Is so he the United States is showing its military force now in north korea in the hopes of stopping pyongyangs nuclear threats. And American Carrier strike group is currently head towards the Korean Peninsula, a strike group is a formation of navy as sets. Its into the usual for the u. S. To send an Aircraft Carrier to the region, but defense Officials Say this is in response to recent north Korean Nuclear provocations. Alexander field is live in south korea, but first lets go to north korea where will ripley is the only american correspondent currently in pyongyang. We understand that the u. S. Is doing this in order to try to stop pyongyangs nuclear threat. What are the chances of that being successful . Reporter the north korean officials who were talking to on the ground here say that it is having the opposite effect. They view this as yet another provocative act by the United States after several weeks of joint military exercises with the United States in south korea, these exercises always enrage pyongyang, they feel it is a dress rehearsal for an invasion of their country. And this Carrier Strike group is somewhat routine, but also the air strikes that the the police sti missile strike that President Trump ordered in syria, they point to iraq and libya and say they do not want their country to have the same fate which is why one official said that the previous u. S. Administrations have been attacking those countries who havent gotten Nuclear Weapons and the Trump Administration is no different from the previous u. S. Governments in pinpointing those nonnuclear states. Essentially the north korean regime led by kim jongun views Nuclear Weapon as the ticket to their National Sovereignty and analysts are saying this country could be ready to test their sixth Nuclear Weapon really at any moment given the provocative behavior that they feel is occurring on the United States side. Dont be surprised if something happens relatively soon here in the pa gheeninsupeninsula. And is there much concern about what may or may not have been agreed between president xi and President Trump in the last couple days in the u. S. . Reporter so the officials were talking to feel that it was not a coincidence that President Trump ordered that missile strike in syria while he was having dinner with chinese president xi. They view that as a threat not only to the chinese president because they want the u. S. To impose more sanctions on north korea, but they also viewed it as a threat to their country as well. Because china is north koreas only meaningful trading partner and believed to provide a lot of the currency that this country uses to develop their Nuclear Weapons. But the official i was talking to said their Missile Program and Nuclear Program would be the last dithing that they cut evenf sanctions are imposed here. And when youre walking on the streets, its surreal because just today hundreds of people including foreigners from europe and all over the world were here for the pyongyang marathon, running, smiling, highfiving with locals cheering them on. So that is happening on the street level where at the government level tensions are certainly the highest ive seen them in 11 visits to this country. All right. Will, thank you. Alexandra field is standing by for us in soum oeoul. Were hearing the joint u. S. Military drills are not unusual at all, but is this development welcomed by the south . Reporter certainly you would imagine that it would be because the Security Alliance here is very strong between the u. S. And south korea. They have had this alliance for some 60 years. You have some 30,000 u. S. Troops who are based here in south korea for the express and direct purpose of defending south korea security interests and the interests of the region at large. What you have now with this Aircraft Carrier returning to the region on this unscheduled trip, a direct response to north korean provocations is the flexing of some hustle. This is a message clearly being sent by washington to pyongyang, it comes on the heels of other strong messages. You have white house Officials Saying that when it comes to north korea and the nuclear threat, all options are on the table. You also have u. S. President trump saying that if china wont solve the north korea problem, the u. S. Will. And now you see that this Aircraft Carrier has headed back toward the Korean Peninsula. Again, we have pointed out that this is an Aircraft Carrier that was in these waters just last month. There for the joint military exercises which will pointed out tend to enrage the north every month. But this time u. S. Officials are saying that it is a direct response to north koreas provocation, that of course would be the fourth missile test that weve seen from north korea since just the start of this year. Alex, thank you. Will ripley Still Standing by for us in pyongyang. Im wondering what kim jongun have to say about the air strikes on syria, their reflections on that. Reporter yeah, you know, as i was saying when we were speaking with officials, they really view the air strikes in syria as an example that north korea should watch. They called the Syrian Crisis is bloody example that north korea is paying very close attention to and again, they feel that this justifies their development of these weapons of mass destruction. Their goal is to have a workable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capable of reaching the u. S. Most say theyre not there yet, but they could be there in a matter of just a couple years at the pace theyre gone. International sanctions, condemnation, cyberattacks, none of it has really been able to stop, perhaps slow a bit, but not stop this countrys missile development. And in fact when they see things like the missile strike on syria, officials here say it makes them want to accelerate and move faster to get that weapon ready to go. All right. Fantastic reporting from you both. Will ripley and alexandra field, thank you both. Well, lets turn our attention to syria now and the same rebelheld town that was hit by that chemical attack was struck again saturday by conventional weapons generating a lot less outrage it has to be said when 16 civilians were reported killed there. Its not known who dropped the bombs, but only syrian and russian warplanes fly in the air over that part of the country. The timing is noteworthy. Renewed air strikes came immediately after the u. S. Bombed syrian air field in retaliation for that chemical attack. New video by the way shows that that very air field, the one that was hit by tomahawk missiles, is operational again. Paula newton is standing by in moscow for russian reaction. But ben wedeman talk to us about shayrat, apparently its furngsing again and warplanes are taking off from there. Reporter yes, and weve seen video of that and i think even President Trump referenced it in one of his tweets saying that its very easy to repair a runway and therefore that is why they didnt hit it. And of course this is the air base from which the strikes its believed dropped chemical weapons on Tuesday Morning leaving 89 People Killed were launched from. And in the meantime, yes rk, we understand that in the past hour it has been struck again by aircraft, probably syrian, possibly russian. We understand in that case there were no casualties. However, in another town yesterday, 19 people were killed. And today two people were killed. And so fact of the matter is that even though were focusing so intensely on this chemical attack, there has been an industrial scale blood bath going on for the last six years. By my calculations, there have been 4500 if you multiply it, thats what you got over the last six years. So certainly its laudable that the United States and the west is focusing on this one particular incident, but this has been going on day after day for years and the International Community has been largely indifferent. And ben, just stand by for a moment. I want to get to paula newton because we heard from the u. S. Ambassador to the nikki haley, she had an interesting answer when asked about what the u. S. Policy is visavis Bashar Al Assad. Lets listen. Is regime change in syria now the official policy of the United States . So there is multiple priorities. Getting assad out is not the only priority. What wreer tere try doing is obviously defeat isis. Secondly, we dont see a peaceful syria with assad in there. Thirdly, get the iranian influence out. At the end of the day, this is a complicated situation. There are no easy answers and a political solution will have to happen. But we know that it is not going to be there is not any sort of option where a political solution will lap with assad at the head of the regime. If you along at his actions, if you look at the situation, it will be lard to see a government that is peaceful and stable with assad. Of course its hard to, but is it the position of the Trump Administration that he cannot be ruler of syria anymore, regime change is the policy . Regime change is something that we think is going to happen because at all of the parties will see that assad is not the leader that needs to be taking place for syria. Paula, what was the reaction to that . Clearly moscow doesnt want to hear anything about regime change inside syria, they firmly support of regime of Bashar Al Assad. Reporter absolutely. And in a few seconds there nikki haley did a laundry list of what would take years to accomplish on the ground and having said that, most of it would be against russias interests. We ahead the head of the Foreign Relations council calling a spade a spade, there is a direct sabotage in his words of the International Communitys efforts to start a process of political negotiations between the authorities and the opposition. What hes trying to say is that look, weve been at the table now for the last 18 months. It is completely unrealistic for nikki haley to come out and try in his words sabotage what russia claims is a productive negotiation already going on at the table. But what is clear here is that the United States along with its am lies are tallying are tryinge parameters of what political process will look like going forward. They do not believe assad has a role. All right. Thanks very much, paula newton in moscow, ben wedeman on the turkey syria border. Thanks very much. Let me bring you uptodate on a breaking news story. Very few detail, but it is a repeat of some of the attacks weve seen against Coptic Churches in the past. Media in egypt are saying there has been an explosion at a church in tanta. There has been some instability in that part of the country. There are reports of casualties before were waiting for more information on that for you. Were also waiting a statement from egypts interior ministry. Y but we have seen in the last few years in egypt repeated attacks against Coptic Churches and coptic civilian populations. Chair of contemporary middle east at the London School of economics and also the author of a book on isis joining me now from london. So just before we get to the syria news, these attacks on Coptic Churches, were seeing more and more of them in egypt, the coptic population inside egypt is extremely nervous and one could understand why. Well, first of all, the cops in egypt represent about 10 of the population of egypt. Its a sizable community. And youre right, there have been several attacks systemic attacks against Coptic Churches and coptic symbols of worship in egypt, the latest was the cathedral in cairo in which dozens were killed and injured. The attacks in egypt represent an attack against the as Sisi Administration and against the legitimacy and symbol of the as Sisi Administration. The militants attacking the Coptic Churches are trying to send a message clear and loud that the as Sisi Administration cannot protect its minority, that trying to undermine the legitimacy of as sisi and multiple insurgencies going on in egypt, so an attack against the very legitimacy and symbols of president as sisi to undermine his presidency and show the world that he cannot protect one of his big communities in egypt. And were waiting to hear on these reports of casualties, waiting for the interior ministry as well to issue a statement regarding this particular attack. Lets turn our attention back to syria. You may have heard the sound bite that we ran with the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , nikki haley, she was asked about regime change. She didnt exactingly say that the u. S. Policy was to pursue regime change in syria, but essentially that all parties would soon realize that Bashar Al Assad cannot stay the commander in chief, the leader of syria. However Rex Tillerson the u. S. Secretary of state when asked a couple of days after the strike if there is a change in u. S. s policy toward syria, he said no change. So it doesnt sound like theyre singing from the same hymn sheet. What do you make of that . This is an administration full of conflicts. When the secretary of state was asked, he said our first and foremost priority is to defeat isis. After we defeat isis, well pay more attention to syria and we try to resolve the syrian conflict. He didnt say militarily regime change, but he said political transition in syria means the end of the assad regime as we know it. This is a very complex situation. Its been six years. Assad is there to stay. Russia is the most dominant powers. The reality is, the question on the table for all of us, what is the end game of the Trump Administration after the attack against shayrat . If the end game is to deter assad from using chemical weapons in the future, i think this particular message has been received. I doubt it very much if assad will ever use chemical weapons given the determination of the Trump Administration to carry out military attention. But the attack itself does not change the complex dynamics on the ground. What is the end game though . I have to jump in. This is everyones question. We dont have the answer is what youre saying. Is the end game to stop assad from using chemical weapons . So the u. S. Took care of that accordinged according what youre saying. Is the end game to support a political transition that could keep elements of the regime in place but just remove assad as a figure head, that is option two. Option three is complete regime change. In other words, the group in power now gone and replaced with another group. I mean, there are so many potential options and so many different ways to read nikki haleys answer to that question. And also if you also read what the secretary of state said, he made it very clear the strategic priority is to defeat isis, its not to regime change at this particular moment. Even he did not use the question regime change. If you read carefully what haley said, she said basically assad cannot rule syria because he has so much blood on his hands. The question again to come back, there is no political clarity. All of us keep saying what is the strategic road map of the Trump Administration. Im very skeptical not because i mean, i oppose donald trump, but he is a salesman, impulsive, incoherent, full of contradictions, hes fascinated with power. He does not appreciate the complexity of the syrian conflict. How can you talk about regime change in syria while the balance of power now favors assad and the iranians. You say haley if you listen to what she said, she said we want assad out, we want to end the iranian presence in syria. How are you going to do it, miss haley . What are the measuamerican inve inside syria. And also what do you replace this government with. Certainly there is no viable right now group that could fill any vacuum there. We know what groups fill vacuums when they emerge in syria. As you mentioned, so complicated. Well be speaking with you again hopefully with more on the news in syria and the wider region as weve been reporting that breaking news out of egypt with a Coptic Christian Church targeted once again by what we understand is some sort of explosive device or a bocmb. Coming up, President Trump tells congress in he decided to take military action in syria. Well have that. Stay with us. You wont see these folks they have businesses to run. They have passions to pursue. How do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. Get a 4 week tria