Asia and pacific. We are chatting about the latest and most successful test from north korea to date. Can you put that launch into perspective, what does it mean for the threat facing the u. S. Homeland . Glad to. St we have seen an escalation of icbms. This is their third successful launch. When you start perfecting that technology in an icbm, the next up is to put the Nuclear Warhead on there. This is something that we see them going down this path. It is not something they just started, something they have been working on for 20 years, but it has certainly escalated under kim jongun, something the whole world news to be involved in, not just america. Host are we being continually surprised by missile launches, test, how good is our intelligence to know exactly where north korea is . Unfortunately, being such a closed society, intelligence is hard. Boots on the ground, satellites, things like that, that we can monitor the stuff, but it is hard to get people in or out of there to get the on the ground intelligence gathering that would be so vital. Withg that, we have met several defectors that have come out of there. Ho is the highest level defector that we have had, we had him on the hill. We also met with him in south korea. Host what is the best option right now when it comes to north korea, how close are we to a shooting war . Guest it is hard to gauge, it is a serious, real threat. It is something that we cannot do on our own. We can put sanctions, as the u. N. Did, 16 countries came on unanimously saying we need to play sentience on north korea, but we cannot do it alone. China is the big player in this. 90 of the trade with north korea. Then you have india and the philippines. It has to be a World Community coming together to bring north korea to the diplomacy table. To invite the caller to join the conversation with representative ted yoho. For the next 25 minutes or so. The congressman is a german of the subcommittee on asia and the pacific. Talking about north korea this morning as folks are calling in. The idea of a military strike against north korea, in your mind, is that something that is possible, is that a nonstarter . We have had people talk about what the reaction would be from north korea, the number of south koreans that could die, not just from any sort of nuclear attack, but from conventional arms as well. Where are you on that . Guest all options are on the table, and they have to be, to play a strong hand, to get people to come to the diplomacy table. Nobody wants war. I was born in 1955. It seems like we have been in war or some form of it since i was born. Through sanctions and the international community, bringing an end to the development of the Nuclear Weapons on the korean peninsula, that is our best option, to bring the pressure on the kim regime, so they come to the table, so we can have a diplomatic solution to this without war. Host the president recently on his trip overseas to asia, was that successful, in your mind, when it came to this issue specifically . Guest it really was. I was there right before then. We had the opportunity to meet with President Trump, we briefed him on some of the things that we saw and heard. With the american presence going back into that area, instead of the strategic patience of the previous administration, where they ignore the area. You can go to the bush and clinton administration, which has allowed north korea to become more aggressive in their development of Nuclear Weapons. Since President Trump has come back, he has gone ahead and put north korea back on the state sponsor terrorism list, which is something we have been advocating since february. Host why is that important . Guest it is important because it is a pariah state. It shows the World Community where you stand. You choose to do business either with north korea or the United States. This is something to say, we are serious about sanctions, we want to ramp up the sanctions, and we want the World Community to buy into this. This is not something that will be isolated to the korean peninsula, or the asiapacific region. This is something that will affect the whole world. This is something all nations need to come together. We are in the 21st century. There is no need to have nuclear wars. Lets put the pressure on their where tim johnson will see his only option is to come to the table. Host ron is waiting in san clemente, california. The line for republicans. Caller thanks for accepting the phone call today. Congressman, let me bring a couple of issues to your table. 1996, there was talk about reunification of the peninsula of korea between the north and south, hostilities were at an alltime low. Havingre talking about people visit from south korea to north korea. Now we are in a situation that seems ridiculous. Why would we not want them to kia, hyundai cars there or or whatever else they want to manufacture, and why cant we do the art of the deal here and kim jongil toth make a nuclear trade with his program and start trading with this guy. He has to feed his family, he has to feed the people of his country. The talk is that they are all starving. But when you look at the things on pbs, it shows a pretty functional society. We may be going down the wrong road here. Host congressman . Bring up some valid points. That is what we try to do, the World Community, especially south korea. Go ahead and work toward reunification. That is why they built the Industrial Complex over there right at the border of the dmz. During thatpened time when kim jongil passed away and kim jongun came in, we see the escalation of the Nuclear Threat with the six Nuclear Bombs that he has done needed since he has been in office. A 17 Nuclear Icbms he has launched to date, just the seer. Working with them to try to build that reunification, what we are seeing is kim jongun is going down the path of nuclear armament. This is something that we have to bring. Again, the World Community together. We talk about reunification. Of southa group koreans that believe in reunification. I asked the question when i was over there with moon jaein. Do you see north korea becoming more like south korea in unification . He says no. Does that mean south korea has to become more like north korea . Where do you have a tradeoff . Where do you get to a point where you can agree we will have this form of lifestyle. Kim jongun is a dictator, very 143 topas killed over level people, including his own uncle. We saw what he did to auto warm beer otto warmbier. Starkville, mississippi. Jerry, go ahead. Caller hello, mr. Yoho. I agree with you that diplomacy is actually a way out of, in order to deal with north korea. Is of the things that probably not talked about is a Nuclear Strike that happens on american soil. All of the area within the Nuclear Strike would be unusable. Also there is no Early Warning system in order for people to know that a Nuclear Missile is coming in the direction of the United States. Currently, i dont think united dates states is ready for a Nuclear Strike. Talking nuclear, i think we need to go more to diplomacy. Before anything military actually happens, i think diplomacy is the measure in order to take care of north korea. Guest i agree with you, jerry. I appreciate your call. With a nuclear weapon, you dont have to be close. You just need to be close. It can do a tremendous amount of damage. A nuclear bomb detonated in the atmosphere would cause a huge theto knock out a lot of electronics, gps, telecommunications that we are so used to in this country. Life would change for a while in that area. That is why its so important to put pressure. We need china on there. That is why we have the bills in the Foreign Affairs committee that have increased the sanctions to put on north korea. I think you will see the president come out with some more this week, putting more ,ressure on them, north korea but also on china and the banking industries. We had a report were there were 146 Shell Companies doing business in hong kong that were funneling and laundering money for north korea. We have to bring these to an end to get north korea to the diplomacy table. Host you talked about china. Mrs. Harrington on twitter wants to know how much russia is involved when it comes to north koreas economy. Guest russia is being more involved with buying oil, coal, things like that. Russia needs to come to the table. They want to see a diplomatic solution to this. China and russia are asking us mill tooff with the mill operations we are doing in south korea, japan. Host the joint exercises. Guest these are things we have done since the 1960s. This is to show that we are serious about what we are saying we will do. Our actions will be dictated by kim jongun. Strike see a preemptive but they need to see that we are serious, all options are on the table. Jeanne, jackson, michigan. Line for democrats. Go ahead. Warer yes, i was a korean vet. Korea was divided after world war ii because the russians divided east and west germany. In 1953, at the peace talks, let the founder of north korea dictate the terms of the ceasefire we had. That is where all of these problems stem from. They could do like russia did with east germany. When east germany became a liability, they pulled out and let it go back to one country. The United States created an artificial south and north korea , and it is time like we did like vietnam, let them go back together. Has been no threat to us at all since the end of the war, since they were one country again. It is time to stop trying to dictate to the world. This is not the 1950s, 1960s where the United States can do whatever they want. Times have changed. We have to change. Host thanks for the call. Guest you are right. North korea, after the war, they dictated that kim jongil did that. Since then, a lot of people dont know this. Was a growing economy, becoming very prosperous, but then they had the famine, they became self sufficient, they want itsalso efficiency. In that process, they had a famine, a lot of people starved to death. Then kim jongun gets in there and his focus is on the Nuclear Weapons program. You are right, vietnam today is our 16th largest trading partner. Ho, we talk to tae young the hopes that kim jongun had, that south korea and north korea would reunify like vietnam, but the way they want to do that was to break our allied with north korea. South korea is our sixthlargest trading partner. We have a packed that we signed in the 1960s that we would be a military protector of them. We need to honor our agreement. That is why its in so important to bring these world powers together so we can have a diplomatic solution to this. Thank you for your call and service in korea. The a lot of focus on upcoming Winter Olympics in south korea especially that news. This is the sports section of usa today talking about russia being banned from the olympics. What are your concerns about security of u. S. Athletes in south korea, in just about two months from now . Guest im concerned about americans everywhere in the world today. There are so many hot zones around there. Anyountry wants to have kind of a terrorist attack on their country. Especially one that involves multinationals. You will see it very well protected, win the game start. Congressthat something is looking into in one way or another, something you are confident in these agencies . Guest the agencies are handling that, they have their own protocol that they go through. As far as any bills that have come up, im not aware of any. Host jerry on the republican line. Go ahead. Caller i think we are being too easy on north korea. Obama went over there and bow down to these people. I think that should end. When he shoots a missile out of the ground, we should blow it up for it sees daylight. Guest i appreciate your comments. Again, the last eight years was a change in Foreign Policy for the United States of america. We had a policy of strategic patience. A good example of that is in the South China Sea, we used to do navigational operations in international waters. Under the last administration, they did peaceful passages unaware the warships just passed through. That allowed china to become emboldened, allowed north korea to become more emboldened because they thought america was taking a backseat on the world stage. That is why its so important we have a president that has a strong message. Most people know where he stands. Have reinitiated those operations in the South China Sea to show that we are there, as long as well as with the military to military operations with south korea and japan, and we will continue those. They need to know america is serious that we are not taking a backseat. Host if we wanted to, could we shoot down these missile test . Guest you would have to ask somebody in the dod but as far as i know, we have a pretty good record of at least tracking them. There are other weapons out there that are not talked much about that would do a good job. Lets hope we do not get to that point. Richard from south carolina. About 10 minutes left with the congressman. Caller good morning. Three questions. We saw this north korean missiles shooting. When theyhappens start shooting bullets and everything across the border into south korea . What happens if we actually take down a missile that is flown across the peninsula to keep it from a beheading japan . If one will be short and hit japan or go into the sea. Three, it is all about cheap labor. Tpcc, it ispacific, all about cheap later. Start caring more about these countries and what he is doing to these people. It is more about cheap labor. If it was about the country, we would have taken him out years ago. Guest again, i think part of the reason we have done nash not done a lot is we dont like to meddle in other areas. We have a tracker to do that in the middle east and hit is that worked out well. As far as north korea and a soldier thats affected, that speaks so loudly to the conditions in north korea. When he has intestinal parasites in the 21st century, we treat our animals better than that here in the United States. As far as them shooting into south korea, unfortunately, if that continues, there will be an incident. That could be the spark that ignites a flame. Then you are talking about cheap labor. That is one of the things that north korea depends on. They form out their citizens as slave labor basically. All of them goes to the kim regime to keep up their nuclear tests. They are running out over 100,000 people to different countries. Insia is a big one, places the middle east using them, china. We have a commitment from these countries to stop doing that. That is the modernday slave trade. You are right. Come to aneeds to end. Hopefully, it is a peaceful one. Host how would you rate secretary of statetillersons efforts when it comes to north korea, should he be secured concerned about his job security . Everyone should be concerned about their job security, including you and i. I think he is a standup guy, i think he is the secretary of state we need at this point in time. I personally feel he has done a great job. Unless he decides to step down, i dont see anything else happening. Host you dont think these reports that we have seen about the president considering a replacement are credible, do you think guest i would not worry about it. We have heard reports of the attorney general on the else but he is doing his job. As far as Rex Tillerson come he is wellliked, wellrespected. When youre in a room with him, this is a man who understands world politics. He is a commanding person when he is in the room. Very much the executive. I would like to see him stay on. Host john, ohio. Line for democrats. Wondered, what happens to us when american dollars are no longer the world currency anymore . Great question, something we should all be concerned with. I dont know what else you would go to. Bitcoin . I hope not. The american dollar has been the standard for so long, it would uproot societies all over the world. This is something that we would definitely fall back, as far as leadership in the world. That is why its so important that we show a strong force, that people know that we are back. But also that we need to get our fiscal house in order in this country. Going back to admiral mullins, a few years ago, he said the theret threat to america, were a lot of other countries or were a threat, but the biggest threat to america is our debt. This is something we have to get under control, something we are well aware of. Until we handle mandatory spending, we will not get it under control. This is something that we are very cognizant of year, talks are going on. Now we need action to bring mandatory spending under control. Appened in 1950, by the time the u. S. Got troops over there, the area was all that was left. Run by vicious dictator, as much as any that existed. Right now from the standpoint of missile technology, theyre theyre still at the beginning point of having a threat to the United States. They havent been the last missile they launched from all it ve heard, the didnt survive on the reentry, hat is just another phase they have to go through testing to get to the point where the warhead can he survi survive. Theres also targeting and several things they still have they, but in the meantime, dont have to be that accurate to cause problems. Incant shoot it down except the ascent stage and coming for it leaves room problems. Were blind on Missile Defense because there were years it done. Being one last thing, i completely support what President Trump is the tone has to be changed, we cant keep doing what weve been doing for the number of administrators, both republican and democrat, ictator and his folks need to understand that were serious about this. Earlier someone asked what about russia and china, you have a country in russia that just got the winter om olympics because as a nation, olympics, d with the the chinese china, regardless of how fine their business suits are, it is a communist country. Host take your point. Congressman respond. Guest im glad you brought up china and russia again, they say a y are helping bring diplomatic solution, yet in february of 2015, one rocket was launched to put a satellite in space for north korea was a chinese rocket, giving them technology, launchers are assumed to be Russia Technology and has also Given Technology when apart, ukrainian scientist that had rocket needed to feed their family and selling that information to north korea, we know that as a fact. You brought up another good point, how far can we as a nation or world wait until north korea perfects this. When north korea runs ads on ou brought up t. V. With america blowing up with a nuclear bomb, you know, you have to take somebody when they keep threatening over and over again. Gain, our actions are going to be dependent and dictated by kim jongun. Aggression, it will be a sad day for north korea. Host before you joined this to ing we were talking congressman al green about bringing article of impeachment today, floor of the house what are your thoughts on those articles and what you think will happen today . It is a stunt, no basis for that. You know, i brought up wanted to bring up impeach oment president obama, every party not want to go after the president. A stunt . It guest no, he was not faithfully executing the laws of the land of the constitution. Following thep is constitution, so i think mr. Green is way off base, i dont basis for that, he was right in saying congress the sole responsibility defining high crimes and misdemeanors, but i name some crimes, you know, misdemeanors, thats a very loose term. It should be when heres continual usurpation of power of the constitution or breaking the law. If you look at president obamas actions on 20, 2014 on, november or 2015, he signed the executive amnesty to the people, ive million that was overstep of the executive office. Him tell people not to enforce laws that were institutional laws we should enforcing, those were things that hurt this country. Host last call in the final lou, line for independents, go ahead. Fresh s, i was a sophomore in college when douglas t trum an fired mcarthur, he wanted to go beyond th parallel and china was attackingthe japanese them during world war ii, so interfered. Ot have harry truman fired douglas mcarthur, we were shocked out of our minds. We came to school the next day could not believe what he did. Host mary lou, bring it to out of ere running time. Caller well, im just wanting to say, actions have consequences. Guest they do. Caller also, harry truman took jews and sat them on top of the palestinians, now today . Our problem now what is our problem today . You are absolutely right. Harry truman did do that, again, are a loti know there of praying people out there, lets pray we dont go to war nd have the strong belief that the war is not going to solve anything. Japan, ook at germany, south korea and vietnam, were at wars with all these korea just outh because of the korean war and countries are our largest trading partners. What that tells me, if we trade companies afterwards, why dont we trade and put the war to the side and work on trade, i think everybody tonight, President Trump announces a formal recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel. Congressman greenup introduces articles of impeachment. And Senate IntelligenceCommittee Chair richard burr gives an update on the investigation of Russian Investigation russian interference in the 2016 election. At the white house, President Trump annnc