Sixty minutes north korea is accused of earning two hundred Million Dollars from banned exports including selling weapons to syria and me and. I think i think its terrible if you want to know the truth i think its a disgrace a controversial republican member of the f. B. I. Abusing its powers raising questions about the russia investigation well have reaction from the bureau. Jetstar get opposition controlled areas of syrias province government a government offensive intensifies and. Minding their language how corsicans are finding their voice in another nationalist battle. A confidential United Nations report says north korea earned almost two hundred Million Dollars last year by violating u. N. Sanctions yang is accused of supplying weapons to syria and me and its also. Alleged to have exported coal to a number of asian nations and received help to set up front businesses and Bank Accounts around the world the sanctions prohibit exports of coal and lead textiles and seafood the designed to limit funding for north Koreas Nuclear program lets pick now to talk to robert kelly whos a professor of Political Science and diplomacy at the pew Center National university in south korea he joins us live from up to sandra but to what extent is this report really telling us what we already knew about north korea yeah i think it is i dont think a lot of people are surprised i think the numbers are a little bit greater than people thought you know theres been a lot of discussion about the tightening of sanctions in the last couple years every time we have a round of sanctions the u. N. We hear about how these are the tightest sanctions ever north korea is on the ropes. So but its not actually surprising the north korean gauges and sanctions busting china has allowed poor sanctions to sort of go on they tolerated poured sanctions now for several decades. The North Koreans have also engaged in gangsterism and stuff like that since the one nine hundred seventy s. We know theyve sort of smuggled gold and people engaged in sex trafficking and things like that so all that is kind of a piece of the larger story of north korean gangsterism and Everything Else is just only kind of surprising there still that successful at this late so how are weapons getting through north korean ports to other places in asia without detection what does this say about the sanctions regime. Yeah thats the big question. What most people sort of assume is that theyre sort of like the sort of low level Third Party Operators have to take stuff from the North Koreans give them like a bag of cash and then they relabel it and stick it on the train or stick it on a ship or Something Like that right we know that North Koreans have connections with organized crime like the accuser for example in japan throughout asia and possibly the middle east or the North Koreans again have been grooming these connections since at least the one nine hundred seventy s. North koreans are sort of old hands at gangster stuff and so we assume thats what theyre doing right and there are lots of sort of freelancing officials running around a genie you know youve got china its a dictatorship youve got a lot of sort of low level corruption where officers consider make money by looking the other way and something coming through airports and stuff like that thats almost certainly what it is i mean we dont know obviously its black market stuff but thats my guess is that theres a fair amount of corruption spread around so they can move things here and there with fake paperwork all right so if sanctions on working robot punitive measures can be be taken and you know are they going to work if sanctions are not yeah i feel like you and i have had this conversation probably you know for ten years now im going to work i mean they dont work terribly well i think the proper counterfactual on sanctions is to think were going to be if we didnt say ok so yes theyre porous and they dont work terribly well in the North Koreans go to cheating right but if they didnt if we didnt have them at the North Koreans sort of running around doing all of this above board then you know instead of having maybe fifty Nuclear Weapons that have two hundred or Something Like that right so i dont think that we should look at sanctions as some kind of cure all or silverball its not going to be that whale never be that way there to me incentives the sanctions bost i think instead we need to do is just keep tightening keep having reports like this this kind of stuff in the media but it continues to bring attention so rather than completely shutting north korea off we should narrow the pipeline and i think thats what were really looking for right but sanctions are not going to bring about the collapse but when i go to him just want to ask you one question which is not to do with north korea but but the south and President Trumps nominee for ambassador to south korea this some can control to see about that this week which is kind of going to the radio. Yeah thats right so the American Ambassador are supposed to be an American Ambassador to south koreas an academic a think tank intellectual named victor cha and dr charles pretty well known in the community of people who do what i do sort of the Analyst Community on korea i know myself and hes got a reputation as a hawks of smart and personable and Everything Else and i think a lot of people were looking for to him coming in the Top Administration pulled him back at the very last minute this is sort of sent waves i think its a bit of inside the Expert Community because china is known as a hawk but apparently hes not hawkish enough for the trump ministration and a lot of people are read that as sort of a big red flag but the trump people looking to strike north korea i myself im a little bit concerned i would have thought that victor would have been a shoo in he sort of like a conservative broadly speaking youve got a history in republican politics the United States but they pulled him anyway because i guess he didnt he didnt support a strike which tells me that the trump people are really seriously considering military action in two thousand and eighteen wrote always good to talk to you many thanks indeed Professor Robert kelly that. Keep calm and tackle hard thats the advice of the head of the f. B. I. And his stuff after the u. S. Congress released a memo accusing the bureau of being biased against the president a republican document criticizes the f. B. I. And the department of justice it says that they abused their power while examining alleged ties between Donald TrumpsCampaign Team and russia the f. B. I. Had argued against its release saying that it had grave concerns that the document contained what it called material emissions of fact democrats say the memo is aimed a deal railing the special counsel Robert Melissa investigation into the trunk campaigns alleged links to russia following the release the white house says that no changes will be made at the Justice Department a white house Correspondents Committee held at reports. Republicans promised a bombshell that would destroy every idea the Trump Campaign colluded with the russian government during the twenty sixteen president ial election but in the end he did not meet expectations President Trump declassified the memo written by Top Republicans allowing for its public release even against the advice of his own f. B. I. Director and the u. S. Justice department the four page report which is part of a larger intelligence document argues f. B. I. Investigators looking into alleged truck ties to russia hit the facts some of their research was funded by Democratic Party sources it also claims the entire investigation was biased against donald trump from the beginning and that some agents expressed views privately and i think its a disgrace whats happening in our country and when you look at that and you see that and so many other things whats going on. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves but democrats argue the memo is simply a summary of republican talking points based on in accuracies House Democratic leader nancy pelosi says its all part of a plan to distract americans from the russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Muller and alleged campaign ties to president Vladimir Putins government in a statement she said President Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as commander in chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence by not protecting intelligence sources and methods he just sent his friend putin a book a trump himself made the argument on twitter prior to the memos release that leadership at the f. B. I. And Justice Department are out to get him some analysts believe thats more evidence trump is actively obstructing the investigation if you look at the words out of mr trumps own mouth the very incriminating he said repeatedly i need somebody in the Justice Department who will protect me its doubtful the memos released will change Public Opinion about the russia investigation still there is now an effort by some democrats and republicans to legally protect the rush of probe from what many believe is a white house effort to derail the justice process kimberly held at al jazeera washington russian warplanes have renewed asterix on rebel held areas of the province in syria at least seven people were killed when a car was hit in aleppo the opposition had lip been bombarded for weeks now by Syrian Government forces in the russian allies jets also targeted the rebel own claim of the capital damascus Government Forces of the siege the area for five years four hundred thousand people trapped. Well a bombing by russian jets in italy province is supporting a major offensive by Syrian Government forces aimed at recapturing a strategically important road between the cities of aleppo and damascus troops have been facing opposition groups for weeks moving northwest trying to cut off a rebel supply line the road between aleppo and damascus connects some of the few remaining opposition held areas of syria at least two people have been killed and nineteen others injured in attacks on turkish towns near the border with syria. He says the rockets were fired from a kurdish enclave inside syria theres been more than two weeks of intense fighting in the area turkey launched an offensive to clear the region of Syrian Kurdish forces known as the y p g which it says is a terrorist group. And the Free Syria Army says that it will investigate allegations that its fighters mutilated the corpse of a female member of the y. P. G. Parent body is understood to been a member of the all female kurdish womens Protection Unit video seen by al jazeera appears to show Free Syrian Army fighters standing over her body in a village near the Turkish Border lets go live now to aljazeera as stephanie deca whos into the near the border with syria lets start with the latest on the fighting there in that border region stan. Weve been here for the last couple of hours and there has been intense outgoing artillery over one of the main roads that where weve had to move back from that base we were filming because the villagers didnt want us to be there but from time to me outgoing and so it really falls into a pattern that weve seen here over the last few weeks which is a campaign of trying to push the wiping away from its borders now the f. S. A. Theres the Free Syrian Army fighters backed by turkey have taken some of these pockets along the border but there still remains certainly a lot of areas to take also briefly you mentioned rockets on kilis theres also been a rocket attack. This is a city inside syria apparently those rockets fell on the market and what we understand nine people have been injured as of course as we were they are just last week it is under the control of the f. S. A. Backed by turkey so it is also seen as a target but certainly as you mentioned two weeks now this offensive still very much active theyve made some headway along the border but there does seem to be a long way to go one of these accusations the turkish faces mutilated and the corpse of a female. Youve seen the video right what does it show. Its incredibly disturbing and its a female fight from the white p. J. This is the unit of the white its being filmed its f. S. A. Fighters Free Syrian Army fighters standing around her body its hard to know everyone here has their own story of what happened the f. S. A. And those who support the f. S. A. Will tell you well she blew herself up but what you can see is what have been her chest area some people say that her breasts have been cut off its a very difficult topic to discuss you can find when you talk to people they did this no they didnt do this now the fact that its so much traction you have the main media picking up without a statement from the f. S. A. Sort of senior come on saying that theyre going to look into it and there will be accountability the video shows one man sort of touching her chest area and the man the voice behind the camera saying dont do that were filming i think the point of this is that seven years into this war you have a narrative and you have actions on the ground some of them that are captured on camera that have become so horrendous but to many people its almost become the norm and i think we have to ask the question going ahead once this war is over and at the moment its not looking likely the issue of reconciliation you know you have you have the sunnis you have the kurds there is so much hatred yes people also will talk about forgiveness but i think this narrative what has become normal these days is incredibly incredibly concerning i think that is going to be one of the huge challenges moving forward for syria when this war is over. The border between turkey and syria. You know with the news out still to come on the program you know that i cant do that thats now. Sexually abused girls apologizes of them lunging at rick to produce a very nasty. Argentinas bio diesel industry in decline as it feels the impact of Donald TrumpsAmerica First policy. On paul reese in copenhagen where the danes bring home only the second Winter Olympics medal. After winning. The u. N. Human rights body is calling for the Immediate Release of an aljazeera journalist from jail in egypt saying that his imprisonment violates International Law saying was jailed almost fourteen months ago for what prosecutors said was broadcasting false news to spread chaos both he and aljazeera deny the accusations the same is repeated three complained of mistreatment while in prison joining us now via skype from liverpool is Elizabeth Witchell has the impurity Campaign Consultant of the committee to protect journalists good to have you with us elizabeth hussain. Detention is him as far from an isolated case here so what can be done by the un and other International Bodies to hold governments to to account for violating human rights. So i think you know this this process is a good one the. Committee for every detention but we need to keep constant pressure up we need bilateral pressure we need pressure from intergovernmental institutions and what were seeing around the world is this use of anti state laws that are vaguely worded. That are you are used against journalists are used against critics that are ill defined and just like mahmoud hussain. People are held arbitrarily theyre theyre not actually fully sentence and fully convicted and held for a long time so we need to see more. Leadership from countries unfortunately like the u. S. Who is starting to. Promote some of the examples that only encourage some of these countries with traditionally high rates of imprisoning journalists to continue this pattern. Bring someone with top three jailers of journalists along with china is it is it safer or less safe to be a journalist these days. I think when it comes to imprisonment were seeing those numbers rise over the last few years and two thousand and seventeen was a historical high terms of the president s that weve documented worldwide so it so in that sense were seeing. It its an extremely precarious time to be a journalist particularly if youre a local journalist. Youre covering you know your local communities your. From