denial. they denied violating u.n. sanctions. maybe they were saying maybe we did it but we did it because it wasn't relevant. >> the latest quote i've seen the chinese are denying knowledge of it, right? not denying that it took place, right? so as you say, they are parsing their words very carefully. >> rick: how concerned should we be about this, mark? >> you know, the stability there on that peninsula is very, very important. we've seen lots of escalation and trouble coming out of their recently. we have defectors from the north to the south giving us more insight into what's going on. it is something we should be highly concerned about and we have to watch very carefully. again, a big test for the trump administration and ambassador haley at the u.n. >> rick: you say stability is important and you are sort of saying it's okay for china to give north korea oil because it helps them stay stable. >> no, what i mean by that is the regime, if it falls, needs to fall in a very control way, right? if it falls in an uncontrolled