Headlines were back with more news here on inside on aljazeera thats after inside story. On counting the cost well look at the economic reasons behind the unrest in the middle east second largest economy plus new year new rules for European Finance but thats not all well ask the chief global economist at u. B. S. Whats his dangerous idea counting the cost at this time on aljazeera. The hotline linking north and south korea is in use again young wants to talk about next months Winter Olympics but saul also wants to discuss its Nuclear Program when next weeks meeting ease tensions or make things worse this is inside story. Around welcome to the program. North koreas leader kim jong un started of two thousand and eighteen by extending an olive branch to the countrys southern neighbor and now kims new years day address has led to a planned talks between the long time rivals delegations from the two nations will meet on choose day for the first face to face talks in two years during that time north korea has conducted three Nuclear Tests and fired more than forty messiahs including its most advanced yet but even as it calls for you do stand sions junk young insists it wont get rid of its Nuclear Program so how much can choose days talks really achieve well get to our guests in just a moment but first floor has this report from seoul. In a few days the truce village of panmunjom on the Demilitarized Zone that separates north and south korea will be a hive of activity representatives from the two countries will hold high level talks here for the first time in more than two years earlier this week north Korean Leader kim jong il to dialogue in his address four days later his government agreed to hold talks the announcement came just hours after the u. S. And south korea agreed to postpone and your military drills for the end of february these have long been regarded as provocative by pyongyang. Leaders agreed not to conduct south korea yes joint military drills. And to do their best to ensure the security of the olympics. Next weeks discussions will center on north koreas participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics as well as generally improving into korea relations but officials here in south korea are also hoping the negotiations will eventually lead to north korea returning to international talks on its Nuclear Program even so president cautiously optimistic saying we should refrain from making premature judgement expectation. The Japanese Defense minister also sounded a lot of caution when. North korea goes through phases of apparent dialogue and provocations but either way north korea is continuing its nuclear and Missile Development we have no intention of weakening our warning and surveillance. It is new years day speech said north korea with its Nuclear Weapons program and even called for the mass production of deployment of Nuclear Warheads and this house. From the conservative perspective in north korea trying to buy time the majority seems to believe the north korea is trying to finalize its Technical Development to to achieve operational i. C. B. M. So you know as us the cia has announced before they are talking about two or three months time in terms of finalizing the i. C. B. M. System and it looks like this is a perfect action on their side you know to buy time. Last year north korea test fired three Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles or i. C. B. M. s including one that its capable of reaching the u. S. Mainland many hope the upcoming talks remain the best option for now of deescalate the crisis on the korean its. Largely aljazeera so. There have been some diplomatic breakthroughs on the Korean Peninsula in the past with the riding results the first enter korean summit was held in two thousand the two sides signed a declaration allowing separated families to have reunion meetings seven years later there were renewed calls for International Mediation the second summit and with a declaration to continue working towards a Permanent Peace treaty but diplomacy has fizzled since then the last round of talks happened in december two thousand and fifteen and that in failure north korea stopped answering communication lines inside the Demilitarized Zone in february two thousand and sixteen lets bring in our guests install in bomb chum a retired lefton general with the south korean army and joining us on skype from tokyo michael pan president of the chains twenty years agency thank you for joining us let me start by asking mr chairman this is the mitten purely about Winter Olympics or theres more to the story. Were hoping that this will lead to further negotiations and talks that will set a stage or a foundation for a. Easement of tensions on the Korean Peninsula and hopefully a resolution to the Nuclear Issue that has been rising in this region which is affecting the world mr pat is this purely an attempt by the north korean koreans to test waters or do you think that this could be a genuine attempt to move forward and solve the long disputes between all the parties well i think. It is genuine. But of course it really depends on the patient. If. This is going to be killed. Theres asian or North Koreans policy you know its not going to happen but it is they are a genuine attempt i think to his work in chains and trying to bring on some degree of normalcy situation mr chum the reason why i was asking the question about the real reasons behind the of virtue is because it brings back memories of from one nine hundred eighty eight during the Winter Olympics in salt north korean stepped in the said they would like to. Join a unified team then they said they wanted to cohost the games with the south koreas then they pulled out in created an International Crisis back then is there any political agenda here. I think its hard to say right now but i think its safe to assume that there is a political agenda we wont know until we actually come to a meeting table with the North Koreans which will happen in a couple of days so i think it would be prudent to see and wait to see what happens during those meetings and those initial thoughts lets move a little bit beyond the north Korean Peninsula pand what is the general sentiment among the japanese about what is happening now well i think general. Japanese public is a whole if there is a general welcoming of the. Intentions have been reduced somewhat although i do think there is also a lot of caution the japanese public probably isnt deeply aware of whats going on quite yet this is quite new information and many of them want us to not think you should ask from the japanese governments perspective we are becoming very different now. The our government i think you say is not welcome the peace talks at this time is exactly what good want in terms of their own domestic political agenda which right now is moving forward towards possibly revising the prosecution abbies perspective actually tensions would be more appropriate. Mr chairman i mean he served in the military in south korea i mean it is shaping contacts in the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries what does it mean from a military perspective from the just expose specter and is it going to be conducive to broader talks about a permanent settlement of the crisis in the peninsula well. First off. Along the border as far as i know there is not been any kind of build up of forces so i dont think that there will be any immediate talks about reduction because there have there has not been any kind of build up along the Demilitarized Zone itself now and the future of course. This is a this is a critical item that needs to be taught but this is in the far far away future right now we are focuses somehow denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and before that we are able to we will be able to ease tensions and this area to reach that goal but do you think that the first meeting is just going to be a confidence Building Measure or they would move forward and start tackling the Nuclear Issue knowing that the north korea has made it quite clear that this is a red line yes so you brought up a very important point there confidence Building Measures we havent had many of those in recent years so one of the first challenges that we face is how are we going to build some trust and maybe this is an area where the south korean government can broker some sort of. Role between the North Koreans and the United States and other neighbors within the region. Describe the mounting tension as the most severe situation his country faces since the Second World War i mean i thought is this me think the meeting is it likely to further stoke tension or is it good news from a government perspective in japan. Right well im going to be honest i think humans are going was going to get that same exact speech even if that Nothing Happened during the holiday break that was what was planned for whatever. You know seems so obvious right now is just about to embark and since here on an effort to try to revive the japanese constitution and part of the argument why this leaves the down is the poster poor who were an imminent military threat most the most clearly from north korea and so a reduction of tensions hes part of this is bartolo what he wanted at this time and this is exactly why it is so important you know hes going to be reactive they havent said we welcome the parks we welcome a reduction of her conscience nothing about sort one so but the japanese dont need all of that and they dont want to listen lets further explore whats on the table here and whats the options for the party is this a charm a president moon jay in is a big fan of the sunshine policy who would like to pursue the same agenda try to show the northern koreas with more incentives to can vince them to set aside their nuclear and weapons ambitions are we likely to see him pursue the same policy. I think. Were stretching a little bit by saying that Moon Administration is a big fan of the sunshine policy i think the Administration Fully understands the restrictions and the difference between the initial sun sign policy period and what it is today mainly that the North Koreans have Nuclear Weapons so if we if we want to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula i think we will be doing this in coordination with not only the United States our closest ally but our neighbors around us so that we can ensure that the goal is very clear thats the new denuclearization of north korea and to ensure that. Pull there for ration of these very dangerous weapons do not occur. Although the sunshine policy is a means to open and have a more free north korea. I dont think that this administration is under the. Misconception that. Its going to be the same as twenty years before genuine not a genuine of a cheer mr pan i mean the japanese would like to see an aggressive approach mr tom is saying that the same policy hasnt brought about any significant change in the past but then the question is whats the option if you cannot move forward with political talks north korea has made it clear no concessions whatsoever on their program take it or leave it. Yeah well i mean again i would say it really and that. Are i think any effort to convince the north he was in to give up its Nuclear Weapons whether that be through sanctions on through talks is going to be horrible and the reason is quite simple i think. These weapons are absolutely necessary to its own human survival so again you really expect them to give up something which is their lifeline i dont think you can but what i do think we can do and i think should be the goal of the policy is to try to at least of warning of catastrophic war there will be many people so i think that should be where our focus should be on these two who want the worst Case Scenario and we try to bring things down to talk a sane reasonable level were talking at least. The feel of it and the one is off the table some have been mentioning the idea of broadening the sphere of the power to nurse to come together and negotiate a permanent solution to the crisis do you believe that bring game that japanese the chinese the russians the americans to come together south koreas north korean could be the best option to try to initiate an Ambitious Program thats good and the crisis. Before i answer that question i just want to remind everyone that the moon and ministrations so far has been very firm in its responses towards the provocations that the North Koreans been activating recently if you look at the responses immediate show of force demonstrations combined operations all of the. Shown the North Koreans that theyre dealing with not only a liberal and progressive government in south korea but a firm south korean government and a strong us korean. Alliance here but that stuff by the way i also believe i could see what youre hinting at with that some other same time thats not that does not seem to be the case weve seen moon j in distancing himself from the rhetoric of President Trump and saying basically i would like to give diplomacy a chance this is exactly why he stepped in a he said give the go ahead to the bilateral talks of the two delegations to meet as soon as possible and before which was not absolutely in any way the case for the americans its too early to tell what the intent full intentions of the North Koreans are but i think the South Koreans and the United States are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for that for the moment and see were all of this leads to flirt. With the foundations of making sure that we are in a Firm Position and not of weakness ok mr pound i mean what does what do you think the u. S. Will stand in this particular idea of resume into talks weve seen that we spy President Trump the statements made by nikki haley and they were very critical of the of the of the north korean government do you think that this time they will try to pull out to give diplomacy better chances. Ah i think that we should be very wary about what u. S. Policy is going to be the germans i mean frankly. You know if youre going to seriously and analyze what the trump foreign policy. Its many things are of the same parliament. Policy the holy policy i will donald trump policy were all on. Our end so i think. Probably the greatest source of instability and unpredictability is where the u. S. Government. I certainly think the point of view of the establishment. Its going to be basically very skeptical of any moves made by north korea and will not look too warm we have these talks between the king party mr chum where you have a south korea has said that they would like to give a chance to the talks or the same time you have your biggest ally the United States of america its president has been using terms like fire and fury and that here is with totally destroy north korea this battery do you believe that is going to lead the area anywhere towards a peaceful settlement or just fire and conflict. I think a couple of hours ago President Trump took credit upon himself saying that because he did. Make those statements that made the. North koreans. Aware of the firm resolve of that only the United States the do you believe that clients you believe what he said. Yes. I think that it was a the firm stance of the us president did form the circumstances for where we are today and hopefully this will lead to a better solution than war mr patten japan is more closely monitoring the situation there are two options here a breakthrough that would lead to a genuine dialogue many people are skeptical about it all more tension chances are he said that hes going to give a deadline for twenty twenty if nothing happens he will revise the constitution and then to pave the way for japan to have his own armed forces is this a likely scenario well i think one of the most likely people all of the players in all of the hole in. The harbor are and thats that hes going to keep the an advocate of pressure on our sanctions are doing everything. In terms of putting more and more pressure on the one who can give up the Nuclear Weapons when you dont know when or. What you can expect the open hard line coming from tokyo which produces was mr charm like to ask you this this is a nation i mean both countries have been together for more than a thousand years separated for almost seventy years are there the chances that they can come together one day set aside their differences and negotiate a permanent solution where we might ultimately see one nation or do you think this is Wishful Thinking for the time being. Yes as a korean i have this enduring hope that once again we will be unified and its not just a hope its an eventuality the only question is how it will look so i have a firm belief that we will one day be unified and a unified korea will contribute not only to this region but to world peace is that a concern among the koreans right now that if the talks fail that could have some impact on the winter games. For now i think a lot of koreans are relieved that the North Koreans especially their leader kim jong un himself as announced that hes willing to. Use dialogue and negotiations where this will lead to be honest with you i think we we just have to do our best and see where it will lead but im hoping for the best. I hope that after the Winter Olympics. We will use that opportunity for a resolution where both sides will be able to. Negotiate and and work for peace ok mr pan i mean weve been trying to touch upon some different aspects of the story particularly the possibility for a breakthrough that could be conducive to political talks and that could also help the whole region i would like to go back to the same question as initially i mean from a japan east perspective is this something thats consolingly be negotiated between north south or they believe that key players countries with huge Leverage China russia japan the United States of america are the salt guarantors or permanent solution to the crisis in the Korean Peninsula. Frankly i dont really see. A huge goal or where we are playing a. Visible or if youre talking about japanese government policy. You know whats the end game what was. The only the process. So far that hasnt really believe whats been put out there by the japanese government and. And the idea basically that through pressure of the going to get everything they want doesnt seem to be realistic and nobody will expect to happen so its not clear that there is really a strategy sort of per se going on in or around the German Government but more broadly among the japanese public theres always a strong desire for peace its a country that has a strong are part of it since World War Two and you know they were by how possible thank you have friendly relations with all the neighbors it will be interesting to see how things move forward in the coming days and weeks mr thomas the penn thank you very much indeed for your contribution to the program and thank you too for watching you can see the program again and its time by visiting our website c. N. N. Dot com and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com for was last a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our hand there is a j inside story from the house and the whole team here by phone now. There were over forty charges as i recall primarily it was Material Support for paris the Holy Land Foundation was the biggest Muslim Charity in the usa they were considered to be a legitimate American Charity because we were able to see the secret we were able to tell in a two part series aljazeera world examines one of the most Controversial Court cases of the socalled war on terror the holy land far at this time on al jazeera. Its the cheapest rail service in the d. R. Congo the largest country in Subsaharan Africa the swallow crosses half the country from lubumbashi to a labor. Its the only link between remote villages and the outside world. The swallow has been around for more than fifty years like a local bus it stops a virtually every station passengers clamber the remaining seats people cram into whatever space they can find. Nearly two thousand people all together three times the officially permitted capacity for those who werent able to find a place or who cant afford a ticket theres always the roof. Travelers have to remain alert a lapse in attention could be fatal. The danger comes not just from above. Even at the moderate speed of thirty kilometers an hour a tree branch can cut like a machete. Valued as a gem of africa nairobi has gone through many changes over the past decades took to aljazeera travels to the kenyan capital to hear from those who witnessed the citys progress to becoming a metropolis and discusses where its heading now at this time on aljazeera unbelievable it sounds like an agreement between criminal bosses slide trading and stolen goods that have been taken by the place if anyone ever comes to. Ask the question minister throw their hands up in the air and say i dont know i was just nominee director were doing a investigation into a. Ukraine would you say bribes youve been corrupt been not corrupt i did just what the president say aljazeera investigations the only go at this time. The Iranian Regime is now on notice the world will be watching what you do. The Un Security Council debates the recent antigovernment protests in iran that killed twenty two people