many north korean defectors who live in the south find south korean existence empty because their lives are about nothing from their perspective besides the pursuit of profits, which they are taught to disparage. life in north korea's about something, it is about maintaining the north korean race, about maintaining the north korean revolution and every north korean has a purpose in that struggle. a lot of them, especially the north korean defectors, say terrible things about kim jong-un. there are less likely to say those things about kim jong-il and you'll never hear them say anything about kim il-sung. even defectors see kim il-sung as a visionary leader and a great nationalist for the korean people. >> what should the everyday american know about the current south korean government? >> i think it is important to understand that south koreans have a sense of grievance against united states, not just because of the division, it is well-known that we divided korea and established a separate state. we helped establish a separate state. then we left korea in 1949 against the wishes of the

to make south korean people, and to make south korean people, and to make south korea to be this country. myself and my government's aim is to pursue better life for all the fellow people. my fellow people, i will make sure you can feel the better life. the first thing i did asa better life. the first thing i did as a president was to put my plan in the room so i can share my day to day life with you, my fellow people. human beings should be the centre of the korean government. and in doing so the korean government. and in doing soi the korean government. and in doing so i have pursued to create more jobs, to provide better opportunities for all the fellow koreans. this year, i have also increased the minimum wage, up to 16.4 increased the minimum wage, up to 16.1; points. there are more companies who are helping, contributing, to improve minimum wage. south korean government will continue to expand such an effort for the new year. for the minimum wage labour, we will help them out to have more stable income so they can help out and look after their families better. we will also introduc

tens of thousands of south koreans it's reported a. have signed an online petition urging president moon to scratch the plans for the north to participate in the woods really big summit how do people in the south feel about it. well it's not surprising that there are people who are against this korea is a very ideologically divided country at the woman you can effectively say it's fifty percent conservative the person the barrel and many people here do believe that north korea is a threat and it is a country that does not have the best interest of south korea at its heart we have seen the kind of provocation and the threats over the years and it's become quite clear to south koreans that although there are many common interests the two koreas need to pursue at the same time there needs to be a great deal of caution in dealing with north korea and the goal by the kind of probably reactions that we have seen since the announcement that north korea is indeed participating in the olympics there's actually been a lot of public anger here ov

to south koreans. when he refers to the sea between korea and japan as the sea of japan instead of the east boil.t makes korean blood there is a chance that a preemptive strike against north korea without firm south korean support could lead to a backlash against the american president that could have unforeseen there is a chance thatconsequenr position in east asia. host: this is the history and lesson for the age. we don't have a rockstar -- in southck solid ally korea. mr. fields: we do at the moment, but that could change drastically with a rash american decision. we could get away with it, but nobody knows. there is a wholesome scent of possibilities. we tend to think if we strike first, x number of koreans will die. it will make much more sense from the north korean perspective if we were to attack them not to level seoul, but to show that they had rolled the dice with tens of mainly -- the dice with tens of millions of south korean lives. they will say, do you really need the americans? they are

tens of thousands of south koreans it's reported a. have signed an online petition urging president moon to scratch the plans for the north to participate in the woods really big summit how do people in the south feel about it. well it's not surprising that there are people who are against this korea is a very ideologically divided country at the woman you can effectively say it's fifty percent conservative fifty percent liberal and many people here do believe that north korea is a threat and it is a country that does not have the best interest of south korea at its heart we have seen the kind of provocation and the threats over the years and it's become quite clear to south koreans that although there are many common interest that the two koreas need to pursue at the same time there needs to be a great deal of caution in dealing with north korea and the goal by the kind of probably reactions that we have seen since the announcements that north korea is indeed participating in the olympics there's actually been a lot of public anger he

especially south koreans who have family in the north. koreans hold the united states responsible for that decision. there is a latent strain of running through korean society that doesn't always manifest itself but could manifest itself in a very strong way under the right circumstances. thing, theyexing have two very different governing systems. how would that rectify itself? in their minds? look at the situation in north korea versus the south, how does that all fit? >> the koreans like to claim they have 7000 years of history on the korean peninsula. that is simply not true, but it's true that they have a very long street as one united people. divergent, bute that has been a recent development. they look at the long path they've had together as proof that in the future we can reunify. how exactly would that happen? that very much remains to be seen. it's not clear how that would happen. the official plan is for a confederation, a loose confederation between the north and the south. while they try to work out the very sticky details of

tens of thousands of south koreans it's reported a. have signed an online petition urging president moon to scratch the plans for the north to participate in the woods really big summit how do people in the south feel about it. well it's not surprising that there are people who are against this korea is a very ideologically divided country at the woman you can effectively say it's fifty percent conservative the person the barrel and many people here do believe that north korea is a threat and it is a country that does not have the best interest of south korea at its heart we have seen the kind of provocations the threats over the years and it's become quite clear to south koreans that although there are many common interests that the two koreas need to pursue at the same time there needs to be a great deal of caution in dealing with north korea and the goal by the kind of probably reactions that we have seen since the announcements that north korea is indeed participating in the olympics there's actually been a lot of public anger here

tens of thousands of south koreans it's reported a. have signed an online petition urging president moon to scratch the plans for the north to participate in the woods through the big summit how do people in the south feel about it. well it's not surprising that there are people who are against this korea is a very ideologically divided country at the woman you can effectively say it's fifty percent conservative fifty percent liberal and many people here do believe that north korea is a threat and it is a country that does not have the best interest of south korea at its heart we have seen the kind of publications the threats over the years and it's become quite clear to south koreans that although there are many common interests that the two koreas need to pursue at the same time there needs to be a great deal of caution in dealing with north korea and the goal by the kind of probably reactions that we have seen since the announcements that north korea is indeed participating in the olympics there's actually been a lot of public anger

for south korean men. of. shows like love unification young north korean women are paired with south korean men who proceed to instruct them on the ways of the modern developed country in which they now live the message in there is less than subtle conforms to the south korea nationalistic narrative that north korea is the weaker female nation. that needs protecting by the strong must go inside the culvert. the concern is that such a catholic a church in mature and objectified image of these women is then extended to all north korean defectors and to the north korean population in general. so south koreans may end up looking down the north koreans are thinking we can treat them carelessly that engrosses done in pain. that's another issue that doesn't help with the perception of north koreans on occasion some defectors testimonies have been sketchy and inconsistent parky on me is a defector who became a celebrity after iran are now on my way to meet you her story is attracted a lot of attention one of almos

any north korean defectors who live in the south find south korean existence empty because their lives are about nothing from their perspective besides the pursuit of profits, which they are taught to disparage. life in north korea's about something, it is about maintaining the north korean , about maintaining the north korean revolution and every north korean has a purpose in that struggle. a lot of them, especially the defectors, say terrible things about kim jong-un. there are less likely to say those things about kim jong-il and you'll never hear them say anything about kim il-sung. even defectors see kim il-sung as a visionary leader and a >> what should the everyday american know about the current south korean government attitudes toward the united states and the west? >> it's important to understand south koreans have a sense of grievance against the united states. not because of the division, we divide them and establish a separate state. then we left korea in 1949. against the wishes of the south korean government, who begged us to stay. they said if we leave, the north americ

south korean and north korean government negotiators are meeting for the first talks between their countries in more than two years. they are expected to discuss whether the north will send a delegation to the winter olympics in south korea next month. a series of north korean nuclear and missile tests, and the insults traded between pyongyang and washington, have raised tensions on the peninsula to the highest in decades. earlier i spoke to the bbc‘s sophie long who is in the south korean capital seoul just before they sat down to begin those talks, the first time there has been government—level talks between the north korean and south korean governments in more than two years, there was a lot of national press there. a huge amount of interest in this, of course, here, and both parties spoke to media present. ri son—gwon, the north korean leader of the delegation, said that he was here with the hope that we could give a new year's gift to our people, and he said he hopes for precious results from these talks. he actually suggested that they could allow the media to stay in the room in

we are told that both the north korean leader and the south korean president will have a live feed at those talks so they will be able to monitor their progress. top of the agenda as you heard in my report will be the pyeongchang olympics and whether pyongyang will send a delegation to those. we are expecting that part of the talks to go well, as both leaders have said that they want that to happen. then they are expected to move onto other inter— korean relations, things like divided families, whether meetings can take place, but even if this does lead to a period of peace and stability we don't know it yet know what else will come out of it because any lasting agreement here on the korean peninsular will have to focus on denuclearisation and kim jong—un has been very clear that although he is open to dialogue with the southee is determined to continue with his nuclear and missile programmes. we will be monitoring how those talks go for you. rico. thank you very much. we'll return to this later here in newsday but first let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the trump

will the winter olympics mark the turning point in inter—korean relations that the south korean president has consistently said they could be? the north and south korean governments are meeting for the first time in two years. they will discuss the possibility of the north sending these athletes with a delegation to the pyeongchang games. the north korean leader used his new year address to say he was open to dialogue with the south. but he also said north korea was a nuclear state that would now mass—produce nuclear missiles, something entirely unacceptable to south korea and its ally, the united states. the talks are taking place here, the truce village of panmunjom, which straddles the border in the demilitarised zone that divides the two koreas. some say they are an important step in the right direction, and are confident it will lead to at least a couple of months of peace and stability. i personally, and also korean people, really hope that this successful pyeongchang olympic games will make breakthrough, this stalemate of korean situations, so i really hope that pyeongchang olymp

the south korean team. he says, we don't want that, we want reification. the north koreans on our team will just drag it down. that was one man's opinion. discussions,these are we likely going to see any breakthrough? what are the expectations, here? is it low, in terms of what will come out of this? the olympics give an opening for kim jong-un. i am not going to say this is the sunshine period between the north and south, but this is an opening to at least have the two sides discuss. the bigger question is how lasting this will be. beyond when the olympic games will wrap up and all the goodwill of the games has evaporated untold he gets back into the cold war, -- u ntil we get back into the cold war. and how far does north korea try to drive a wedge between the u .s.? how will china keep this dialogue going? will we have party talks with russia and japan getting involved? we will take baby steps right now, to get these two sides, the north and south, at least discussing common interests and touring partici

the whole story begin south koreans just indicated that. they had a message from north koreans suggesting to reestablish connection you know fax connection and joining connection so basically the south koreans did what the north koreans asked them maybe you can still do they started talking and they at least checked the fax machine and that already made things so well i would bet that no north korean athletes north korean team mate to challenge for that in big games unfortunately the russian olympic team will not be allowed to do that they chose you how absurd the more than world has been. tom but if you look at the history of the program i think the south korean story is very important it's very important what you mention south korea was allowed to become rich in the seventy's and eighty's by the united states as a deterrent against north korea against china against the soviet union. no new country itself to south korea where a lot to become reach even when they became said to it so don't they don't because it would ensure remember trading

south korea proposes high level talks with the north now this comes a day after north korean leader kim jong un offered a rare all of branch to the south and new threats to the u.s. . plus saudi arabia embarking on a pivotal year as it introduces reforms among them lifting the ban on women driving more hear from saudi women about the chip and the call for deeper reforms. i'm brian thomas great to have you with us protests in iran have continued for a fifth consecutive day in tehran and across the country with anti-government violence reported to now be spreading state media saying more than twenty people have been killed so far demonstrations initially broke out against economic conditions but they've also been drawing in opponents of the country's religious establishment. this footage has been provided by demonstrators people have been on the streets in various parts of iran's since thursday protesting conditions in the country and this is footage provided by iranian state t.v. which claims that protesters are violent and that some have damaged a.t.m.'s buildings and other property and

south korea the north koreans boycotted the. games they killed hundred fifteen i believe people and this time in effect and here in r.t. we are monitoring it extremely closely one short he's speaking to you very soon but i guess the if thank you. for the latest talks are followed months of escalation in rhetoric and saber rattling as more out was saying of course between north and south korea the north korea i should say on the u.s. over donald trump claiming his aggressive attitude towards pyongyang is exactly what made the diplomatic. totally and that's called the military action the nuclear and ballistic missile programs of that regime require a determined. little rocket man is a sick puppy. a lot of people have said a lot of people that without my rhetoric and without my tough stance and said just a stance i mean this is this is what has to be done if it has to be done. that they would be talking about olympics that they would. fight live now to talk to us some are in china member of the korea peace network a good morning to

with the south korean government not intervening in the south korean won rising against the dollar, and the momentum in the memory chip business leveling off, investors should start looking at the possibility of itsung not doing as well as used to. morgan stanley has downgraded the stock. starttime to investigating more carefully where samsung is going. yousef: in terms of where samsung is going, the consensus price target is 35.8% above the current price, and this was before the earnings announcement. how will samsung defend its position in the market in 2018 given what happened? >> it is a tough question. new ceo for the memory chip business. the replacement happened a couple of months ago. lee stilling jay y. fighting his corruption charges be seeingso we might a leadership challenge this year. it is something we should keep an eye on as well. yousef: we will leave it there. more details on the samsung earnings. let's get you a preview. saudi arabia, their transformation plans. that is going for it. this is bloomberg. ♪ -- that is going forward this is bloomberg. ♪ . this is bloo

the whole story begin south koreans just indicated that they had the letter they had a message from north koreans suggesting to reestablish connection you know fax connection at a twenty connection so basically the south koreans did what the north koreans asked them maybe you can still do they started talking and they at least checked the fax machine and that already made things so well i would bet that no north korean athletes north korean team may go to your own child for that into games unfortunately the russian olympic team will not be allowed to do that it shows you how absurd the modern world has become but if you look at the history of the problem i think the south korean story is very important it's very important what you mentioned south korea was allowed to become rich in the seventy's and eighty's by the united states as a deterrent against north korea against china against the soviet union. no new country itself to south korea where a lot to become reach even when they became said the words of the nato to really ensure remember trading relations with the united states th

the whole story begin south koreans just indicated that they had the letter they had a message from north koreans suggesting to reestablish connection you know fax connection at a twenty connection so basically the south koreans did what the north koreans asked them maybe you can still do they started talking and they at least checked the fax machine and that already made things so well i would bet that no north korean athletes north korean team may go to chance for that in big games unfortunately the russian olympic team will not be allowed to do that they chose you how absurd the more than world has become but if you look at the history of the program i think the south korean story is very important it's very important what you mentioned south korea was allowed to become rich in the seventy's and eighty's by the united states as a deterrent against north korea against china against the soviet union. no new country itself to south korea where a lot to become reach even when they became said to wired some of them they don't really enjoy remember trading relations with the united sta

our talks resume after the north and south korean ties have been severed for a long time but i believe the first step is half the journey and i would like to hold this meeting with tenacity and perseverance kathy novak is our correspondent in seoul she joins us now live kathy first of all tell us who was in these delegations and how big of a breakthrough is this first meeting in more than two years. well it is a high level delegation the men that we were just hearing from there were the chief ministers who are in charge of in her career relations on both sides of from the south korean side you have the unification minister and then his north korean counterpart along with their deputies leading five member delegations on both sides that include representatives in charge of sports and culture and the olympics and it is significant because these two countries have not had any kind of communication for a long time it's been as you said more than two years since they have sat down for a formal meeting but they haven't even had informal talks in the form of picking up the phone and talking a

the whole story begin south koreans just indicated that. they had a message from north koreans suggesting to reestablish connection you know facts connection to twenty connection so basic. south koreans did what the north koreans asked them maybe you can still do they started talking and they at least checked the fax machine and that already made things so well i would bet that no north korean if it's north korean t. and may go to chan for that in big games unfortunately the russian olympic team will not be allowed to do that they chose you how absurd the more than world has become but if you look at the history of the program i think the south korean story is very important it's very important what you mention south korea was allowed to become rich in their seventy's and eighty's by the united states as a deterrent against north korea against china against the soviet union. no new country itself to south korea where a load to become reach even when they became said to it's of the united states and it would ensure remember french and tradin

the koreans would hope their program if the united states and south korea would stop maneuvers in the snow so did trump win this one or is he being outwitted go ahead i think he's just being ignored maneuvered around the north korean government has what it wants it now has a nuclear deterrent which the us has given every indication that despite all the rhetoric and bluster coming out of the white house the defense secretary and trumps tweets of course that it is not willing to sacrifice millions of south koreans to prevent north korea from having a nuclear deterrent so. now north korea and south korea are now actually starting to sit down and talk directly to each other rather than the whole been spoked type relationship or foreign policy u.s. would prefer that south korea only do what it says it with regards to north korea one of the interesting things here damon is that you know you won't get this in mainstream media but the south koreans are reminding everyone that they are a sovereign state and they have the right to determine therefore i think honestly they're reminding themselve

the south koreans are wary as well. the united states to not want the north koreans to drive a wedge between south koreans and americans. we have been here before. we had talks in 2013, 2015, and 2009. suppose the question is, what are the expectations? are they being managed? what is different this time? period of back a shotsrth rhetoric, cheap coming from the leaders of the two countries that have escalated tensions. north korea advanced their missile technology, supposedly firing them with the threat of hitting the united states. there has been rhetoric, backed up by the north koreans, saber-rattling. and the americans as well. south koreans are doing a joint military exercises with bombers flying over the korean peninsula. the fact that north koreans took up the offer of talks from the south koreans to discuss this face to face is significant. prior to this, we seemed to be heading in the opposite direction, with a possible military confrontation. this is a good step forward. specter ofuse the peace for the limbic

this is deja vu news live from berlin can diplomacy relieve tensions on the korean peninsula south korea poses high level talks with the north and this is just in coming just a day after north korean leader kim jong un offered a rare all of branch to the south and new threats to the u.s. we'll go live to seoul also coming up. renewed protests in iran is that country sees its most violent of rust in the years more than twenty people have been killed in the demonstrations as the government threatens a further crackdown. and it could be a make or break year for german chancellor machall look at what's in store for her in twenty eighteen as she tries to form a new coalition government. i'm brian thomas great to have you with us south korea's a government has offered to hold high level talks with north korea beginning next week the talks would focus on the participation of a north korean team in this year's winter olympics to be held in the south now the offer comes a day after north korean leader kim jong un struck a more conciliatory tone towards the south in his new year's address saying h

koreans haven't visited that mountain in about ten years because a south korean was shot in two thousand and eight by a security guard there and north korea has been trying to restart that tourism program so it is being seen as significant particularly after a period of heightened tensions that the two koreas can come together for this agreement but as you mentioned there has been some level of protest as well here in the south korea people in general maybe in favor of the idea of a show of unity but first of all many have said they don't want the south korean government to cover the costs of the north korean delegations participation and also some are questioning if having this joint ice hockey team means that some south korean players will miss out to make room for the north koreans barbara so i mean a lot of criticisms and a lot of question marks so the south korea president has voiced his support he said it would move the hearts of people around the world but beyond the olympics how likely is it to lead to resolving the main issue obviously when it comes to north korea and that is it

and south korean governments. at least two people have been killed after protests across a band of a rising bread prices the government's warned demonstrators that acts of destruction would be met with force police have been arresting opposition leaders confiscating newspapers to control the situation some of the reports. there is anger in the sudanese capital her people in small numbers have been protesting against a sudden increase in prices of basic commodities it's not limited to southern. almost half of the citizens that have protesting now but the voters. because it's the. cd in a very hard and violent way. read is the most important staple for more sudanese and the prices have gone up after the government began a series of reforms to improve the economy the government stop importing greek since last month hoping that it would create competition between private companies and bring down prices but bakeries say they have raised prices due to a shortage of flour god ordered will have low in line if they don't p

the south koreans want to restart talks on the nuclear peninsula.korean the north koreans are poorly remain fairly quite when that issue was brought up. in those talks which are happening across the bridge about five miles from here. manus: it is fairly impressive between north korea and south korea. symbolism, what does it do to the theater of geopolitics? yet the u.s. and china really been down on north korea. strategic move by north korea to provoke the air of donald trump? steve: yeah, it could be several different motives for accepting the south korean all of branch for the stoxx. -- south korean all of -- olive branch for these talks. , has chinascenes played a significant role flacco absolutely. -- significant role? absolutely. perhaps that push north koreans to say maybe we should make a move right now to have it rapprochement with the south koreans before donald trump and the united states can do something that would ignite the tensions even further. we don't know the behind-the-scenes but what we do know is there is progress being made. baby steps but progress. manus: we wi

but a lot of korean watchers tonight concerned about the south koreans giving away to mean concessions to leader gym ku jung un. >>> coming up, oprah winfrey versus president trump in 2020. two say she's actively thinking about getting into the next presidential race. cancer challenges us. to find smarter solutions. to offer more precise and less invasive treatment options than before. like advanced genomic testing and immunotherapy. see how we're fighting to outsmart cancer at cancercenter.com/outsmart >>> happening now, breaking news. getting testimony. cnn has learned that the president's legal team is now preparing for a request by the special counsel for mr. trump to answer questions. will there be limits on what the president can be asked? >>> very stable genius. the president gives a new self-promoting speech as he and his allies dispute claims he's unintelligence and unhinged. >>> staring down, a new deadline to keep the government running or face an embarrassing failure. will the president's border wall plans kill any hope of a bipartisan deal? >>> and challenge accepted. the

-south korean alliance so that south korea is coerced into submission. these kinds of theories are sometimes discussed -- other trying to avoid the mistakes that muammar qaddafi and the taliban all made hostile being in a relationship with the united states and not having your own nuclear weapons and it really is regime protection. i am not going to try to speak for any consensus among the brookings scholars, but we all agree that we do not really know. people may weigh one possibility more than another and if my weigh in, shes to can catch my eye and correct the record. but i would encourage people to look at that. einhorn and bob jonathan pollack, whose book is sober us all to the fact that the north korean not be will probably easily eliminated any time soon if ever. that is a way of answering your question indirectly at least which is to say whether north korea would do something as potentially self destructive as to sell nuclear weapons abroad, say.hard to they have already sold some nuclear materials. would they threaten to sell a weapon if they fe

until recently north koreans refused to even pick up the phone when south koreans called the border hotline so it was significant to see resawing who's in charge of into korean relations for the north korean government stepping over the border into the south he led a five member team of high ranking diplomats into a meeting with a south korean counterpart in what's known as the truce village at panmunjom. our talks resume after north and south korean ties have been severed for a long time but i believe the first step is have to journey with a number indeed we came to this meeting with a serious and sincere attitude and with the thought of giving our brethren who have high hopes for this dialogue and valuable results as the first gift of the year on the meeting did produce results north korea says it will send a delegation of athletes and team members to next month's winter olympics in south korea the south says it will consider suspending sanctions if it helps north korea's participation in the games in. both sides have also agreed to hold military talks to prevent accidental clashes and ea

in fact, the north korean head of delegation said that they were strictly opposed to the south koreans bringing that up at such an early stage of the if you want to call it that, in their relations. the about-face came pretty suddenly. the concern is with the south korean president, that by allowing these talks and , perhaps the thaw momentum of sanctions and the international coalition, if you will, against north korea, might have to take a bit of a cause during those olympics. again, that's not a bad thing because dialogue is a good thing, but again, it might set international efforts to curtail north korea -- it might put that on hold a little bit. hadsouth korean president some pretty strong words to say in his new year's address today here at the blue house. david: part of what he said was that he was ready to meet them under the right terms. you take a step back and have a look at the entirety of the issue. the long-term sort of dilemma is still there, that after all of this, the north came away with .hat it wants what are the right terms and how likely is it over the short term

, president trump and the south korean president, moon jae—in, they president trump and the south korean president, moonjae—in, they have decided to postpone joint military exercises in south korea during because of the winter olympics and paralympics. those because of the winter olympics and pa ralympics. those military because of the winter olympics and paralympics. those military drills ta ke paralympics. those military drills take place in south korea. they are an opportunity for the united states forces to train alan soady south korean forces. the united states and south korea say they are a deterrent —— train alongside. they are seen as rehearsals for an invasion by north korea. that was a significant development last night. hours after that, we hear that pyeongchang has agreed to these talks at which they will discuss the talks of sending a delegation to the olympics. sophie, thank you. one of the arab world's poorest countries, yemen, has been devastated by a war which has claimed thousands of lives and seen a deadly outbreak of cholera. last month the former president ali

sophie long reports from the south korean capital, seoul. communication between the north and south korean governments has now been re—established. a north korean delegation will be present at the winter olympics being hosted by the south. and a direct military hotline connecting to the two koreas has been reactivated. but there was barely a mention, and certainly no movement on the fundamental issue of north korea's nuclear and missile programme. today, the south korean president said resolving that was the only pathway to peace. translation: the de-nuclearisation of the korean peninsula is the fundamental pathway we need to follow. this cannot be compromised. this is the only way for us to achieve full peace in the korean peninsula. not everyone was in favour of the talks. some believe that the north korean leader's sudden willingness to engage with its neighbour is motivated by the desire to drive a wedge between those allied against him, as the latest round of un sanctions imposed on his regime really start to bite. but moonjae—in wa

and south korean navy to try to stop ports. at north korean it does have potential ability to further heighten the effect of sanctions. i think there's no doubt about that if we were to do this. but it is also an act of war under international law. the north koreans already say the sanctions are an act of war. but this, everybody would agree in some sense, is an act of war. it is a tool that countries do not employ often. north korea might shoot back at our navy or at other assets, but beyond, that the main concern i have about this option, it doesn't prevent them trade across china, the land border, and it doesn't invent them flying high-technology equipment if for their need missile program. it runs a risk of escalation. the last option i will mention is direct assassination of kim jong-un. feel like iouldn't was being very polite bringing of an option here if it weren't already in the discussion. we know from reports last fall, there are elements of existing combined forces command plans that would go after military control

given me this opportunity to talk about sort korean -- south korean opinion. i think that question is quite ambiguous or assumes knowledge y the respondents that they do not have. the word "recognize" has a certain legal power when it comes to this issue. as i interpret it, it means that you are recognized as a nuclear weapons state for the purposes of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. there are other states that possess nuclear weapons that are not recognized as nuclear weapon states. i think that de facto, they are estates with nuclear weapons but we are not going to give china and russia and anybody else is going to give north korea the special privileges conferred by the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. -- that the current recognized states do. on south korean attitudes -- south korea does have the greatest equities involved here. as our colleague jonathan pollack likes to say, this is he korean peninsula. most importantly, there is a widespread assumption in policymaking circles in various countries that if the united states or south korea were to take

koreans have proposed direct face to face talks between north korean and south korean military officials the people that have all the gardens that the people you know that could deescalate the situation because the last year has been horrendous anyway you look at it and the south koreans say they're venture aim is full denuclearize zation of the peninsula. with number one i think we should be engaged in these talks in an earnest sincere manner to give a new year's gift namely the results of the talks to the korean nation so. it will as you mentioned earlier we hope to bring a precious gift to your people that matches the expectations of our people so that does seem to be some sort of sense of optimism here but it does come after quite an escalation in the region doesn't it but it was it was a very busy year we went from escalation to escalation the united states and south korea holding near monthly war games military exercises along along the north borders for example. i i. and those those were continuous along with that the even sent nuclear capable boarders to circle around north korea

does that meld with the south korean position? >> well, again, as ash carter has pointed out, i believe the defense and deterrents are the marria major pillar in playing the game vis-a-vis north korea right now. but the other game plan is enment and dialogue which we will be pursuing from now on. >> so we asked also, what game is north korea playing? let's go back to the extraordinary moment on new year day when the north korean leader kim jong-un gave this speech and offered that new -- sorry, that olive branch to south korea, while also saying that he had a nuclear button on his table and then of course he had president trump's response about having a bigger nuclear button. take us back to there. what was going on in the foreign ministry when you heard kim jong-un's speech? >> well, i think kim jong-un's speech can be read from many different perspectives. but number one, he was putting a lot of emphasis upon the importance of economic prosperity. and number two, after so many years of silence in the inter-korean relationship, h

several petitions filed against it well kathy novak joins us live now from the south korean capital seoul cafe so not all south koreans are happy with their government's newfound friendship with the north how are people there feeling. well it's interesting daryn when you talk to south koreans i think overwhelmingly they are pragmatic they want a peaceful situation here on the korean peninsula but increasingly there are fewer people who were alive before the one nine hundred fifty s. and remember a unified korea so they are taught in school for example that korea is one that they are one people but when it comes to this idea of national unity it seems to be more in theory to more south korean people so a poll for example found that only four out of ten support this idea of the koreas marching under a unified korean peninsula flag at the opening ceremony and we talked to people in the streets about how they felt about this move for more unity at the olympics they said they support the idea in general it's good for peace efforts but for example they don't want the government to pay the