While the president is hopeful about it all, he says it s possible that this deal might not happen. back to you. shepard: thanks, greg. gordon chang is here, author of the book nuclear show down, north korea takes on the world . the big picture. what does this tell you? this tells us that the assumption of trump policy, that the north korean decisions to give up their nuclear weapons is wrong. a couple explanations. either kim was playing president trump or another possibility and that is that kim doesn t control the military. we know that there s been a lot of problems at the top. for instance, that reshuffle of the top three people, the defense minister and the execution of aer is general that we learned about last week indicates that there s a fluidity there. so that s a possibility that these guys are just making their weapons and kim doesn t have the ability to stop it. whatever it is, it s bad from
Clearly he thinks it s in the interest of letter relations to keep it open. trace? the timing is fascinating. let s bring in gordon chang, an author of nuclear show down. and you talk about this back and forth. it s an on again and off again. what is your original take on the fact that we cancelled and looks like it could be a go? the north koreans realize they need to speak to the united states. they need sanctions relief. they don t want the united states to strike their nuke hand missile facilities. the chinese have threatened north korea. so basically the north koreans want a counter weight and the united states can provide that. when kim meets. trump and shakes hands, that s legitimatization of the north korean ruler. they would be conciliatory as they were yesterday afternoon, this is good news for president
Worst. back to you. trace: greg palkot live in seoul. what is now early morning. thank you. let s bring in gordon chang, author of nuclear show down, north korea takes on the world. gordon, great to see you. you watch this news conference with president trump and president moon. you have two difference takes. you have trump saying, i don t know about this. i m not sure. if it happens at all. it seems to me like south korea really wants to push this thing across the finish line. certainly does. you ve seen from south korean official that s met with president trump on march 8 and you ve heard from the south korean president, president moon, relaying his conversations with kim jong-un. the south koreans want a good atmosphere so there will be peace on the peninsula. many people say they have been exaggerating what kim jong-un has actually said to them.
shepard: kim jong-un must take irreversible steps to get rid of his countries nukes and words and promises are not enough. gordon chang is here, author of nuclear show down. things are moving along. they are. shepard: and now the president talking of possibly having this meeting at the peace house at the dmz. i think that s a good place. kim will want to go there. he doesn t want to leave north korea for too long. if he does, something could happen and he might not get back. president trump likes the optics. it s south korea territory. it s not neutral. that is good for us. shepard: is there a down side holding this there? not really. if it was in beijing it would bring the chinese in. and with the six-party talks
This is being done in the name of growing the american economy. at a much faster rate than in previous decades. it s hart par part of the whole package of taxation and regulations. trade world, have you got to play by the rules. if you change this, if china comes on board and joins the rest of the world, right? if they do that, everyone will benefit. pete: joining us now for reaction to that and the entire debate is gordon cheng, expert on china and author of nuclear show down, north korea takes on the world. and tori witting, a trade economist at the heritage foundation. thank you both for joining us tonight. tori, you join us from washington. gordon, you join us in studio. thank you for your time. start with you, gordon, they make the argument you can t have free trade while china benefits from unfair trade practices. if you don t take this moment north show down. are they taking the right stance in the trump administration right now. i think they absolutely are because we now do