department official said, quote, between now and a possible summit, the meaning of the meeting with north koreans are going to have to make it clear of what they are willing to do. and we want to see what they have in their idea of making a successful summit. the official added, quote, i think we re looking for something historic. broadly speaking, that would mean convincing north korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons in exchange for security clearances and economic aid. here s a question, how do we get from here to there? i want to bring in nbc s peter alexander live at the white house. busy time from kim kardashian to kim yong chul, don t we need to define what denuclearization is? yes, what we ve heard from this president in recent comments is while initially he was calling for the immediate denuclearization of north korea, he s now saying it could happen over time. it s obvious if it were to ever occur, the challenge would be to confirm it did happen, that it
clapper this morning discussing his past meeting with kim yong chul saying the conversation was tense and nasty. one of the real questions is, is denuclearization a realistic option? the cia and outside experts tell nbc news that goal is impossible any time soon. three u.s. officials telling us a recent intelligence assessment concludes kim jong-un would never abandon his nuclear program his country s been developing for decades. if he would never abandon it, begs the question, what s the point of all this? ned price served as nsc director under president obama. and tim o brien, bloomberg opinion. ned, to you first, how much of a potential agreement needs to be set in stone before president trump and kim jong-un meet? well, stephanie, it s a good question. they have to at least come to an agreement on the contours of the talks. what precisely will be on the table. i think the challenge here is that so much has been focused on
would take more than a decade, perhaps 15 years by some assessments. the key topic, this is the sticking point, is north korea s willingness to discuss the denuclearization. the talks breaking down. the president initially announcing he was canceling the singapore summit when north korea re-upped its threat of a nuclear showdown. today s meeting in new york city is significant. the secretary of state mike pompeo hosting kim yong chul, the highest ranking official to visit the u.s. in nearly two decades. they ll focus on reaching enough agreement to go ahead with the summit june 12. the scheduled date less than two weeks away. kim yong chul is kim jong-un s right-hand man, the country s top spy, now the vice chairman of the working ruler s party. he s been an enemy of the u.s. for decades. behind the sack of sony pictures in 2013 for the movie they produced mocking the ruling kim family. we heard from director of national intelligence james