for them to be doing this kind of test? they normally don t test in the fourth quarter of the year. of the 85 tests they have done since 2011, only five have been in the last quarter. people think that this has to do with weather conditions. sometimes the troops move from military duty to harvesting for whatever reason we don t test this year and the pause that we ve seen, the 74 days since the last missile test partly is explained by the time of year it might not have been a gesture. the u.s. said that if south if north korea stopped testing for 60 days, that would be seen as a positive sign to open up negotiations. they did stop testing but we didn t make any move to open negotiations. what about the quality of this test today? do you agree with these assessments that we ve seen today, this is potentially the longest-range missile test? there is little doubt about
for them to be doing this kind of test? they normally don t test in the fourth quarter of the year. of the 85 tests they have done since 2011, only five have been in the last quarter. people think that this has to do with weather conditions. sometimes the troops move from military duty to harvesting for whatever reason we don t test this year and the pause that we ve seen, the 74 days since the last missile test partly is explained by the time of year it might not have been a gesture. the u.s. said that if south if north korea stopped testing for 60 days, that would be seen as a positive sign to open up negotiations. they did stop testing but we didn t make any move to open negotiations. what about the quality of this test today? do you agree with these assessments that we ve seen today, this is potentially the longest-range missile test? there is little doubt about that. this is a very serious step forward. it went a little over 4,000 miles. the second was the end of july. thi
the regime to signal its desire to negotiate in good faith. would be immediate cessation of its provocative threats, nuclear tests and missile launches. it says stop testing, stop being provocative here but it sets the bar rather low for north korea to come in and negotiate. john, on the contrary. what they said up front is here is the bar. denuclearization is what we should all be working for. this is aspirational. underpinning that are the steps they just described. you can continue to drop the 70-plus, 80-plus years of vitriolic language. we re surrounded by enemies, isolated,et, et cetera. let s change that. also let s acknowledge you have a nuclear capability. our intelligence community said we re going to give to you this nuclear capability. you conducted icbm tests and
about what they are doing. they are going against u.n. security sanctions, they are breaking them by the simple act of doing the nuclear deck detonations we know they have done. they are the ones breaking the u.n. security resolutions. china has a very active role in this and china has been complicit to allow north korea to get where they are. melissa: it sounds like you would be satisfied with them keeping the weapons as long as they stop threatening assam stop testing them? i am not saying that at all, i do not think they need the weapons, the weapons should not be in the hands of a dictator like that. melissa: so they would need to give them up? i am not going to say that either. that dictator, the previous administration wanted regime change, i have heard the president say we do not need regime change, we need to come to the negotiation table. he needs to worry about regime change coming from his own
stop testing, make some commitments. that s also an invitation, an over picture to china to see where they can wing in for some kind of effort. and again, as elise said, we ve been through this sort of thing before, although not anywhere near the kind of military threat at the same time, in the dance with iran, the very complicated negotiations with iran. but the simultaneous message we re not looking for regime change, we re willing to resume u.s. aid to north korea. people may forget, but there was a time when the united states was actually providing financial and other aid to north korea. there is a brighter future here. this was a sort of classic american expression with more military punch behind it, where military options are on the table, that there is this carrot and stick that i was talking about, and there s a way forward, trying to get the world around it as well. michelle kosinski at the state department, this is a major moment for the secretary of state, rex tillerson,