weeks of north korean threats to use nuclear weapons in response to severe economic punishment and annual war games between the united states and south korea. but no one really knows kim jong un, kim the younger too well. so we can t really be sure of his actual intentions. james with the news from our washington newsroom tonight. what are washington officials saying about this, james? shep, the white house, which, of course, has access to aerial surveillance and intelligence provided to us by north korea s increasingly anxious neighbors indicate that they are not seeing evidence that the north is matching our movements. i would note that despite the harsh rhetoric we re hearing from pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the north korean military posture, such as large scale mobilizations and positioning of forces. today, kim jong un visited the massive mausoleum that houses the remains of his grandfather, the country s founder kim un. he cited the economy as his
punishments the security council has ever put together. listen. taken together these sanctions will bite and bite hard. they increase north korea s isolation and raise the cost to north korea s leaders of defying the international community. now, importantly here, china has not just signed on to this resolution but, in fact, drafted it. but their words will be judged more by their actions and that is something that u.s. officials will be watching very closely, whether the chinese live up to this resolution, shep. shepard: jonathan, anything from the defactor ambassador to north korea dennis rodman? apparently basketball diplomacy may well continue. dennis rodman wants to go back again to meet with his bff kim the younger. i suggested he might want to take along partnership pin and magic johnson with him. he was always more successful with them
on it and use it as a way of buying time. the question is now whether his successor kim jong un kim the younger is trying the same tactic. gordon chang likes to quote marx saying history repeats itself. more towards a quote from mao the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. this is just a single step they say but that s better than standing still. shepard: certainly is. jonathan hunt, thanks a lot. leaders at the pentagon met with israel s defense minister to discuss topics including tension with iran. there has been a great deal of speculation as you no doubt know that israel is preparing to launch a preemptive strike and it is only speculation. israeli leaders say they haven t decided one way or another what they re going to do. washington s latest set of financial penalties against iran took effect just today. they stem from legislation the president signed in december and they are meant to punish iran for its nuclear program. and officials in iran are also now ta
military. kim the younger has absolutely no military leadership of any kind. and now who is in charge over there. jonathan hunt, who ordered this strike and why? jonathan: according to the experts, kim chong-il will have had to approve it despite his sickness, nothing happens in north korea without him giving the go ahead. i spoke to a leading expert on my show and he said what we are probably looking at here is as kim chong-il begins to fade in terms of health, the senior military figures asserting their power. listen. he is essentially having to give power to the more militant elements in his regime and the military has enormous authority but now getting more as kim chong-il starts to fade from the scene so we see the militarization of north korean
today as a general was named to the post at a party conference, the first party conference of its kind in 30 years. and now jonathan, the only organized part of their entire society and of their government is the military. and now kim the younger, which you coined him and he is forever that in studio b, kim the younger is now the head of this, they spite the fact we have absolutely no reason to believe he has had military expense of any kind. period. reporter: appear extraordinary promotion for a man who is if his late 20 s, but, two important points: he is vice chairman of the military commission, a hugely powerful position because the military is so powerful it is one of the only organized structures when the country, one of the only structures that can guarantee getting food on their plate every single day.