think we can get a sense happy he is sincere or at least trying to look sincere and that's a first step because before that was really the case so before today and in terms of moving forward i really see this in terms of three stages in phase one is the emotional part and that's really what the pomp and ceremony. for two days there will optics is about this was a highly calibrated bunch of choreography that occurred quite successfully and second the second phase would be dealing with economics and there is a lot of back and forth about whether economics assistance will be given or not but what we do know is that that's what north korea wants but for it to receive something it must give something it's a quid pro quo the very basics of negotiation so we're up to see that come to play in the next iteration when kids are going to start from and the third and last piece is dealing with security and it's a very complex issue of course and it's been something that's been very elusive so normally in

a complex negotiation more time states are going to sing like this you would be hauled off to the back stage age but it's it's unclear because the parties want it at different times of the negotiation but these three phases i think are part of the interlinked ok and we do have this mention of high level military talks next month that's pretty significant as meth and one one says what will be topping the the general agenda is that those tools yes i mean the military component is always there in the korean peninsula and it was there today because the are ok and the u.s. joint military drills were suspended specifically for the best and that in itself is a big big statement that the u.s. is going to stop and what it takes for this peace process to maybe come to fruition at least in the early stages and of course afterwards the joint role as well occur with facts what will be the issue of the number of u.s. troops u.n. troops in the korean peninsula all these things have to be ironed out but of course

you know you rome wasn't created in a day and peace can't be created in the korean peninsula in a day also i think we have to be very patient we have to be optimistic and guarded at the same time because as a dimension the declaration today has some echoes of the declaration of two thousand and seven so we can't be fully trusting but as maybe. reagan said trust but verify ok and it is not it would be if we just look at what north korea's nuclear capability is at this point because it has been suggested that kim is willing to look optimistic to be absent and to to move forward with denuclearization because he already has a nuclear weapon do you think that might be the case actually i do and i think that before we get very very far down the nuclear road to reverdy hardly started all this time. we're going to pursue the pessimistic speaking now denuclearization of the whole peninsula is the phrase the north koreans used so

there must be quit pro quo from the south in the past the north of said it wants u.s. troops out we've heard others south korea sort of which of course wants to put a big split on all of the stuff even before the summit saying that actually no they've backed away from that well we need to see what the quid pro quo is that demanded and of course the global position is very different that north korea is the only state that's ever joined the nonproliferation treaty and then left it it's got endless many new un resolutions against it unanimous many sections or so otherwise they're in violation and they've got to stop unconditionally a lot isn't going to do that i think it's only because they have the all of the stuff of the last year that i think kim jong un is now confident that he will not have the fate of iraq or libya or you crane because he's got this thing and that's not the same as giving up this thing so there's going to be some real difficulty when we get further down the nuclear road come down do you echo those those concerns me how likely is it for example that down the road perhaps not too far kim

jong un is going to allow weapons inspectors kill weapons inspectors him if he is out on his radar at all. well in theory down the road if north korea would improve its relations with other major powers in the region even north korea's security environment fundamentally the improvement on north korea for sure would not rely so much on nuclear weapons for its security but that really requires a fundamental change of relationship between north korea and south korea and also between north korea united states. basically north korea requires u.s. and south korea to provide sufficient a security guarantee in order for north to consider denuclearization however as we all know security guarantee is better definition reversible is basically

a political commitment to not threaten the other side but these commitments can be withdrawn any time so it's very difficult for most clear to trust to this security guarantee and therefore as we all saw in north korea no longer demanding the u.s. and south korea to provide the science community guarantee in the longer required the u.s. to withdraw its troops from south korea i think that's a signal to north korea also no longer think about completely gave up its nuclear weapons so for the forseeable future i think north korea will likely. continue to keep some nuclear capabilities in the meantime to might agree to make some concessions for example the north korean leader kim jong un has already made explicit the high level political commitment to to where they are to me go denuclearization and in addition to that north korea seems waiting to take concrete

measures in the direction of freezing its nuclear capabilities i think those are encouraging steps that would start a process of the. engagement and in the long run you can gauge a man's might help build some trust and enough trust my to make a north korea weeding to take a more radical steps in the future towards rolling back its capabilities and what's a poor thought or indeed leverage can china employ here of course it toughened up those economic sanctions against north korea some say that might have been responsible for bringing kim to the table in the first place but have since been reports just reports at this stage that china has been loosening some of those sanctions again and trade has resumed across the border so what is china's stance right now. well i disagree with the premise that it is the economic sanctions that. forced

a north korea to change its policy in recent months i think the primary driving force behind north korea's charm offensive was the simple fact that north korea has already acquired a basic but credible nuclear strategic deterrent by the end of twenty seven thousand and after achieving that north korea was able to offer some self restraint is hope is to keep its nuclear weapons and to build a normal relationship with other countries that bases and another important factor here is the strategic rivalry the strategic a competition between the two major powers china united states is also growing in recent months the united states has clearly defined a china as this most important alone term strategic competitor as a result china grows increasingly worried to north korea my to develop a closer relationship with united states of them with china so now we are seeing

china united states actually in a competition to quarter north korea to develop good relations with north korea right ok against their better just running out and i'm doing this now you can see how you're shaking your head there is it just to be if you want to respond and i get back to. i don't think china needs to her or he too much on that score i mean your cation we get at these things said but i mean the idea of any sort of close relationship as opposed to a pragmatic let's solve the in the nuclear issue i think between the u.s. and north korea given that the whole history between them i think is fanciful i mean the u.s. even before sanctions had its own trading with the enemy sanction doesn't trade with china it is the neighbor but china has the historical associations ninety percent of north korea's trade even now is with china if china is really what i can see i'm sure is a bit more why that south korea will compete for influence and pyongyang but the u.s. i must admit i don't see that ok i guess we are just coming to the end i want to

look ahead little to the summit between trump and kim what more do you think the white house wants to see from a summit than what was achieved today and a bit of a tit for quest some afraid is there any concern that the u.s. objectives might derail the progress that's already been made. well i'll take the second question first i think yeah there might be slight concern because the pronouncement today of the ration was emphatic and it was very very noteworthy and it takes a little bit of the spotlight away from donald trump and you know one thing about donald trump is that you like the spotlight and but on the other hand there is forward momentum a lot of almonds and wind behind the back of this conversation about peace in the korean peninsula from which don't trump can leverage and basically what the u.s. and the don't trumpet like to do in my view is take this process to the finish line not that to basically get to i.c.b.m.

states zero on that time in late may early june but to create a concrete detailed framework and process to get there and we're he can claim a win and kim jong un can claim a win and something president reagan can clear out when along with the other parties to the russian accent so that is something that everyone wants and we're actually quite in the process towards getting there of course there's a lot of challenges and you know curbs on a revote but we're definitely on that path ok ten seconds a you hopeful for the future on the peninsula yes yes i am on the peninsula from time to slightly worried that good relations all the pundits there which is wonderful and so on everyone will think oh well let's let them keep the nukes and that really wouldn't be a good idea ok fascinating stuff many thanks to all of you for joining us abel scott a tongue and just bike head. and thank you very much for watching you can see the program again any times by visiting a website that's al-jazeera dot com and

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a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war. australia's multibillion dollar international student industry is booming but it has a dark side one of many used examines widespread revelations of sexual assault on foreign university students on al-jazeera. the nature of news as it breaks this is one of the areas that protestant had blocked the road through things finding higher than anything else they could find with detailed coverage then as now there's an extremely hot muggy assad regime that everyone striving for the good of the state from around the world this museum aims to be a way of posset thore over wage and history and its perfected war that has divided

tribes here for generations. every food dude is being an alarmist it's being waged and it's being measured to those who is funded and it's not just i phones that almost left it is i mean no small fans of these days at the moment we are in a state of the universe that started in something that was bad it's good rather take the risks of democracy than the risks of the dictatorship did. joe dissidents at this time on al-jazeera. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to al-jazeera.