weeks or months, it sounds like he knows nothing is going to happen any time soon. >> let's hope that's the case, because certainly with the level of tensions right now, we need to find a way to de-escalate. so he has opened the window there. and hopefully that will guide us forward, especially allowing time for coordination with the allies as he suggests. >> now the presumption in the past has been strategic patience was the only option because any military strike on north korea would instantaneously produce massive casualties in south korea. is there any reason to doubt that? >> no. there is no reason to doubt. >> would north korea take a military hit from the united states and not retaliate towards south korea in any way? >> that's unlikely because they have a large disposition of artillery, tens of thousands of artillery that are pointed towards seoul. that's a population of about 25 million people. furthermore, we don't know in the event of a military strike if they're able to take out all of the facilities because many of those are under ground. that many of the reasons you've seen south korea and a japan