shaungs relief, north korea has no choice but to continually escalate. i would call it controlled provocation and controlled escalation. they re not going to test intercontinental ballistic missile or they said trump administration has until the end of the year to change their mind on that. and kim jong-un knows if there s an icbm test, intercontinental ballistic missile test or nuclear test that s going to be a red line. anything short of that, they will have to amp up the pressure so that trump administration will return to talks with concessions. this is what they do. this is their playbook. provoke, create tensions to get concessions. this is what they ve been doing for 25 years. kim jong-un is following his father and grandfather s footsteps on this. i don t see that he s a changed person. people say maybe he s a different guy from his father and grandfather. it s already almost the anniversary of the singapore summit and we know that north korea has not made any kind of progress
and kim jong-un knows if there s an icbm test, intercontinental ballistic missile test or nuclear test that s going to be a red line. anything short of that, they will have to amp up the pressure so that trump administration will return to talks with concessions. this is what they do. this is their playbook. provoke, create tensions to get concessions. this is what they ve been doing for 25 years. kim jong-un is following his father and grandfather s footsteps on this. i don t see that he s a changed person. people say maybe he s a different guy from his father and grandfather. it s already almost the anniversary of the singapore summit and we know that north korea has not made any kind of progress in denuclearization. the joint military exercises, this is the work of your life, all during your adult life, until now. are you surprised they ve gone away with a whimper and not a bang? well, i am surprised, because i think this is something that we just gave away without getting anyth
nuclear tests, the intercontinental ballistic missile test, the fire and fury from president trump at the podium of the united nations. the i have a button on my desk from kim jong un in his new year s speech to the world. the i have a bigger button from president trump. the fact this region and the world trembled for weeks and months potentially on the brink of even what the united states was calling a bloody nose message to north korea. this has changed that rhetoric at least for the moment. and as you see this honor guard, as you see the red carpet, as you see frankly kim jong un and moon jae-in acting like dads with their arms around two children and flowers being given and handshakes and smiles. this is for this moment an extraordinary change. that s why it s important, because it shows that there is a possibility of changing the dynamic from head-long into conflict to potential negotiation. and of course this meeting will be the precursor to a maybe
industries like coal, iron ore, and seafood. the question is what s left for president trump to go after. curtailing oil shipments to north korea from china is one of the measures the u.s. is seeking. textiles and apparel are also potential target. and taking stronger action against chinese banks is also an option. some experts are warning that by ramping up the pressure on beijing president trump could wind up provoking a chinese backlash against u.s. businesses in the region. now joining us to help break this down is cnn contributor jean li. a global fellow at the wilson center. good morning, jean. good morning. i want to ask you off the bat, in the wake of the nuclear test, there s been speculation that north korea will soon launch on september 9th specifically another intercontinental ballistic missile test. what more do we know?
but we don t have to just fire back right now militarily. there are other steps. an interim step could be if you could get to the negotiating table from a position of strength, that we would prevail upon the north koreans to freeze their nuclear tests, freeze their icbm, intercontinental ballistic missile test, freeze all the research they are doing to perfect a nuclear weapon. that would make us better off. i don t know if we can get there but we ought to try. it really would be terribly irresponsible of the united states and our allies if we didn t try diplomacy before we thought we were going to put ourselves in a war footing. i think that s what president trump is doing here. i thought the language was off. if you d think of churchill or roosevelt or ronald reagan, a more determined, forceful united states that didn t have to match in shrillness the north koreans. i think it would be a better message for the united states. but i do think president trump has a right to push the chin