the problem we have now is if the north koreans -- the north koreans are claiming the south koreans fired first which i don't believe is true at all. but the north koreans are attacking the islands pause in this region there are maneuvers going on. the south koreans are engaging in military maneuvers and they have been going on for some days and they will go on another week. the south koreans can either back down, stop the maneuvers, in which case they will be seen to be cowering or they continue with the maneuvers in which case the borders -- the ball is in the north korean court and they may continue to escalate the situation. over the next few days will be enormous tension. the united states will remain firmly behind south korea. >> so it remains precarious. thank you, martin. >> thank you. >> when it comes to computers we all know we need to keep pathologist words secret and watch the personal information we give out online. but it seems many of us are leaving the door wide open to hacking and identity theft through our smart phones. our technology correspondent is here to tell us mor

or the north koreans? >> that is correct. that is correct. >> no, i'm referring to the south koreans, because there are two ways you can go wrong with the south koreans. one is to stand thousands of miles away and suggest there needs to be a much firmer response than they're making. and the second is to somehow, you know, advocate that they do less. >> lehrer: do you agree with mr. sigh gel that the only danger here, potential danger, immediate danger, is that the north korea... if the south korean exercise with the u.s. gets too close to south korea... i mean to north korea, they could react and this thing could have another tit for tat. is that possible? >> i agree. yeah, i agree. i think one has to be care informal these exercises. you don't want them to be needlessly provocative. but at the same time, the north koreans are pretty use to us having exercises and i think the worst thing we could do is not have an exercise and suggest that we're somehow intimidated by what is really... has really become a pattern of even more

and north korean crisis. these are the latest pictures. you see the of taftermath of th shelling. the ruben foreign minister calling for a halt and saying the increased tension on the peninsula represents a clau coll danger. we know the south korean president has gone into his bunk earn and a run on the currency. items like gold and all sides are calling for calm in south korea. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. the newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? into the met and carnegie hall. it is the kennedy center. and a club in austin. it is closer than any seat in the house, no matter where you call home. >> i'm home! >> pbs, the great american stage that fits in every living room. your support of pbs brings the arts home. >> bbc world news was presented

the north koreans and iran is second. they're the biggest threat to our country that we have ever faced and we just kind of sitting around and reacting to what they do. guest: it's one of the hardest problems the obama administration is facing. the military option -- military strike is problematic for the reasons i mentioned. seoul is so close to north korea. they would open fire with a massive artillery and missile barrage. the south koreans and the u.s. military could take out those missiles and those artillery pieces but not before a lot of damage is done. they have 200 missiles that can hit japan. they have nuclear weapons. they probably don't know how to mount them on a missile and fire them on japan and other countries yet but they have the materiel. and there's always the danger they would give that to al qaeda or another group to retaliate. so the military option, while always on the table, is fraught with danger. on the other hand, former president carter proposed in "the post" that we just need to negotiate with

or the north koreans? >> that is correct. that is correct. >> no, i'm referring to the south koreans, because there are two ways you can go wrong with the south koreans. one is to stand thousands of miles away and suggest there needs to be a much firmer response than they're making. and the second is to somehow, you know, advocate that they do less. >> lehrer: do you agree with mr. sigh gel that the only danger here, potential danger, immediate danger, is that the north korea... if the south korean exercise with the u.s. gets too close to south korea... i mean to north korea, they could react and this thing could have another tit for tat. is that possible? >> i agree. yeah, i agree. i think one has to be care informal these exercises. you don't want them to be needlessly provocative. but at the same time, t noth koreans are pretty use to us having exercises and i think the worst thing we could do is not have an exercise and suggest that we're somehow intimidated by what is really... has really become a pattern of even more ou

koreans and its it's negotiationing with the north koreans. they just can't find a path here. and these provocations may continue as long as the north thinks they can do them without any fear of retaliation and the last big provocation was the sinking of the south korean chip the cheonan and there was no military retaliation. >> rose: so what are the choices for the president? >> well, this is the special envoy for the six party talks for the obama administration. put it the other day the land of lousy option. and when the president came back from indiana today and went down to the situation room and saw secretary of defense gates, secretary of state clinton there tom donelan his new national security advisor, they began to review the lousy options. let's case through them. they could ignore this one again and say we're not going back to space walks because you're shelling the island... six party talks because you're shelling the island. that may prove the long-term point of breaking the cycle. but it could also encourage the north koreans to

-- south korean's president said the north koreans will face repercussions. we have more. >> just something new. >> reporter: korean immigrants say the only thing they can do is monitor the latest headlines and hope for the best. this oakland accountant was born in north korea. he has a half century he hasn't seen in over a half a century. >> a flashback what went through when i was ten. >> reporter: lee is hoping for more diplomacy and military

coming days in response to tuesday's north korean artillery attack on south korean territory. president obama says the united states stands shoulder to shoulder with its allies. north korea is accused of firing dozens of artillery shells on an island near the disputed frontier of the two countries, killing two people. >> from nowhere, the mid afternoon calm was shattered. people run for cover. dozens of north korean shells fired into a south korean village. the korean war was fought 50 years ago, but memories among those who saw that conflict have been stirred by today's images of burning homes and destruction. south korea moved fast to evacuate over 200 of more than 1,000 civilians from yeonpyeong island after its own military fired back and scrambled fighter jets. >> i was lying down and watching television and i heard the bang, bang! i thought that i will die when i stepped out of the house. >> fires were everywhere and it was chaotic. i tried calling my wife at home but i could just hear "darling," and the phone went dead. >> as the artillery was being fought, south korea'

might act to deter yet another north korean attack on south korea. already we have more than 28,000 u.s. forces stationed in south korea, and the pentagon says no new american military assets are moving to that region, at least for now. so how should the u.s. respond to north korea's latest attack? it's the focus of today's power point, and chris stirewalt is is joining us. chris, today the president and the vice president are in indiana focusing on the key domestic issue, the economy. what sort of challenge does this pose the president and his administration with this developing story in south and north korea? this. >> jenna, you sort of hit it right on the head, haven't you? i mean, when you're the president, you can script things out, plan whatever discussion you want to have, but in the end foreign events can intrude very quickly. and what we see in many north korea, and this is very serious business, is that the president is going to have to respond, and we've seen through the day the white house has escalated some of the rhetoric in talking abo

the chinese do underestimate the north koreans. it is going to be very difficult for the chinese to say they cannot do this because the chinese have said all along they could. >> my question goes to dr. hecker. you mentioned that there should and research and development of the light reactor in north korea far before this kedo project. you also mention that it is a completely new design. how do know it is a completely new design and what aspect of this is different from what we have seen in the world? >> the completely new that i mentioned is not the design but the designers. there is a new design team, a younger generation. i asked how young, and they said in their '40's. they were trained universities and have been in the nuclear trade, and they are now going to design this. designs are out there in the world all over. this is a very small version, 25 megawatts instead of a thousand megawatts. this is tiny, tiny, but it is five times bigger than the former electricity they currently have. the interest before was always to get it

the north korean artillery attack. the images show plumes of smoke over the island, dozens of houses were set ablaze. without warning, a garage of shells stricken are the base as well as residential areas. people ran to seek shelter in bunkers. yeonpyeong lies close to the disputed maritime border betweenorth and south korea. it has been a frequent sight of naval skirmishes. people in south korea expressed concern about the threat of an escalating conflict. >> i think there will be war with the north. i live near the north, so i felt threatened. >> i do not think there will be full-scale war. the government should take stronger measures. >> after a security meeting, the south korean president was quoted as ordering stern retaliation should the north korean attacks continue. but he also called on officials to prevent the situation from escalating further. the exchange has alarmed countries in the region, notay china, which is one of north korea's few allies. >> we hope that the relevant parties will contribute their sha

a lot of it is educated guesses about what is really going on inside the north korean regime. there were few facts. that concerns -- they often called the black hole of asia, because it is just so difficult, even for diplomats at the highest level to have a clear idea of exactly of what is going on in that country. >> we are getting some other news from north korea that north korea says it has thousands of nuclear centrifuges operating as a previously undetected uranium enrichment facility. do you have any more background on that? >> i think this is the begins of this, these are reports that came out in the ruling party newspaper in north korea. this is the first time they are in forming our own people about this program, this uranium enrichment program. this is a facility that was shown to the u.s. scientists earlier this month. he said he was surprised it is tall modern it looked. he was told then that the center futures were working. it is producing low-grade uranium. it is a fuel for a light water reactor. they are optimistic that the reactor will be up and running by 2012

and the north koreans probably wouldn't go ahead with it. well, two weeks after that conversation, the north koreans conducted a nuclear test. >> meacham: scott, what have you found in your reporting that surprised you the most? >> well, i think for the most part these documents are not sort of revelations of things we've never heard before. instead, it's sort of the back story. the private conversations behind the big events. for example, we ran in our first story a snippet of a conversation between the president of yemen and general david petraeus about counterterrorism operations in yemen. and we knew and we had reported and others had reported that there had been u.s. missile strikes on al qaeda in yemen, but it's still remarkable to hear the president say "you do the strikes and we'll take the blame." essentially. "we're claim that they're yemeni strikes." and even joke about, you know, he was worried about smuggling from neighboring djibouti but he was mainly worried about drugs and weapons but he didn't mind the smuggling of whiskey a

arguably, north korea's worst attack on civilian targets since the korean war. the big question tonight -- why did pyongyang do it and how will south korea respond? the crisis began routinely. 8:00 p.m. monday night, eastern time, south korea is engaging in a military drill after notifying the north. midnight eastern, four hours later, north korea starts firing dozens of rounds of artillery onto a highly-populated south korean island, killing two south koreans marines and injuring dozens more including civilians. for more than an hour, north korea unleashes a barrage of artillery, about 80 shells. south korea scrambled f-16 jets. returns fire almost immediately. 3:55 a.m., president obama is awakened by the national security adviser, tom donilon. 4:33 a.m., they issue a statement saying united states strongly condemns the attack and calls on north korea to halt its belligerent action. 9:15, the director of national intelligence, kames clapper, briefed the president. the u.s. decides not to respond or escalate. urging south korea to show restraint. in seoul, sout

and richer, far more attractive korean nation for the north korean people this presents north korea with long term existential threat. the strategy of provocation and reaping rewards in the long term is not really a sustainable strategy. by long term i mean 20 years from now, 50 years from now. so the prospects for the young man for maintaining regime control are rather gloomy even in terms of competing with south korea. >> lehrer: all right. mr. cha, what about the south korea? there was a statement late today that the south korean government and the pentagon and the united states government are in sync. whatever happens, whatever the reaction will be, they'll do it together. does that make sense? so hare how do you think south korea has handled it? >> it does make sense. i mean the u.s. and south korea are allies. they're bound by a mutual defense treaty. it does make sense that they consult closely on how to respond. the south korean response thus far has been very measured. they did respond. they may have more follow-up measures but it has been measured because the south koreans

koreans, partly because of the north koreans' sinking of a south korean ship and south korea's unwillingness to engage. the north koreans have said if you don't talk to us, this is what you get and that's what we've got now a situation where the north in the absence of diplomatic movement is moving ahead on the nuclear front. >> we don't know exactly why this scientist was invited by the north koreans. do you have a sense of why you think that happened? >> yes. hecker is a distinguished nuclear scientist, former senior official at the los alamos laboratories, and he's been visiting north korea over a period of many years. in 2004 the north koreans took him to their nuclear facility at yongbyon and showed him plutonium. they've used him as a conduit because he has credibility, he knows what he sees when they goes to these facilities and he has credibility to say this is what i saw. what you have heres a signal from the north koreans, this is what we have and putting the ball in the obama administration's court now and the choice really is, if you don't talk to them, how else can you try to ro

he said they also asked whether he knew any north korean defectors. >> they hate the north korean refugees. they consider the north korean refugees to be vermin. >> park said the authorities are worried that the refugees could destabilize the country's regime. >> they are in contact with their family members in north korea through their cell phones, illegally. fl also, they understand the system of north korea better than anybody else. they have more of a commitment to north korean human rights and freedom. >> he suggested that defectors should be supported and used to help improve the human rights situation in north korea. >>> the executive director of the world food program has indicated that people in north korea are still facing serious food shortages. josette sheeran is the first wfp chief to visit north korea in five years. during her three-day stay from tuesday through thursday, she met with the country's number two leader and senior officials of the agriculture ministry. sheeran inspected facilities such as a food processing plant run by the u.n. agency and an orphanage. she left p

the north koreans sank that south korean ship, killing south korean sailors, there's a de

this comes four days after north korea killed four south koreans. u.s. senator john mccain says it's time to talk about regime change. >> i think if past behavior holds true, the north koreans will walk up to the edge and step back and try to get more concessions and more money and more economic aid and more jobs for north koreans sponsored by south korea. i'm not sure that the south koreans will go along this time. >> meanwhile as tensions are high, the u.s. and south korea are participating in exercises off the peninsula. a u.s. super car i don't remember and destroyer took up a position in the yellow sea. >>> the teenager suspected of plotting a terror attack in portland is due in court tomorrow. he allegedly planned to blow up a van full of explosives at a crowded christmas tree ceremony friday. the fbi secretly was working with the somali born suspect for months. documents reveal he told undercover agents the portland square was the perfect place to attack because it would be packed with families celebrating the holidays. >>> in oregon where the ter

north korean state media warned u.s. and south korean plans for joint military exercises are pushing the region to the "brink of war." aot president obama needed 12ç stitches in his lip after he was accidentally elbowed during a pickup basketball game. and to hari sreenivasan in our newsroom for what's on the newshour online. hari. >> sreenivasan: you can pose questions about the internet hijacking incident to experts rodney joffe and larry wortzel. we'll post answers on "the rundown" blog next week. find out what retailers in your community expect this holiday season and what that means for the economy-- that's on our "patchwork nation" page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> brown: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are ten more. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll look at the start of the next ro

koreans, all of this comes a few days after the north north koreans revealed it has a second track to producing nuclear weapons, bill. bill: we have thousands of u.s. forces stationed in south korea, it's been that way for 50 some odd years. any u.s. troops involved in this, jennifer? >> no. of course, there are 30,000 u.s. troops on the ground in korea, it's been that way, i should mention, since the 1953 armistice. technically north korea and south korea have been at war since then. no u.s. troops were involved in this incident, they weren't involved in the exercise. if it were taking on yu -- on yoengang island, the north koreans knew about this but this island community was stunned when the artillery shells came across and we understand that residents are fleeing that island as we speak. bill: thank you for that, our lead reporter at the pentagon. we'll be in touch with you, jennifer. thank you. martha has more now. martha: here's background on the dispute between north and south korea, the korean war started in 1950 and ended three years later with neither side claiming victory,

the american show of force after north korean artillery attack devastated a south korean village. >> i saw a sea of flame my school library was burned down. >> i can year-old girl was among hundreds of the evacuees from the island fishing village it by hundreds of shells tuesday. the security camera caught images of the attack, the south korean government says to soldiers and two civilians died. dozens more were wounded. here's where a happened and island 8 mi. north from the korean coast. >> the attack touched off violent demonstrations in south korea capital. the government calls it a clear military provocation and but it's air, land and sea forces on high alert. the north koreans blame themselves for starting a battle and said the country has been pushed to the brink of war. this latest violence comes days after the stanford university scientist was given an unprecedented tour of north korea's nuclear enrichment facility. >> my jaw dropped i was stunned. to see what look like hundreds and hundreds of it was stunning. looking back i say oh my gosh they actually did what they said b

dozens of north korean shells fired into a south korean village. the korean war was fought 50 years ago, but memories among those who saw the conflict have been stirred by today's images of burning homes and destruction. south korea moved fast to evacuate over 200 of more than 1000 civilians from the island after its own military have fired back and scrambled fighter jets. >> i was lying down and watching television, and i heard the bang, bang. i thought that i would die when i stepped out of the house. >> fires were everywhere, and it was chaotic. i tried calling my wife at home, but i could just hear, " darlene," and the phone went dead. >> south korea's president in a fortified bunker underneath his office meeting his military chief. since coming to power, he has taken a tougher line with north korea. >> i think it is a duty of the army to respond with action. we can never tolerate unconditional attacks against civilians. >> this evening on the mainland, fire engines and supply being dispatched to reinforce a sudden presence on the island as pow

. >> the south koreans did not son and north koreans retaliated. >> it houses marines and civilians, mostly fishermen. it comes after three scientists returned from rth korea saying north korea's nuclear program was far more advanced. >> it alarmed me and the reason it alarmed me because it was such a surprise and it showed me that the policy that we've been following seems to be at a dead-end. >> they speculated at the north korea's nuear designs were to provoke sout korea. >> ty want to coerce the united states and the world into negotiing and into giving the north koreans things that they want, including food and fuel and recnition by the outside world. >> as president obama headed to indiana, bill burton called the attack outrageous and provocative. >>> yet another disappointment in the nalee holloway murder investigation. aruba a bone rently found on a beach did not belong to the alabama teager. they say the jawbone is hum but unclear whom itelongs to. she was las seen leaving the bar witjoran van der sloot who is was the prime suspect in her disappearance. >> all the rain peopl

they're all in range of north korean artillery. right now you have a country sort of being run by a man who is in his 60s and has already suffered a stroke. now it's going to be turned over to a man who is in his 20s, about whom we know almost nothing. >> couric: kim jong un will inherit a country in tatters. starvation is chronic, killing as many as two million people since 1990. a third of the country's 23 million are undernourished. >> given the succession that is unfolding before our eyes in pyongyang, i think what we're seeing are opportunities arise, potentially, to not only explore diplomacy with new figures in the regime, but also to see if there are new actors with whom we could deal. >> couric: but it's a giant neighbor that could have the final say. >> mao zse dong once said china and north korea were as close as lips and teeth. >> couric: for now, china supports the kim regime's grip on power. >> first there is the threat of hundreds of thousands starving north korea refugees flooding into china. second a new unified ko

. >> the south koreans did not son and north koreans retaliated. >> it houses marines and civilians, mostly fishermen. it comes after three scientists returned from north korea saying north korea's nuclear program was far more advanced. >> it alarmed me and the reason it alarmed me because it was such a surprise and it showed me that the policy that we've been following seems to be at a dead-end. >> they speculated that the north korea's nuclear designs were to provoke south korea. >> they want to coerce the united states and the world into negotiating and into giving the north koreans things that they want, including food and fuel and recognition by the outside world. >> as president obama headed to indiana, bill burton called the attack outrageous and provocative. >>> yet another disappointment in the natalee holloway murder investigation. aruba a bone recently found on a beach did not belong to the alabama teenager. they say the jawbone is human but unclear whom it belongs to. she was last seen leaving the bar with joran van der sloot who is was the prime suspect in her disappeara

the huge north korean army and it is vost and the recent debacle in iraq and afghanistan is not even remotely realistic. well it's i would say it's remotely realistic but it's not probable nobody is predicting more not many people are predicting a regime change in north korea who's going to bring about regime change and if the regime were to change would it be a change for the better you have to ask all these questions and for the more you have to ask what effect with the collapse of the regime have on the whole stability of the region with thousands and thousands of refugees going to china thousands more maybe hundreds of thousands going into south korea you know you just can't imagine what would happen so i would say that it's a regime change is certainly interesting to discuss but it's not something that that anybody is realistically thinking is going to happen or necessarily once that happens all right a correspondent for the christian science monitor live for us in seoul thank you. well don't forget there are always many more stories on our website dot com and it's a look at wha

north koreans basically live in a large prison. they are not allowed out of their country unless the darfuri elite. these are people who largely when they were starving to death across the rivers that border china and try to make new lives for themselves and the funny thing is when they were in north korea also they were starving the had been said this propaganda they live in this country in the world. that's where the title comes from. we have nothing to envy in the world and then they come out and realize by god in china people eat royce and have televisions and they can read whatever they want. >> so you found they were pretty unaware of the al-sayyid world? -- the outside world. >> one chapter is north korea is maintained by the regime almost sealed and how they keep their power. and of course the greater the lie the greater the power. >> barbara demick, can you get a snapshot of the daily life as an urban dweller in north korea and a girl whether? >> the people i wrote about were mostly from the city, they get up. the first li

the north koreans continue to build nuclear weapons. you have the worst national security and worst economy and the bigger gap between the president and the country than bill clinton had. that's why i think -- the president can recover. nobody should underestimate him. as a partner and an institution of enormous party. he has a harder job tha president clinton. host: as a way to kind of show case its tecology or a ploy to try to put in negotiating issue on the table? guest: the north korean dictatorship is a strange regime. their nuclear weapons and rockets. it's a terrible disaster at the human level and economically. it's a pathetically weak country. except for the nuclear weapons. i think they would like to get more money out ofwest. that's their way of saying, you better pay attention to us. host: karl rove said it's been a rocky month. republicans should sober up. always difficult to beat a president. guest: when ipoke to t senators. we have to move to complacent conservative. in 1980's, with carter, 1994 with mondale. and in the e

they are uncertain about north korean enrichment capability is. the issue is the risk of being targeted by a nuclear strike. the theory is they do not care about that because they have many more. what do you think? >> could you help me out. >> he said that like the chinese, american officials may underestimated north korean capabilities. [inaudible] >> so, the chinese underestimated and i underestimated them on a uranium enrichment based on what we have seen. it turns out that in 2002, the americans may have overestimated what they could do. what one has to do, i have always said, we know the least amount about the enrichment, and i wish we could get a handle. they give us a handle by a indicting sen. >> all the way in the back, the lady with -- they gave us a handle by inviting us in. >> the lady in the back with her hand up. >> my question is, could this be related at all to secession announcements, in your view? >> mr. carlin. [laughter] >> sure. i am not a fan of single explanation rationale for north korean action. you have to be very careful

the north korean government and the action is possibly timed to stop sign the communist nation as it moves to transfer power to the son of dictator jong-il. >> the rocket carrying the huge surveillance satellite blasted off from cape canaveral, florida earlier this morning. the unmanned delta 4 rocket took off after several delays due to technical glitches. the expect purpose of the new satellite is secret, but it's the second satellite launch in as many months by the national reconnaissance office or nro. the director of the nro says the satellites are vital for national security and to replace older satellites before they fail. >>> trial in tehran and new informationn when the imprisoned uc berkeley graduates will go on trial for spying. >>> and how the so-called jamaican lottery scandal works and who has fallen victim and whod is the target? >>> i'm tracking showers and coming up a fuel break down of the shower chances in the next few days and if the storm clouds will be moving out for your thanksgiving? . the delayed trail for three uc berkeley graduates accused of spying has bee

the north korean artillery attack. the images show plumes of smoke over the island, dozens of houses were set ablaze. without warning, a garage of shells stricken are the base as well as residential areas. people ran to seek shelter in bunkers. yeonpyeong lies close to the disputed maritime border between north and south korea. it has been a frequent sight of naval skirmishes. people in south korea expressed concern about the threat of an escalating conflict. >> i think there will be war with the north. i live near the north, so i felt threatened. >> i do not think there will be full-scale war. the government should take stronger measures. >> after a security meeting, the south korean president was quoted as ordering stern retaliation should the north korean attacks continue. but he also called on officials to prevent the situation from escalating further. the exchange has alarmed countries in the region, notably china, which is one of north korea's few allies. >> we hope that the relevant parties will contribute their

we've been talking to the north koreans about their nuclear program since 1993. we've tried every conceivable form oformat. what we need to do is apply pressure. pressure worked in 1994 and in 2005. unfortunately we let up too early. >> let's talk about that. what kind of sanctions or action should we take at this point. >> a very simple thing is what the bush administration did which was to impose crippleling financial sanctions not only on north koreans but also on chinese as well. the chinese have been helping north korea not only with nuclear technology but also with transferring money around, especially the bank of china. we need to have some honest conversations not only in private but in public about this, but clearly you know, with financial sanctions they worked already, so that's not going to be, you know, a magic trick. we should try that again and also i think we need to prevent the north koreans from transferring nuclear technology to iran and to syria and burma. sometimes with china's help. >> do yo do we have any clues at the third son of kim jong

the north koreans will argue the military tension on the korean peninsula is rising and the danger of war is looming large. they will contend the current armistice mechanism is not functioning and so the situation will only escalate. north korea will say in order to avoid another war u.s. must sign a peace agreement with it and establish a new mechanism to maintain peace. in the days and weeks to come north korea may be tempted to fly fighter aircraft across the northern limit line in the yellow sea to further raise the threat level. talks with the united states to talk about the peace agreement. the north koreans are escalating the situation in order to convince the americans and the south koreans that refusing to have nuclear and peace talks with pyongyang will be costly. pyongyang is trying to force washington and seoul to change their course and come back to the negotiating table on terms favorable to north korea. policy makers in washington and seoul clearly understand north korea's intentions. now we are waiting to see how they will react. >> narushige michishita from the nation

a day later south korean authorities reviewed the north korean artillery attack had killed civilians. south korea's preparing to lay the issue before the u.n. security council. president lee myung-bak has spoken with japanese prime minister naoto kan and u.s. president barack obama about his alliance with their countries. however, the effectiveness of going through the u.n. security council is in question. actually, it took four months for it to adopt a statement about the sinking of a south korean war ship. china was reluctant to back the statement. in the end the security council didn't name -- even though evidence showed it was to blame. now china and russia are concerned about the north artillery attacks, so the south korean government will need to use diplomatic skill to keep the countries on its side. >> and why did north korea attack south korea, and why now? >> well, i think there were two reasons behind this strike. one stems from north korea's domestic situation and the other is based on its relations with south korea and the united states. domestically, kim jong il decided