Poetry comes to me out of thin air or out of my unconscious mind. Its sort of the way dreams come to us. Yang all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Yang north korea has again seized the worlds attention with a new nuclear blast. The weekend test may move pyongyang a quantum leap forward in its bid to become a nuclear power, capable of threatening the u. S. Mainland. That, in turn, has set off a new diplomatic flurry. Nick schifrin reports. Enough is enough. Reporter for the second time in a week, the Security Council today held an emergency session on north korea. And u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Nikki haley said north Korean Leader kim jong un had slapped the International Community in the face. His abusive use of missiles and these Nuclear Threats show that he is begging for war. War is never something that the United States wants. We dont want it now. But our countrys patience is not unlimited. Reporter and for the second time in a week, south korea today practiced an attack on north korea. The south Korean Military fired missiles it said could target north Koreas Nuclear test sites. Today President Trump agreed to help south korea increase the size of those missiles, sell south korea more weapons, and south korea said the u. S. Would soon deploy a Carrier Strike group and longrange bombers. Those military moves provide the u. S. With options that secretary of Defense James Mattis mentioned yesterday. Any threat to the United States or its territory, including guam or our allies, will be met with a massive military response. We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely north korea. But as i said, we have many options to do so. Reporter but Chinese Ambassador to the u. N. Liu jieyi said today, pressure wont produce peace. translated the parties concerned must strengthen their sense of urgency, make joint efforts together to ease the situation, and restart the dialogue and talks and prevent further deterioration. Reporter in the last few years, north koreas missile and Nuclear Programs have slowly evolved. But this weekends test is more than another step. I think this is a definitely significant leap in technology. A thermonuclear weapon is not just an evolutionary change. Reporter james acton is a physicist and codirector of carnegies Nuclear Policy program. He says theres no verification yet of north koreas claim it exploded a hydrogen bomb, or thermonuclear weapon, but it seems that way. It was a very large explosion. About 100 kilotons. That is certainly consistent with a hydrogen bomb. Secondly, the day before the test, they released photos of kim jong un standing next to a device that looked like a thermonuclear weapon. And we also know that theyve been trying to develop the materials they would need to build a thermonuclear weapon. Reporter heres the difference. An atomic bomb splits a uranium or plutonium atom. Thats fission. That split, creates more splits, and a Chain Reaction that creates a nuclear blast. Thats the starting point for a thermonuclear bomb. The fission explosions create enough energy for Hydrogen Atoms to fuse together. Thats fusion, and it makes a much more powerful bomb. A thermonuclear weapon can produce yields that are 10, 100, even 1,000 times bigger than a simple atomic weapon. Reporter this was the size of the impact of the u. S. Atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima. And this is the size of the impact from this weekends north korean bomb. The hiroshima test leveled the center of a city, killed around about a couple of hundred thousand people. This bomb is five times bigger. That gives you some sense of the enormous sense of the scale of the weapon detonated. Reporter its not clear if north korea can miniaturize that kind of bomb, so it can be delivered by a ballistic missile. But james acton says its only a matter of time. If this was not a miniaturized thermonuclear weapon, unfortunately i have little doubt north korea will be able to miniaturize it, do so in fairly short order, and then stick it on the nose cone of a ballistic missile. Reporter a u. S. Intelligence official told me today that its too early to know exactly the bomb that north korea tested, but were highly confident that this was a test of an advanced nuclear device, and what weve seen so far is not inconsistent with north koreas claims. For more on all of this we get two views. Robert gallucci had an extensive career in nuclear arms control, including as the chief u. S. Negotiator with north korea during the clinton administration. He is now a professor at Georgetown University and chair of the u. S. Korea institute at Johns Hopkins university. And Balbina Hwang served in the state department during the george w. Bush administration. She is now a visiting professor at Georgetown University. And welcome to you both. Thank you very much. Balbina, ill turn to you first. Are we at a point where we only have two options, either going to war or somehow accepting what seems to be an inevitable march toward a north korea with the ability to put a thermonuclear weapon on an icbm . No, we dont have only two options. There is, i think, still a possibility i think secretary mattis said there is always a possibility negotiations might succeed. We might be able to roll back, even eliminate the north korean threat. It is possible that we will decide the United States will decide to live with this, to live with deterrents as we have with the soviet union, then russia and china. But at this point, there is an awful lot of language being used about how we are not going to tolerate this and not going to put up with it. If one wishes to do something about the capability, certainly there is a military option, the secretarys spoken to that, but theres also a possibility of negotiations. And balbina, do you think there is the possibility of negotiations . There have been negotiations in the past and were at a point where north korea seems to have at least a very large bomb if not a thermonuclear weapon. I dont think its necessarily mutually exclusiviter one or the other. I think it spends depends on what we want to cheech with geetion negotiations. While we work on whether negotiations might work or not to establish our goals, are we trying to eliminate all north Koreas Nuclear weapon programs and future ambitions . Thats a different story than trying to contain or slow town or even freeze or dismantle its existing program. A followup question, the u. S. Has talked about denuclearizing the peninsula for a long time, and that just doesnt seem like its going to happen, though, right . Well, its certainly very difficult to because how do you negotiate with a party that first of all refused to negotiate because it wont put the Nuclear Weapons on the table and, secondly, that seems to be the diehard ambition of this regime. Bob, can you negotiate with a regime that has a diehard ambition . I recollect doing so, a long time in another universe in 1994, we concluded a deal with north korea that ended what we knew of as their Nuclear Weapons program, it was based on plutonium as the fissile material to drive that weapons program, and the fa statements that would produce the plutonium and separate it were shut down, closed down for eight years while the deal was in place and that was the Nuclear Weapons program. They, from our perspective, at least, cheated on the deal by having secret arrangements with the pakistanis to bring them another Tech Technology for another type of material. Id submit to you a negotiation producing an outcome where north korea was without Nuclear Weapons when they could be with Nuclear Weapons. Intelligen community in the early 90s said north korea could enter the 20th century with roughly 100 Nuclear Weapons if that deal hadnt been concluded. It ultimately fell apart. Agreed. The question, is can you have another deal that sticks and get the transparency renewed. I disagreed with me colleague about whether it is possible to get a deal that denuclearizes the peninsula. I dont think in one step. I think you would have a freeze, a cap. But i think if we dont have as a declared objective to have a denuclearized Korean Peninsula then we really undercut the status of our ally south korea. Balbina. I completely agree. I think we should never take off denuclearization as the goal. It was the two koreas in 199 that signed an screamed agreement that said they both wanted to denuclearize and that principal was in place that was the base of what you worked on and the sixparty talks. Bob, how can you negotiate today with the same notion of what you brought back in the 90s that north korea seems to have a thermonuclear weapon . This is not beyond the minds of men and women to figure out. If north korea and United States will come to the table without preconditions there are ways to take apart andties mantel Nuclear Weapons programs. We did that in iiaq some time ago, had inspections system and took apart a pretty sophisticated Nuclear Weapons program. We can do it in north korea if the North Koreans are persuaded they can achieve their security objectives without Nuclear Weapons. I want to ask questions about alliances. I want to read a tweet from President Trump. He wrote south korea is finding, as i have told them, that their talk of appeasement with north korea will not work. They only understand one thing. Sorry. We put up the wrong thing up there that they only understand one thing an allies program. Only one thing that focus allies is when threats seam to be imminent. South korea and president moon is defining expectations. Im surprised by how hes reacting to all this. President moon is showing he really wants to strengthen the alliance. Bob, quickly, is President Trump alienating a u. S. Ally . Its hard to put clearly the amount of destructive impact character that the president has accomplished with just the simple characterization of negotiations as appeasement. He should want to preserve that option. His secretary of defense wants to preserve that option. It may not work. That may not be the solution to this problem but we dont want to dismiss it and we dont want to politicize it with a word like appeasement. Balbina hwang and robert gallucci, thank you very much. Yang thanks, nick. In the days other news, texas officials raised the death toll from Hurricane Harvey to 60, and the recovery moved slowly forward, even as parts of houston remained underwater. Torrents gushed from a swollen reservoir in a controlled release that forced 4,700 more homes to be evacuated. The top elected official in harris county, which includes houston, said the hard work is just beginning. Storms been dealt with, but if two weeks from now people still have debris, and they dont have a sense that its going to be picked up, if they dont have a sense that theyre gonna have housing, if they dont have sense that all levels of government are working together to bring them relief, then all these warm Fuzzy Feelings we have today are gonna be gone. Yang elsewhere, officials lifted an Evacuation Order around a wrecked Chemical Plant outside houston. And, leaders in the u. S. House of representatives set a vote for wednesday on a disaster aid bill totaling 7. 9 billion. Meanwhile in the eastern caribbean, the governor of puerto rico declared a state of emergency ahead of hurricane irma. Satellite images today showed the storms advance. It has sustained winds of 130 milesanhour, and is still growing. Its expected to pass close to the Leeward Islands tomorrow night before moving on to puerto rico and, possibly, florida by the weekend. Rain and cooler temperatures are helping firefighters in los angeles battle the largest blaze in city history. The fire has been burning since friday and has swept through nearly 6,000 acres. But l. A. s fire chief says damage to homes has been minimal. Our people are tired. I talked to them at length yesterday and last night. They had a good rest period a large percentage of them last night and thats a good sign. As long as the weather continues to cooperate im very confident and convinced well be fine. Yang to the north, crews are struggling with fires and high heat. At Yosemite National park today, high winds pushed a fire into a grove of giant sequoia trees that are 2,700 years old. Officials arent sure of the extent of the damage. Lawmakers and activists are bracing for President Trump to stop shielding 800,000 young immigrants from deportation. The obamaera effort covers people who were brought into the United States illegally as children. Its widely reported mr. Trump will announce tomorrow that hes ending the program in six months. Thats to give Congress Time to address the issue. Well have more later in our politics monday segment. Violence against the Rohingya Muslims of myanmar drew growing condemnation across the muslim world today. In russian chechnya, tens of thousands of protesters rallied in the capital of grozny. They demanded an end to the violence. In jakarta, indonesia, hundreds of muslim women protested in front of myanmars embassy. The indonesian president urged myanmars leader to act. translated we deplore the violence that occurred in Rakhine State, myanmar. Real action is needed, not just statements and condemnations. The government of indonesia is committed to continuing to help address the humanitarian crisis, in cooperation with Civil Society in indonesia and the International Community. Yang almost 90,000 rohingya have crossed into bangladesh in just 10 days, fleeing a military crackdown. The government of the largely buddhist nation says rohingya insurgents provoked the trouble. And, the Electoral Commission in kenya has set october 17 to re run the president ial election. President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner, over Opposition Leader raila odinga, in the august 8th vote. Last week, the countrys Supreme Court nullified the results, citing irregularities. Still to come on the newshour we head to houston where cleanup continues in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Our politics monday team digs into President Trumps apparent plans for socalled dreamers, and much more. Yang at the height of harveys fury in houston, thousands of people sought refuge in the citys Convention Center. While the numbers have gone down, for those who are still there, the sense of desperation is still high. Special correspondent marcia biggs has our report reporter its been one of the symbols of the Hurricane Harvey disaster and the george r. Brown Convention Center is still bustling today. At its highest point since harvey made landfall 10 days ago the center was catering to 10,000 people. Today only around 1,400 remain as full residents. But those who remain are seemingly some of the most vulnerable. I dont have any friends or family and if i do, they are just as flooded as i am so we reporter Cheryl Conley has been here since last tuesday. She has congestive Heart Failure and epilepsy and hasnt been able to reach her landlord, even though she has heard that her apartment is flooded and mold infested. How desperate are you to get out of here . On a scale of one to a million, a million. Reporter for now she says she has nowhere to go. People like cheryl are turning to the legion of lawyers set up in the lobby. Reporter rita lucido is a private lawyer and activist coordinating the effort. She says the biggest issues today surround filing for benefits and knowing about renters rights. Talk to your landlord about getting your belongings out is anythings left. Ask if its safe to go in. And you can negotiate with your landlord to transfer your Security Deposit to another apartment. Those are kind of practical, legal answers. In a precarious situation. Reporter but renters rights are way beyond the problems some people here are facing. Donna morrissey is the red cr