north korea. as a result, north korea's ruling elite who have been living large while impoverishing their people will pay a direct test. -- direct price for this nuclear test. this can be found on the u.n. mission web site www.usun.state.gov. these sanctions will bite and bite hard. they increase north korea's isolation and raise the cost to north korea's leaders of defining the international community. the entire world stands united and in our commitment to the denuclearization of the korean peninsula and in our demand that north korea complies with its international obligation s. if it does not then the security council committed today in this resolution to take further significant measures if there is another nuclear test or missile launch. we regret that north korea has again chosen the path of prove occasion. -- provocationfar from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, north korea has instead again opted to further impoverished its people and increase its isola

north korea. that is followed by un security council members on policy towards north korea. the senate judiciary committee today passed a bill on gun trafficking largely along party lines. the legislation toughens penalties for those who buy guns for those who cannot legally own them. they also began debate on an assault weapons ban offered by out for new senator diane feinstein. this markup is an hour and 40 minutes. >> good morning. we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine senators. i think, senator grassley, we can get going. first off i want to thank senator paul for having a filibuster which kept everybody still in town so we can have a quorom to talk about guns that may not have been his number one reason for doing it, but we take ancillary benefits wherever they come from. last week we all had the opportunity to talk about legislation before the committee regarding gun violence in america. we gave our speeches. and i hope we could make significant progress. earlier this

north korea is not suicidal. to negotiate vis-À-vis the united states from a position of strength on a host of matters, that has played the most role in keeping the peace in the korean: nisul.a.inkore >> i grant your point. i would interject one point. you have a habit to consider on the part of the government of north korea. that is the habit of proliferation. they have proliferated every other weapons program they have gotten a handle on, including to syria. in this instance, you have seismic activity that would indicate that it is a much greater yield in terms of this explosion and it is a smaller warhead. they must be getting closer in terms of that capabilities by placing it on what they have mastered. we go to the ranking member on europe, eurasia, and emerging threats. >> i would like to thank you personally as well as think the chairman for the strong leadership that both of you have provided on this issue of korea. i remember many years ago when i first was elected and became a member of this committee,

now, north korea persists. north korea persists with their human rights activities and illicit activities, but they know very, very clearly if they want any progress with the united states, certainly with the united states, illicit activities have to go by the wayside. this is causing pain, and i could only, i only -- i concur fully with my colleagues here and with your statement, mr. chairman, these sanctions are biting. they are biting. it's causing north korea not to get access to the funds they need, not to move the money they need. they need to bite even more significantly, and they should even more impact as we move forward with further, if you will, responses to their most recent nuclear tests. and there will be additional sanctions and additional activities. so the message is clear to north korea that two paths, there will be further sanctions and they will become more of a pariah state, and they will find it much more difficult to survive if they continue on the present path. or them cock back to the s

towards north korea. has that changed any in recent years? >> i think the south korean perception of north korea has changed in the wake of north korea's two deadly attacks against south korea in 2010, the sinking in march and the shelling of the inhabited island, yongbyon island at the same pentagon and the south koreans have grown rich over the past couple of generations. they do not want to risk losing their wealth and their security, and do not support escalating tensions with north korea. and north korea does its best to exploit such sentiments in south korea. in my view, the south korean government should make north korean human rights a high priority. and madam president, park geun-hye, as a candidate last year, in her foreign policy platform, statement, explicitly said that she would do her best to address the human rights situation, to reinforce we settlement programs for north korean defectors coming to south korea. finally, passed the north korean human rights act and so forth. and three days l

north korea. this new security council resolution, based on a u.s.- china draft, includes tough new sanctions intended to impede north korea's ability to develop further its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs. these sanctions include targeting the illicit activities of north korean diplomatic personnel, north korean banking relationships, illicit transfers of bulk cash, and new travel restrictions. i think that these actions are a step in the right direction -- and very much in keeping with the sort of approach that the ranking member, senator corker and i called for in the north korea nonproliferation and accountability act of 2013, which the senate passed on february 25 -- and i congratulate the administration on moving things forward so effectively at the united nations. but i also believe that we need to do more to better determine how the united states can combine effective sanctions and military countermeasures with strong and realistic diplomacy aimed at north korea and at china

now, north korea persists. north korea persists with their human rights issues, and they persist with illicit activities, but they know very, very cleary if they want any -- clearly if they want any progress with the united states, certainly with the united states, illicit activities have to go by the wayside. this is causing pain, and i concur fully with my colleagues and with your statement, mr. chairman, these sanctions are biting. they're biting. it's causing north korea not to get access to the funds they need. they need to bite even more significantly, and they should have even more impact as we move forward with further, be you will, responses to the most recent nuclear tests. and there will be additional sanctions and additional activities. so the message is clear to north korea they have two paths, there will be further sanctions, they will become more of a pariah state, and they will find it even much more difficult to survive if they continue down the current path, or they can look to becoming a more

and the north korea founder, the founder of north korea learned it from chairman mao of china. make sure that the party controls the military. the party maintain power to appoint and promote generals, making key personnel decisions. and that is a pattern that north korea has adopted from china and implemented for many years. so i don't think there is a high chance of any kind of -- direct challenge to kim jong un. over the course of ten or twenty years or thirty years from now, i think the likelihood will only increase with time. >> i agree with the professor, but in my mind, only until kim jong un's entire your reality the base of power, the very survival is inhe recalledded do i think he'll consider any serious deviation toward opening his system. it's basically the system is inherently hard lined. there's no incentive, really, for strategic accommodation unfortunately. we looked tat for years. we have been doing analysis for over twenty years. we have negotiated the six-party talks and we have done everything to understands the opportunity for diplomacy which i'm a believer

let's talk about korea and north korea's threats, mr. chairman. >> yes, let's please talk about north korea. >> can north korea attack the united states in retaliation against sanctions and the joint military exercises that are continuing? >> well, they certainly -- we certainly know that they've exploded to some degree a nuclear device. that's what they've well established. not the first one they've done. always the hardest part of a nuclear program and it's always in different components, know t have a missile capable of handling it. we know that they have now an exploded a nuclear device but that last part of weaponizing it, on top of a missile to be discharged is a whole other matter. you don't have to have it on a missile to cause harm. if you can transport that to a place as an example in south korea for a detonation, it would still have a tremendous casualty count and all of the negative impact that would go off -- go on with an explosion of a nuclear device so we should take him at his word. it is clear that this 28-year-old lead

is beefing up protection against north korea. >> the pentagon is acknowledging that north korea is becoming more of a global threat because of the speed at which it is developing its missile program and its nuclear weapon program. how does the military want to respond to this? at the front line, by going to the pacific ocean where the fear is that north korea on its best day might be able to launch a missile that would go all the way out to hit some parts of the united states. what are they going to do about that? first of all, they want more radar support. they want a new base in japan here, to be tracking early on what's happening. they want to beef up missiles in alaska and california and of course they want steady monitoring from ships at sea, from airplanes overhead and from satellites, all watching to see if north korea is going to launch at some point our way. how would that work? if north korea launches a missile, all those early warning

china went nuclear, russia, north korea, perhaps iran. we have he been surprised time and time again our intelligence services got it wrong. >> heather: let's move beyond north korea and what do you think is the lesson we need to take from what's going on now. you mentioned north korea and ties to syria. >> we know in 2007 that the north koreans actually sold a nuclear react are to north korea, and syria would have nuclear weapons today if israel hadn't decided in 2007 to strike that nuclear reactor before it went active. so it's a terrible situation, we could be face ago syria today where there's a fight between iran and hezbollah on one hand and al-qaeda on the other side and could be fighting over the nuclear welcomes. north korea's proliferation is a serious concern and that is something i think that hasn't gotten a lot of attention. >> and north korea and iran specifically? >> there's an extensive cooperation going on between north korea and iran today. we know that a senior architect of iran's program and witnessing a north korea nu

north korea. the unanimous vote by the 15- member council. the resolution puts new restrictions on north korea. [speaking foreign language] >> the agenda is adopted. under rule 37 of the council's provision of rules of procedure, i invite the representatives of belgium, canada, denmark, italy, japan and the philippines to participate in this meeting. if so desired. -- it is so decided. the security council will now begin its consideration of item 2 of the agenda. members of the council also have before them document 2013 stroke 136, the text of a draft resolution submitted by australia, belgium, canada, denmark, italy, france, italy, japan, morocco, the philippines, the republic of korea, rwanda, togo, the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland and the united states of america. it is my understanding that the council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before us. i shall put the draft resolution to the vote now. will those in favor of the draft resolution containe

north korea needs to come back. china can bring north korea back to the table. pyongyang. not just for the sake of having talks. come back to the table to determine if king jong un, as his father was committed to the six party process and denuclearization and the statement which spoke to denuclearization, kim jong-un has never committed to this. that needs to be determined and if that can be determined then we could make -- all of us could determine do we reconstitute the six-party process and move forward? china can do this and facilitate movement on that side. >> suarez: joseph detrani, victor cha, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we'll be back shortly with a look at the new, strict abortion law in arkansas. but first, this is pledge week on pbs. this break allows your public television station to ask for your support, and that support helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> brown: for those stations not taking a pledge break, we have the story of a pakistani man seeking justice for the murder of his family. jonathan rugman of independent television news r

we've heard these sorts of threats from north korea before. and frankly they are not going to achieve anything. the better course for north korea would be to recognize that it is isolated internationally. the entire international community is united in its opposition to the nuclear program and behind the sanctions. and north korea ought to instead, heed president obama's call to return to the path of peace, and to uphold the international obligations. but the past record suggests that we may see more provocation. >> well, provocation is one thing, but do they actually have a capability of striking the united states right now? >> well, wolf, i'm not going to get into the sensitive discussion of the technical capabilities. but the united states has the ability to defend itself against any north korean ballistic missile attack. i think north korea ought to think carefully about any provocations, refrain from those and recognize that the path it is on is leading to the greater impoverishment of its people. even china has had a belly full of north

north korea is extremely isolated. it has been able -- it is an incredible story that it has been able to get this far, given how closely the country is watched. i don't expect to see much of an effect on north korea's behavior or its nuclear program. a lot of north korea watchers are saying this whole strategy of ignoring north korea and then adding new sanctions every time it issues a provocation dust is not working. the obama administration needs to come up with a new diplomatic strategy, whether it's working more closely with china or whether it's coming to the table and talking to north korea and telling the north korean directly what we think of them and what we are prepared to do. host: we are taking your calls this morning on a variety of foreign policy issues we will get into in this segment, from north korea to venezuela to the capture of the son-in-law of osama bin laden. give us a call. staying on north korea for a second, some optimism out there in reports that china might be coming around to help with thi

north korea ratchets up its threats against the u.s. but could it follow through on firing missiles at america? we'll bring you the very latest on this developing story. >>> guns, immigration, the economy, a week of swiftly moving issues as the president tries to tackle them all. what comes first? >>> and the next chapter. will american amanda knox be forced to go back to italy? facing murder charges once again. we have some new answers this morning. >>> and soda fizzle. a new report on changing american habits, that's in our three big money headlines for you. hi, everybody, great to have you with me today. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." i'm thomas roberts, alex has a much-deserved day off. here's what's happening for you now. in north korea, just announcing it has entered a quote, state of war, against south korea. meaning it will deal with every issue with the south in a wartime manner. this follows a string of warnings and threats by north korea against south korea and the u.s. for its routine military drills. nbc's ian willia

resumed food aid, negotiated with north korea again. north korea blew up the tires of a cooling tire if he main facility and continued to enrich uranium. >> very quickly, i mean that record is an actual record, of things that really happened. >> you know, i disagree with that characterization. and i go back to the fact that when i was in the u.s. government looking at intelligence estimates in the early 1990s, we were looking at a program that was enormous. and by the bush administration we had turned that off, and the north koreans had moved to develop another kind of nuclear weapon. >> joel wit, professor lee, gentlemen, thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: still to come on the "newshour": new rules for auto emissions; long wait times at the veterans administration; one man's journey from poor boy to corporate tycoon. plus, shields and brooks. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. a grand jury in atlanta today indicted the city's former school superintendent beverly hall in a cheating scand

threats from north korea have gone to another level. that country putting its missiles on alert. north korea's leader warning his rockets at the ready to, quote settle accounts with the u.s. tens of thousands of marching in north korea, turning out for a rally in support of its leaders call to arm. that's where we start. good morning. i'm bill hemmer on a friday. welcome to "america's newsroom." welcome back to alis. alisyn: happy friday, good to be with you, i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum. it is believed north korea is years away from developing nuclear missiles that could strike the united states but that is not a reason to ignore them. bill: new defense secretary chuck hagel about how he is taking the latest threats out of pongyang seriously. >> you only need to be wrong once and i don't know what president or what chairman or what secretary of defense wants to be wrong once when it comes to nuclear threats. bill: liz about the pran leading our coverage out of

but what has north korea done north korea has carried out a nuclear test the third but they're doing it in response to major massive u.s. military exercises that our kids are conducted in a way to stage a mock invasion and bombing of their country a country that was indeed invaded twenty years ago exactly twenty years ago in fact the u.s. strategic command said we're reorienting us hydrogen bombs away from the soviet union this is after the demise of the u.s.s.r. and now targeting north korea and that's when d.p. r. k. withdrew from the nonproliferation treaty and began building with great earnestness its own nuclear capacity and is that nuclear capacity though a threat to the region as well as other parts of the world indeed even the anti missile defense system in eastern europe is being described as defensive action against north korea is it really a threat. well it's not really a threat in the sense that i mean that i said a moment ago the u.s. has such a preponderance of force but the north koreans interestingly in february just a month ago said the lesson of the libyan invasion

he also is the founder and co-editor of 38-north, a website devoted to north korea analysis. and sung-yoon lee is an assistant professor of international politics at tufts university's fletcher school. joel wit, are we closer to war today than we were even just a week ago? a real shooting war in northeast asia? >> i think this is an extremely serious situation. and i would say that we are one step away from a second korean war. and i say that because in this kind of tense situation, the danger of miscalculation or accidental conflict is very high. and so this is a very dangerous situation. and we need to be very careful sz professor lee, do agree? are we really in more jeopardy than we were just a few weeks ago? >> well, we have seen a crescdo of-- barrage. i don't think we are on the brink of war. because we know the north korean regime harbors no suicidal impulses. i don't necessarily warrant to paint the north korean reg only as all knowing brilliant omnipotent brilliant strategist. there is the possibility of miscalculation but we have seen north korea resort to periodic,

loosened in the aftermath when north korea agrees to do something we learned painfully that north korea never does what it says it is going to do. this is a tough thing to deal with. part self-made. the united states has a policy calling for reunification of both north and south korea. china doesn't want them reunified because it doesn't want a capitalist democracy on its border and the south koreans don't want reunification either. prosperous country. 25 million people in the north and one of the most abject states of poverty one can imagine. until we sort of forego a unification we are not going to necessarily get the cooperation we need from china. maybe what we ought to do is not be provoked into giving any kind of concessions and reexamine whether or not we ought to step back from the polyof reunification with the help that as north korea misbehaves more it will drive china to help and step in. >> chris: and iran? >> the president misplayed this also from the beginning. he had a chance to destablize the regime and missed it. >> chris: during the election in. >> in 2009. we get hint

north korea is such an isolated country. and it really it -- i remember people telling me there was no crime ever in north korea. so the notion of an american going there wouldn't be bad. >> i'm not that against it. >> i wish it was me. >> you wouldn't get the bear hug. >>> john kerry making his first move as secretary of state sending money to egypt. are these the right move snz. >> he was pushing them hard to work on the economy and get them ready. i'm sure under the table he was cautioning them to work out an arrangement with the opposition. that kind of advice they need and using that bait is one way to get the message through. morsi is a very stubborn guy. i like the people who did the "harlem shake." it is interesting they would do that and call out morsi in that way. >> egypt is so divided. that is the problem with morsi. instead of reaching out he has been entrenching himself. he should maybe try the harlem shake a little bit himself. >> and the discussion in collaboration with your wife, the half of the sky movement

and south korea has sent the isolated regime in pyongyang into a frenzy of threats north korea has called the annual drills an open declaration of war so further military buildup around north korea could actually to the simmering tensions. venezuelans have been paying their respects to the country's late leader as he didn't do it a long battle with cancer but it was said to be a halt to time which killed the president of fourteen years it was his funeral is now friday the russian president vladimir putin said that he will be remembered as someone who always had the people's best interests in mind. the correct total on chavez was a brave and very thorough man who was able to showcase strong character to go through with his plans he genuinely wanted to rid the countries poor citizens of their plight and improve their lives but chavez became the symbol of independence throughout latin america while he was still alive he joined the legendary ranks of simon bolivar fidel castro and shake of our. world questions and the future of the country's political direction vice president nicolas maduro i

could north korea go beyond the threats to actually some action? we will discuss this a little later on in the hour. >>> also we are tracking this, a developing story this hour on a parachuting accident that killed a navy seal. it happened during a regular training exercise in arizona. we are learning about the seal who died. bred david shadel was a member of seal team 6. the elite squad that killed osama bin laden. no word if he actually participated in the raid. another navy seal was injured in thursday's accident. an investigation is underway. this is the third fatal military training accident since february. the other two incidents left 14 marines dead. >>> families and survivors of the fort hood shooting expressing outrage as the defense department is refusing to award purple hearts to those injured. according to a defense department document obtained by fox news, new legislation needed to present the honor requires labeling the attack a terrorist attack, but the department of defense believes that doing so would prevent major nadal hassan fro

support issues coming from china into north korea. hopefully china sees the threat for nuclear proliferation in that part of the world in the event they are not able to stop what north korea is doing. >> chris: thank you both. we have to leave it there. thank you for talking with us and no doubt there is tough par beginning' head on -- bargaining ahead on the budget. thank you, gentlemen. >> thank you you. >> chris: up next, the battle inside the gop o over how to gw the party. vo: always one step ahead with an intuitive motion activated lid and seat, bold makes sure you'll never have to ask him again. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. >>chris: the conservative political action conference held the annual meeting and if you can believe it, a presidential straw poll for 2016. here are the results.

also on the program, iran, syria and north korea block a new u.n. create they to regular threat arms trade. why? well, we'll go live to teheran to find out why. the cripryian president tells his people economic turmoil has been contained. and -- i'm in the egyptian style? delta. find out of the why this area, once a football pitch is now ompletely submerged. north korea's leader has orders his army to prepare for a rocket attack on u.s. military bases in the pacific. it scuggetted he approved an order with his late night meeting with his generals. harry force et reports from seoul. >> in the center of pyongyang thousands turned out in a show shouted to him and death to the u.s. imperialists. pyongyang signed off on his long range missiles to attack the mainland and bases in the pacific. in statements attributed to him he said the time has come to settle klts with the u.s. imperialists adding the u.s. hostilities have entered the phase of threats and blackmail and the late-night meeting was seeing the b 2 stealth bombers the blufrpbltest of figures a

korea but what has north korea done in north korea has carried out a nuclear test the third but they're doing it in response to major massive u.s. military exercises that our kids are conducted in a way to stage a mock invasion and bombing of their country a country that was indeed invaded twenty years ago exactly twenty years ago in fact the u.s. strategic command said we're reorienting us hydrogen bombs away from the soviet union this is after the demise of the u.s.s.r. and now targeting north korea and that's when d.p. r. k. withdrew from the nonproliferation treaty and began building with great earnestness its own nuclear capacity. barack obama's home a counterterrorism adviser then architect of the controversial targeted killing program has been confirmed as the new hate of the cia but before the senate could vote in john brennan his nomination was held up by questions over his role in washington the drone program one republican lawmaker spadeful a marathon thirteen hours to get guarantees that the remote controlled bomber planes wouldn't be used on home front as marina reports. so

before the isolation of north korea. does this make the nation feel cornered and under pressure to take some sort of action? >> strange as it may sound, i think it is more a sign of weakness than strength, and it illustrates how isolated the leadership is and how much it has to rest on the power of the military class in north korea. >> thank you very much for that analysis. >> frantic diplomatic efforts are under way to secure the efforts of 21 united nations peacekeepers taken hostage by a syrian rebel group. they are being held in golan heights where there were put on a mission to monitor the syrian border area. >> they have been ordered to treat them as enemy prisoners. >> the rebels purportedly posted this video on the internet at the kidnapping the united nations troops. the rebel group calls itself the martyrs of the armored brigade, and they accuse the peacekeepers of working with the syrian government. they say that is the only reason the government has been able to station troops near the golan heights. >> we ar

trying now whatever it thinks of north korea actually prefers north korea rather than the americans are only up on the yellow river. it may be one of the world's most reclusive states but it seems the power of the web is slowly lifting the veil of secrecy on those career instagram and twitter and now in the country and there are even claims that pirate bay was preparing to drop anchor there well earlier or to correspond. to my colleague lucy coming on. started with a tweet by the bureau chief of the associated press in korea ms jane leavy who on february twenty fifth tweeted that this is my first tweet using career links new mobile internet service hello world from center in pyongyang this tweet has gone to like millions of retreats but definite did open the floodgates in some way that after that we've seen instagram pictures facebook tags check ins all coming from one of the world's most closed countries and definitely this is a breakthrough and nothing we have experienced before well certainly exciting stuff but i mean this is actually translate to the locals the people on the gro

north korea is a pretty ugly piece of baggage. i wish we'd started this long ago, but never too late. >> gregg: do we need to step up our efforts, clan destine efforts for regime change in north korea and do it through the south koreans? >> i would be entirely in favor of that, but south koreans have been nervous about doing anything that could lead to instability in north korea because they, like the chinese, fear massive floods of refugees across the demilitarized zone or in the case of china across the alou river so i think we have to work carefully with china which has a civilian population built from the suburbs of seoul to the dmz and don't want their civilians endangered by chemical or biological weapons. i think that really, south korea should see that a reunified korean peninsula is in its interest, to be blunt, a cheap labor force in the north that would love that employment, as opposed to near starvation and i'm hoping that the new government in south korea, having watched kim jong-un's performance the past several mont

is also tackling north korea the u.n. security council has adopted a resolution expanding sanctions against the country it was drafted by the u.s. and china and there's a response appealing and third nuclear test parties on the saucy a chair going to have the details from new york. the fifteen member united nations security council presided this month by russia has adopted a new sanctions resolution against north korea and response to a third nuclear test conducted by pyongyang on february twelfth in defiance of existing united nations security council resolutions which basically bad any kind of nuclear testing by north korea and this latest resolution was drafted by the united states and china during three weeks of negotiations and adopted this thursday unanimously by the security council what this latest new resolution calls for is an implementation of tighter restrictions on north korea including making it tougher for north korean officials to be able to carry around bokes of cash in suitcases it basically also calls f

north korea says this is the final warning. >> from this time on the north-south relations will be entering the stay of war and all issues raised between the north and south will be handled accordingly. a state of peace nor war has ended on the korean peninsula. >> reporter: the young leader threatening to close an industrial complex. manufacturing plants from both north and south korea not far from the border. thousands of north koreans work there. they say the threat is unhelpful to the country's unstable relations. state run media releasing a photograph of the middle night meeting with his staff. his rocket plans target military bases and cities in the u.s. you can see the large scale map in the back. it's not sure if they have technology of hitting the mainland but targeting neighboring countries within those regions. it came one day after the u.s. conducted joint military drills with south korea. state department officials to send the b-2 bombers were part of normal exercises but officials say they are not ignoring the provocative threats. >> when a country says the kinds of things tha

korea and so we defend ourselves from north korea. that is schizophrenic foreign policy. >> reporter: follows sanctions by the u.s. and u.n. on north korea. bill: they're doing it for a reason. molly henneberg, live from washington starting our coverage. martha continues right now. martha: let's take a closer look at north korea's nuclear test. the north conducted three nuclear tests reportedly gaining the capability back in 2006. the leaders there are threatening a fourth test now. estimates suggest that their arsenal has enough weaponized plutonium to build eight nuclear bombs. the country's ruler with his fingers on the trigger at this point, the younger new leader that is there, kim jong-un, basically is part of the family that has controlled north korea since 1948. bill, let's look at what these things can do. bill: you really do not know what the intention is here on behalf of pongyang especially when you look attesting they have done over past few months. china to the west, russia to the north. south korea and japan to the east

north korea's announcement has sparked strong reactions in seoul. south korean defense officials say they're ready to strike back against anything the north throws at them. >> translator: north korea is conducting military drills with unprecedented intensity. they mobilized submarines, fighter jets, and special forces for the maneuvers. >> a defense ministry spokesperson has warned south korean forces will retaliate against any provocation. he dismissed the threat of preemptive nuclear strike saying such an attack would mark the end of kim jong un's regime. south korean president park geun-hye issued a stern warning. to pyongyang. >> translator: any country that focuses exclusively on strengthening its military power while people are starving is bound to face self-destruction. >>> chinese leaders have long supported their counterparts in north korea. still, they back the latest u.n. security council sanctions. the world's most populous nation is in the middle of a leadership transition. nhk world's james tengan reports from beijing on china's reacti

korea, and we didn't have north korea put something into the orbit, and there are several events we are looking at closely to make sure we are not surprised. >> general "spider" marks, always good to see you. thank you for getting up early this morning. >> sure, joe. thank you. >>> the body of hugo chavez will not be embalmed and put on display to see. venezuela made that decision after doctors said it would be difficult to do that. the icon died last week after battling cancer. he was 58. >>> pope francis spoke to the media last hour in his first meeting with reporters since his election on wednesday. he explained why he picked the name francis, and he says the name keeps the spirit of st. francis alive, and he said he was a poor man and we would like a poor church for the poor. and pope francis is scheduled to meet with his successor, pope benedict xvi. >>> lil wayne is recovering after having a seizure. reports from gossip site tmz said lil wayne was near death and in a medically-induced coma, and a tweet debunked that. he said i am good, everybody, thanks for the prayers and lov

a second thing is a message to north korea. you keep talking this way and making threats and you should be clear about the possible consequenc consequences. and maybe a way to speak to the american audience. all the viewers out there are seeing this stuff happening this week. they are wondering, i the get questions e e-mails to me. are things really dangerous? are we going to have a war? it sends a signal of reassurance both at home and to our allies and a different sort of message to north korea. >> so north korea says it will attack its enemies, quote, if the enemies make even the slightest move. is this what north korea is talking about, these practice exercises, is that constitute provocation? >> well, we hear this every time we have had naval exercises. since that island shelling in 2010, there have been a continuous series of naval exercises, huge exercises, u.s., south korea, every time they happen this is what north korea says. so there's no change there. so i don't expect them to start anything. the fundamentals, this

provided much needed food and aid to north korea, seems to be vocally criticizing north korea actions over the past several months. >> shepard: trace, thanks. let's take this to john bussy for perspective. they're at it again. i feel like i've done this a thousand times. >> you can sometimes not separate the bluster from actual action. there's been this history of bluster and then every once in a while a lashing out. they sunk a warship three years ago this month. so this is something that the south particularly takes seriously. you can shell seoul from north korea and do damage if there isn't some kind of political stability in north korea and the military allowed to go its own way? >> shepard: there is thanking the sanctions well be helpful. >> the sanctions have been ratcheted up, not just by the u.s., but the chinese have been slowing the trade across the border, showing its dismother the fact that north korea is attracting to much attention to the peninsula. that was a long-range missile test in december but it was a miniaturized nuclear weapon of some sort. so the presumption is

following sanctions, ugly threats from north korea. >> i don't think the regime in north korea wants to commit suicide, but they must surely know that would be the results of any attack on the united states. >> when boarding the aircraft, dump the shampoo, because your favorite pocketknife may be ok. >> it doesn't make any sense. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> during his first term, the rap on president obama for members of both parties is that he did not spend enough time stroking members of congress. wednesday night, he invited a dozen republican senators to dinner at jefferson hotel, just up 16th street from the white house. >> a very positive, encouraging, candid, focused on how do we come together. compromise is necessary and it is possible. the issue is how do we get there. >> a recent post tells us that -- a recent poll that the tough- guy stance on the budget is not going over well with voters. the president's approval rating is down seven percentage points from last month. after voters realize that the unthinkable was going to happen, th

korea, y want to say to north korea, is what you are missing out on, north korea is the internet, is your people communicating, is technology, is education. and i think that is what eric said to them, he was not there to try to bring going to told north korea, he was there as a privates have, i invited hill, and i think we made cases to the noh koreans, don't do any more launches, don't launch any more nuclear detonations, we didn't have much success there, but talking to your enemies is not necessarily a concession, you want them to get a bettern 'ting of you. gerri: a better conversation, dennis rodman, they like celebrities, but does it do anything that is worth while at the end of the day. you said yourselves, you didn't get anywhere of hold back development of your nuclear bomb, could it do more harm than good. >> hundreds of north koreas listened to eric talk about the internet, we penetrate tad country, that population, that we never did. it was eric, google, you know i was just another politician. gerri: i do want to talk to you about china before you go. how do we engage wit

china needs to stand up against north korea. you know, the united nations, the sanctions that were voted on in the united nations, one of the first times that i've seen china vote against north korea, they -- china has their own issues and they don't want the volatility of war occurring in their region. and north korea is in the southern part of china. so we need to keep working with china. and this is something that's positive that china is now starting to stand up and work with the united states and with the other people in the region to make sure that north korea doesn't continue what they're doing right now. >> let me ask you a little bit more about china since obviously they're so important here. china is now saying that america's decision to bolster its missile defense system on the west coast would only antagonize north korea. gordon chang, the author of "nuclear showdown," he said last week that china has been selling north korea missile launchers for a missile. i wonder if you think china is saying the right thing but b

really be worried about north korea and is trying to pick a fight with washington r.t.t. questions more. it's monday march eighteenth four pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you're watching our t.v. starting off this hour tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of the u.s. aggression in iraq in the decade since the war began a lot has changed in this country here's a rundown of the things that we know the u.s. has engaged in misleading the public check the bush administration said time and again that iraq was dangerous because it possessed weapons of mass destruction it was the very foundation on which the entire war was built today the bush administration and the world knows otherwise lack of transparency check the fact that the government will not disclose concrete numbers of how many iraqi civilians were actually killed during the years of aggression or even the true economic costs of war are testaments to this point numbers of iraqi civilians killed ranged from fifty to. million add another check for violation of international law during the height of aggressi

-south korea military exercises that start ad week ago and will continue into april. >>> north korea's announcement has sparked strong reactions in seoul. south korean defense officials say they are ready to strike back against anything that the north throws at them. >> translator: north korea is conducting military drills with unprecedented intensity. they mobilized submarines, fighter jets, and special forces for the maneuvers. >>> a defense ministry spokesperson has warned south korean force will retaliate against any provocation. he dismissed the threat of preemptive nuclear strike saying such an attack would mark the end of kim jong-un's regime. south korean president park geun-hye issued a stern warning. >> reporter: any country that focuses exclusively on strengthening its military power while people are starving is bound to face self-destruction. >>> china is north korea's biggest ally but it too supports the latest u.n. sanction. james tengan is in beijing covering our series china, change and challenge. james, how is the story on the korean peninsula playing occupant there? >

north korea cut all military communication with south korea. tensions between the two countries tonight tebrink. the north says a war could break out at any moment. saying the conditions are in place for a simmering nuclear war. today the united states denounced the move. >> we think the provocative rhetoric is not constructive to insuring peace and stability on the peninsula. >> north korea packed serious punch. the military has unknown number of nuclear weapons as many as 800 short and long range ballistic missiles and $1.2 million fighting troops. all dangerously close to the 30,000 american soldiers stationed in south korea. u.s. officials today talked about north korean dictator kim jong-un saying north korea is not a paper tiger. it wouldn't be smart to dismiss its provocative behavior as pure bluster. this is serious. and outfront tonight, matthew chance, on the island of pyeongyo pyeongyong. how big of a step is the move to server the military hotline? >> well, they've done that before. but it's still a pretty big step. there are more t

north korea has said pyongyang into a frenzy over pull off the go. threats north korea has called the those annual training exercises and. open declaration of war so that there is a there is a real concern that further military buildup around north korea could could just contribute to destabilizing the region and could add to to the simmering tension there thanks very much indeed for that live update out is going to come on reporting there from washington. the u.n. is demanding the immediate release of a group of its peacekeepers taken hostage by syrian rebels in the golan heights the militants say they're using the observers as human shields and will hold them until syrian government forces pull back from a nearby village or his middle east correspondent paula sweer has the details or twenty one you impersonal well armed they're all from the philippines and we've heard from the philippines foreign office who has demanded their immediate release the philippines government says that they are being treated well that negotiations are underway to try and

north korea wants removal of all u.s. forces in south korea and wants a formal peace treaty to end the korean war instead of armistice that essentially leaves the peninsula into a state of war. bill: so many branches on the tree to follow. it includes a reserve force of 6.3 million soldiers. north korea's army has about 4,000 tanks and its air force has more than 600 combat aircraft. more on this throughout the morning as we get developments. alisyn: mean while back at home here, business owners taking it on the chin here in new york city. the head of the city council reaching a deal with labor unions and activists on a proposed bill that would require businesses with 20 people or more to give full-time workers five paid sick days starting next year. fox business network's charles payne joins to us explain all of this. again businesses in new york would have to provide five paid sick days. >> right. alisyn: what is up shot of this for businesses? >> there is no up shot for businesses unfortunately. particularly for small