Budgets or get the details from our brussels correspondent. Thanks so much for your Company Everyone the feud over north Koreas Nuclear Program Moves to center stage on the eve of the Olympic Games in south korea u. S. Vice president mike pence has arrived in seoul and is promising new more aggressive sanctions against the north he met with south korean president moon in the following on his warning not to allow pyongyang to quote hide behind feel a big banner and today acumen presided over a military parade a show of force after sending athletes and performers over the border while that move is seen as either a bit to thaw our relations with the south or a ploy to provoke the us. North korea and the United States are still sending mixed messages a day before the twenty eighteen winter games. Despite signaling it was willing to talk north korea hasnt traded the savior for the olive branch quite yet pyongyang staged a massive military parade marking the founding of its armed forces. Addressing his troops north Korean Leader kim jong un called on his military to be on the ready to repel quote invasive forces much further celt yang is trying to put its best foot forward sending kim jong sr of the north Korean Leader as part of their olympic delegation shall be the first member of the norths ruling family to cross the demilitarized zone. The u. S. Is response is also a mixed bag american Vice President pence is meeting regional leaders ahead of the games hes already warned the u. S. Is preparing more aggressive sanctions on the north. And he promised koreas president that the u. S. Wouldnt rest until pyongyang abandons its nuclear ambitions. And allow me to do assure you. The people of south korea and the United States of america will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder in our effort to bring maximum pressure to bear on north korea until the time comes when they finally sent permanently. An irreversible abandon their nuclear and Ballistic Missile ambitions to. The world maybe coming together for the Winter Olympics but the gulf between washington and north korea is as wide as ever. Our joining me now is eight and Foster Carter korea expert at Leeds University in the u. K. A very good day eight and up john yang holding a military parade as it rattles south koreas nurse just before tomorrows Winter Olympics opening ceremonies. I think i think its annoyed them though in this of the new rather delicate time in the sphere of bonhomie they have set sail and its totally gratuitous for that go into lots of detail we havent got time for february eighth used to be the army day in north korea but it hasnt been for years they changed it to april unsafe suddenly brought it back again and they can be no other reason for that than to slightly rain on the souths no military parade so its a kind of annoying but the south has kind of brushed it off and hopes that you know things will go well nonetheless ok well arguably it collapsing to mars opening ceremonies as the arrival of the norths a diplomatic delegation on saturday that slated to meet with the south korean president tell us more about that. Well this really is something i mean until the announcement that kim jong uns sister was coming and i tended to the view that mr what was happening although very welcome its nice to have some respite from months and months of crisis if he doesnt solar and a lot of course but it was it was all stuff thats happened before you know weve now got a twenty year history there not recently most of it ten years ago more than ten years ago of the last south contacts you know theyve had cheerleaders for a vote thats not but its really interesting and as as was correctly said its the first time a member of what i guess you can call the royal family of the logo this must be a coat his country is coming south we dont know what can come of that because of course the whole situation is hemmed in by the Nuclear Issue and if we were so forget that we have Vice President pence of the us a firmly reminding everybody at every opportunity how bad it will careerist i say have a talk to us a little bit about south koreas president because he finds himself a bit between a rock and a hard place. Thats nice ive just written something with a different much a full i think as a kind of olympic sport Cold Mountain tightrope walking. Is good too but you know he hes going to be really capitol hill luce is followed so we have skating on thin ice sorry so many choices he really is a very delicate line because what is the space exactly i mean its not tickle of faith that people like him center left South Koreans of a certain age but she his family was from the north that you want to you know the socalled sunshine policy who may remember back in the day that engagement is a good idea now a lot of younger the South Koreans to his surprise dont actually share that view they want theyre pleased about the joint hockey team for instance and the americans certainly i know and im a Prime Minister of japan reminding everybody that north korea is a Nuclear Family factor which is true of many other things horrible human rights record so its quite easy to see how each will be watching to see how he how far he leans i wish him luck and he doesnt fall off the tyrant all right and just for the record im going to go with an ice age a Foster Carter korea expert at Leeds University in the u. K. Thank you so much for weighing at leasure. Well away from the political posturing the athletes at the Winter Olympics are raring to go or some of them are at least thirteen russians have failed with appeals to the court of arbitration for sport they want to compete despite a doping back on their country an additional forty seven russians will find out on friday if they can participate just as the olympic torch reaches the host city john chiang. The olympic torch his journey is almost over with the Opening Ceremony just around the corner flame took a spectacular ride on a zip oil on its way to be on chang. This is one of the more daring stages of its two thousand eight hundred kilometer journey around south korea. Not a feat for the faint hearted. At least the next leg was far easier for those watching to stomach and the Olympic Village there was an unexpected visitors russian athletes who had been banned from the games by the i. O. C. Were presenting their case to the court of arbitration for sport in the hope of having the decision overturned at the last minute the hearing concluded we presented the arguments and the fifteen athletes were cleared last week by the two guys and also on thirty two i do have kids were not invited by. A final decision is expected early on friday with only hours to spare before the games open but the i. O. C. On the only ones with a close eye on the courts decision regarding the russian athletes the World Antidoping Agency is also in south korea for the games president craig reedie made his views clear. But from my point of view much wider operates entirely. To cross change that. And to try to clean the compliance and the improvement of the russian and you dont think agency. Organizers are hoping the legal wranglings and other issues surrounding the games will fade into the background once the action is fully underway freezing host city pyong chang is ready for its moment in the sun for the next two and a half weeks it will be at the center of the sporting world. All right want to tell you now why some of the other stories making news around the world. Than we are has rejoined the british com. In wealth thats after all a fifty two Member States approved the move a flag raising ceremony marking the change has been held in london this west african nation withdrew from the group back in two thousand and thirteen but new President Adama Barrow signaled he reverse the decision. The European Parliament has expressed deep concern about the human rights situation in turkey in a resolution on thursday e. U. Lawmakers urged president rich of tyburn to want to lift the state of emergency imposed after the failed military coup in twenty sixty while they say its being used to stifle legitimate opposition in the country. European leaders are welcoming the deal reached by germanys two biggest parties to form a Coalition Government its been more than four months now since germany held elections while European Council president donald tusk travelled straight to berlin for talks with angloamerican he called the deal quote good news the Coalition Agreement reached on wednesday would see berlin contributing more to e. U. Budget something brussels sees as a Welcome Change america is also due to meet with Commission President john crow juncker later today. All right lets find out what this would be government could mean for europe with the split a correspondent thomas farah here with me on the set and with max hofmann brussels chief a very good day to you both gentlemen want to start off with you thomas if i may the e. U. Is not wasting any time to v. I. P. s in town today indeed that just stresses the importance of europe for this Coalition Agreement if you read the Coalition Agreement its one hundred seventy seven pages long but it starts with the message of the new stocks to europe and thats something that is also reinforced by the fact that the Foreign Ministry and the finance minister will be in the hands of social democrats the Foreign Ministry will be in the hands of martin shows who is passionately pro european on hides who has indeed stress on various occasions that he would like a strong good judgement participation within european institutions and he has a proven track record as well all right to max nobodys breaking out the champagne just yet but is this agreement a step in the right direction for germanys european partners. Well i think i heard some champagne bottles over there at the European Commission because of what thomas does mention its all over the handwriting of the include yoker the president of the European Commission im sure hes very satisfied with it and he told us as much but the real importance here is the real Important Message for the rest of Europe Germany is most likely at least back has most likely again or likely at least functioning government and thats important for what the European Union is attempting to do in the next month since years big reforms for example the eurozone reform and again as crude you want to put it we have to repair the roof of the European Union as long as the sun is shining and you cant do that without German Government ok you cant do that without a German Government thomas this is a marriage of convenience its a day after give us a sense of how this deal is going down well its such a not a marriage of love you can say that these are very much reluctant partners feel the need to Work Together in order to avoid fresh elections or avoid avoid a minority government so from dr spec if there is a certain size of relief that germany at least has this Coalition Deal but it has been criticism today criticism leveled against im going to medical in particular about the loss of that Key Finance Ministry alleged remember that the finance minister was held for a very long time by a vote of conscience conservative here in in germany there has also been criticism leveled against insurers who had previously said that he would never enter. Government and now hes saying that he wants to be the the next foreign minister of germany on government so although there has been some relief that germany has this Coalition Deal it has also been accompanied by a lot of criticism now right now max youre features prominently in this Coalition Deal but its short in detail and substance does that worry brussels. And youre right its more about the big vision for europe and a commitment to the European Union but if you look at the text that its unclear how they want to fulfill this goal just to give you an example more importance to the European Parliament all right but thats this and this is treaty change for example how do they want to do that more money into the into the e. U. Budget ok but does that mean only germany or also all the others but i think the bottom line here at least for the european institutions right now is that the message is positive that the euro germany is willing to pay more that is one of the key messages as we just heard earlier so for now even if there is a lack of detail and even if we know that. Michael the french president are not necessarily on the same page when it comes for example to a eurozone finance minister or euro zone budget they have proven in the last months that theyre more than willing to Work Together and to try to find some Common Ground thomas does this didnt deal now mean that the social democrats are out of their rut got their mojo back well its certainly good for them that they got those three key ministries Foreign Ministry finance minister. Minister they can push the european policies forward on the social justice policies forward but if you look internally in the s. T. G. There is a very big division among s. P. D. Party members and in fact those Party Members will be deciding whether this goes ahead they have to vote four hundred sixty three thousand of them have to vote on whether they approve this deal then just under no circumstance sure that they will give the green light all right tom sparrow max hofmann thank you both gentlemen. I want to remind you now of our main story this hour north korea has put on a showcase of its military might just one day before south korea opens the Winter Olympics the parade marks the seventieth anniversary of its armed forces. All right that is it for we hope to see you again at the top of the hour here for now thanks so much for spending us part of your day with us
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