delegation to the olympics, float around the idea of possibly restarting the family reunions, divided families on the korean peninsula. that could happen as soon as next month and reactivated a long dormant military hotline. it appears that north korea came to the table willing to make a deal and in the short term it seems to be a win for them and a win for south korea, who wanted a peaceful olympics without a nuclear test. what s going to happen after the olympics? north korean state media put out an article saying that the united states need to accept north korea as a nuclear power or face ruin. alisyn? so many questions still, will. it s great to have you there in the region. we ll check back. the white house trying to silence growing questions about president trump s mental fitness.
technicalities but it was the first such dialogue in nearly two years. it followed a request like kim jong un to start discussions with south korea about sending athletes to the winter olympics next month. south korea proposed a meeting next week at the dmz. kim jong un s regime hasn t accepted yet but it sounds positive about the talks and not just about the olympics. translator: this will be a meaningful start for improving north-south relations in the current situation. and a visit to the dmz in november, bret baier got a sense of how officially under used the there are. including the peace house which might be the scene of next week s meeting. one was the last time the north koreans were in here. for this meeting it was may 2009. the north koreans are in here every day of five or six days a week with tours. cigarettes for communications, and other military hotline, different than the one activated today has also been little used.
military hotline? well, they ve done that before. but it s still a pretty big step. there are more than a million troops facing up against each other across one of the most volatile borders in the world. and so there are very few channels of communications between those two militaries. so when one of them is severed like this, obviously increases the possibility of a miscalculation of a misstep that could potentially escalate into something more serious. and that s one of the big concerns now. the so little trust between the two sides so little opportunity for them to communicate and coordinate. that could lead to something very dangerous indeed, erin. matthew, some people might say what were the hotlines really used for if they were only for emergencies? maybe they weren t really used. maybe this isn t that important. were they regularly using this line?
u.s. officials today talked about north korean dictator kim jong-un saying north korea is not a paper tiger. it wouldn t be smart to dismiss its provocative behavior as pure bluster. this is serious. and outfront tonight, matthew chance, on the island of pyeongyo pyeongyong. how big of a step is the move to server the military hotline? well, they ve done that before. but it s still a pretty big step. there are more than a million troops facing up against each other across one of the most volatile borders in the world. and so there are very few channels of communications between those two militaries. so when one of them is severed like this, obviously increases the possibility of a miscalculation of a misstep that could potentially escalate into something more serious. and that s one of the big concerns now. there s so little trust between the two sides, so little
backing, beginning to back this notion of same-sex marriage. all right. shannon travis. thanks, shannon, in front of the supreme court. 7:00 a.m. hour of starting point senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin breaks down yesterday s arguments and looks ahead to what to expect today. north korea claiming it has cut off an important military hotline to the south. the hotline is key because it allows south koreans to cross the border to wouk at a jointly run industrial complex in the north. tensions are already high as you know on the korean peninsula. and this shows yet another breakdown of what s left of inter-korean cooperation. also new this morning, buildings shaking in taipei. aftershocks jolting central taiwan after a powerful 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook the island. this was earlier this morning. take a look at that there. people are recording it as it s happening. this is what it looked like, what it felt like from inside the television station. taiwan is said to be largely