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it said he always has his finger on the nuclear button locked in a high stakes poker game with the u.s. we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. but does kim jong un really have nuclear warheads and the missiles to deliver them some experts don't think he does at least not yet is he if there are no real plugs this would vibrate it looks like it's from the local hardware store doesn't like. he's not negotiating until he has his whole full nuclear deterrence and the world knows that.

it's early in the morning and we're heading to a depot for decommissioned rockets. i'm accompanied by an arms and security expert marcos. he studied north korea's bomb and missile tests though he's never visited the country. i've been there. several times as a reporter. all i ever saw it's allegedly combat ready army or trucks powered by wood gas. this is footage shot in secret of a starving in the harbor is glad you are. here in the fog schiller is sure we'll find rockets just like the ones north korea as we are in fact in ukraine and driving to an old soviet military base near odessa . sure does not believe north korea has the capability to develop missiles by

itself or at high speed. any explanation in my view is that they have received help if it is easier if you buy stuff than if you build it all yourself. this rocket looks familiar to sure. there's an official this is a solid propellant rocket that's how surprising that north korea suddenly had some that what. he's going to compare what we found at this depot to photos from north korea this is a turbopump a key component in any rocket. fuel and typical boston chamber of the rocket engine for the tanks it's like fuel injection. such advanced metals technology is not something any country could develop overnight. back at the airport in odessa schiller compares his photos with propaganda material from north

korea. seems to be located on the left a rocket in the air that was trying to twelve if you see how similar the calories the white band around the nose and another one of the rear on the motor column. of the pod is even if he had other. we see the shape quite clearly it is identical . clearly the same model. and that russian turbopump also reappears in p.r. pictures with kim from twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen. this is the turbopump we just saw. look at the exhaust outlet and then look at this one on the engine and. even they look surprisingly similar they have the same shape.

kim jong un may boast about the capabilities of his homemade rockets but are they really up to snuff or is he putting on a show to intimidate the united states. missile capable of hitting the u.s. mainland. german aerospace engineer professor. is convinced kim is bluffing he's based in munich he was a u.n. weapons inspector in iraq and he used to design rockets himself. or have worked together on analyzing north korea's missile program they conclude that kim jong un must have received considerable help from abroad. in particular from the former soviet union. he says. is this engine was built in the one nine hundred seventy s. then came disarmament and they were decommissioned. in google's. that means lots of

these engines are lying around somewhere. and if it doesn't have to go missing who's going to notice that's. simply copying a design he says is not an option because. the engines are extremely complex highly that scene inside it's three thousand degrees kelvin that's almost as hot as the sun. and the pressure is a man's plus the engines have to be very light made of thin sheet metal to get all that right takes a long time and a lot of practice. to be. what about the submarine launched ballistic missiles north korea claims to have developed the evidence is not convincing on some photos they have rather flaps on others they don't hear entire sections are missing. kim really observed the first launch from such close quarters is unthinkable. ten tons of solid fuel were flying out of the water if

it had exploded kinship would have been totally destroyed. huge missiles are regularly on display at military parades in pyongyang our experts say there are fakes amateurish fakes says he and they want to show off how much they've got but it's just cobbled together smoke and mirrors. how are there examples of the very same model of missile looks different. it's like if you compare the same spot on the one missile the gap between the fins is much greater than on the other. this one has a trap the other doesn't. there so badly made you really have to feel sorry for them. my head to south korea and to discuss the matter with experts there they also think the north's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles

program is more blood than substance. the south korean capital seoul is just fifty kilometers from the border within reach of conventional artillery. fire from the north twenty five million people live in the metropolitan area. the last time north korea reversed a large scale attack was in spring two thousand and seventeen kim jong un was there to watch. his great enemy the united states has close to thirty thousand servicemen and women stationed in south korea. in seoul i go to see chad o'carroll he's a security analyst and journalist and runs the n.k. news website he says it would be wrong to underestimate north korea's military capabilities. we're doing for the buffet area from a u.s. military perspective the department of defense has to take seriously any risk that

i may sell and reach the east or west cards to the united states and we're now basically at that point so even if it's a one in five chance that twenty million people can die what is you know what does that really mean we have to tell you that seriously. o'carroll agrees that north korea receives assistance from abroad he shows me satellite images of a recent military parade in pyongyang. to the left of the crowd or a row of missiles on trucks he says many of the transporters were imported from china and there are more of them than previously believed. ok we can see about two one two kilometers away from kim il sung's square whether viewing took place in place and there is one spare unit of every missile type tank you name it. japan is evidently the source for other equipment

such as special cranes everyday crane in these fight size which come from north korean state media you can see the crane is actually being used to do lift the missile from the assembly line on to the transporter erector launcher and just the idea that in full twenty seventeen where there's so much scrutiny on north korea special weapons programs it's very difficult to sort of understand that. it looks like united nations sanctions on north korea including an extensive trade embargo are not being fully implemented we drive along the hundred river towards its esther wary to look across at north korea. nearby is the joint security area at panmunjom the only spot on the border where soldiers from the two koreas come face to face. in

january delegations from the north and south met here. for such a handshake a rare stunning event. this is the north making nice. but last december it showed its cruel face at the same spot. a north korean soldier defected and came under fire from the north even after he had crossed into the south. and. that was a violation of the korean armistice agreement he was rescued by south korean soldiers and flown don a special he has since recovered from his wounds. while the border between the two koreas is closed the one between the north and china is open

. this is the chinese city down and down. and this is the view across the yalu river to north korea the friendship bridge links the two countries and is a major conduit for goods going in both directions. i mean we have a couple sources in downtown as well this is a convoy of trucks going through the chinese customs house just before they cross the friendship bridge but you see the share amount of cob carries you would need an army people to be coming here because the current u.n. sanctions ostensibly to appall it has to be very thorough he says to ensure there's night and materials that may breach sanctions but on a good day you might have two three hundred of these kind of trucks passing the bridge. and each one of them you know maybe forty tons that's the it's

a lot of stuff. and these aren't north korean weapons but those of south korea and the united states. they regularly conduct joint maneuvers in the south which regularly run on his enemies flexing their muscles all the more reason he feels he needs nuclear weapons to defend his country and himself who would want to end up like those other dictators saddam hussein and iraq and wal-mart gadhafi and libya first year burns or the korean war ended in one thousand nine hundred eighty three but a peace treaty has yet to be signed u.s. bombing devastated the north people there have not forgotten while relations between the two koreas have been mainly tens there have also been episodes of engagement and to taunt. in two thousand south korean president kim dae joan visited pyongyang to meet north korean leader kim jong il the father of kim jong un

. kim de jong received the nobel peace prize for his efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. an architect of his sunshine policy of reconciliation was told me and moon there was a time when north korea and the united states even talked to each other was that possible very simple ok when i would there was a train of circumstances unites to the united states listen to what north koreans was saying ok and they didn't demonize north korea they treat north korea is a normal counterpart and leadership commitment was and i've been put in that and there was a very effective in the communication channels. says things might not be so bad now if the current us administration were willing to negotiate instead the us president derides and threatens kim jong on this. rocket man is on

a suicide mission for himself and for his regime those kinds of so-called the hostile rhetorics could be very very counter productive and honestly he has been elevating can do instead has to he still has. tells us he remains committed to dialogue even though he too has been the target of verbal attacks from north korea. vietnam and i've not. met the north koreans and i told the north koreans ok ok i came ok here the dog of american imperial east here how the hell do you can you can criticize me in that way i've been walking with you we've all my heart and i made a big shouting at the north koreans and the north korean delegation told me did. and mr moon to to provoke handle the situation and how. to put them with

a united front we have a different view work work propaganda propaganda don't be detracted don't be disturbed by the poor and. what you are outsiders it's even harder to distinguish between propaganda and policy reliable information about the kim dynasty which has ruled north korea for three generations now is also hard to come by. the current leader kim jong un has seen more of the outside world than one might imagine. we are heading to a suburb of burnt in switzerland to meet a teacher. in the late ninety's there was a north korean boy and his seventh grade class. it was said he was the son of somebody who worked at the embassy.

is to stand in public he was introduced as own pocket for me he was just a regular boy he spoke a german we were able to communicate sporty clothes basketball attire n.b.a. gear both oscar and i think he was one of the first people i knew who had an m p three player. a small and i named it i played. years later facial analysis concluded with ninety five percent certainty that the boy really was kim. reason says he was confident but not brash despite the expensive gear. to throw thin pressure like that cost one hundred francs the night the trousers to the nike air trainers three hundred and he had lots of hair salon i was a show off and i know he didn't fly on it he did not try to be anything special to

actually i found him to be a well adjusted young man with money. while the young kim jong un enjoyed his ninety's in switzerland starvation was killing countless children back home crop failure anything to agriculture economic mismanagement but the regime always blamed its arch enemy the united states. in two thousand and one came jones oldest half brother kim jong nam was arrested at tokyo airport trying to enter japan on a fake dominican republic passport he said he wanted to visit disneyland. in the one nine hundred seventy s. and eighty's north korea abducted a number of children and young adults from japan so they could teach japanese to it spies decades later a few were allowed to return home. in

two thousand and two north korea finally revealed what it had done people in japan were aghast. junichiro koizumi was prime minister of japan at the time the end is diplomats had persuaded north korea to make that admission and to apologize as a precondition for moves to start normalizing bilateral relations. but laying the groundwork took a lot of preparation this process highlighted the tricky moral issues involved in dealing with despots. to knock out a senior advisor corps omi held many secret talks with the north. and the five to thirteen times. negotiation negotiation all time took place in the weekends there are a couple of gives me. well he is the trip by the japanese prime

minister to north korea because of kim jong il. the getting prime minister to come to. itself is kind of big. to tell to the people here we are the former. prime minister came to this country to apologize for. the regime said that five of those abducted were still alive and they would be allowed to visit japan without issue seemingly resolved to signed a joint declaration relations looked like they might be on the man. prime minister immediately we would like to see the. survivors so. that sort of meeting to take. to see them so we beat

that is a key element for us. the tradition of trust trust me it's difficult to verify. anything north korea says because it's a secret nation and it's not the most graphic nation therefore there is no accountability those five survivors remained in japan north korea said they had to be sent back and accused the japanese government of breaking its promise chargeable that you broke a promise no i said. you're kidding because also our job is who up ducked it but you how could you so people. decide the fate of the people. another act of terror any given the estranged half brother was evidently considered a threat so kim jong un had him murdered when you doubt it was used during the

attack took place in public at kuala lumpur airport. kim jong un was about to fly to mcconnell where he was living in exile he was caught on surveillance video just minutes before he died. the malaysian authorities won't talk about the case all requests for interviews with investigators and other officials were rejected but we did find a journalist willing to discuss it. i get a phone call from my father if the police will say we just figured this out there was this sort of an assessment as this vision of poisoning attempts. budget at work and we assumed they could i was soft that's what it is a lot it is a side of. kiddo you know right thing going as they're already yeah he's

a half brother all to give to all of us you know our what happened so we don't look like he was twice it right every father a fan bit of money if i had a few thousand u.s.d. in his bag. investigators determined that two young women one from vietnam and the other from indonesia had each smeared something on kim jong noms face the components of a chemical weapon the v.x. nerve agent. this tool with a smile that when they read off. the stag page which is all to the baltic sort of budget for he said he wasn't feeling well he was something if you could say clearly that it took a basically fact sheet you say to keep it we get two years in a hospital and he died they were called fifty a college so who would have to live it was. the first account was that this tool would actually his people one was his mate it was his mate the vietnamese lady was his good friend and it changed on a did not he didn't know who he was. and but they would they were hired to do this

police identified further suspects men with ties to the north korean embassy. north korea responded by detaining malaysian nationals in pyongyang as hostages so they could do a prisoner swap. he wanted to arrest them because they did not have diplomatic status. i did what happened was that a standoff between the malaysian government and the north was the impression from outside is that there's a country there was a case they were doing an excellent job in investigating arresting and then they led the ones go that were to be charged actually they were let go they be let go if i will they are clearly the deal but they will not go in exchange for the night missions come back because we have such a special relationship with direct flights we could get everything they could come here with a visa as it was such a special relationship effect up to last year we had offered what this booking

alcool minds at the border you're right yeah doesn't because we're good because we dropped the ball yeah but you know in the scheme of all the things people talk about leisure corruption. scandals political intrigue is here is this one. mention nations coercion shady dealings north korea is skilled in getting its way not only in malaysia not only to murder fugitive rivals. at the united nations a panel of experts oversees the regime of sank. it was imposed on north korea. they're familiar with the long reach of the camera she. got so he's a photo coward is one of those monitors he tells us how the trade embargo is undermined. i only see loopholes my question was

where i closed the holes. which was so few compared to the number of loopholes loopholes exist in only china. but also all russia. taiwan south east asia they have also all proteins in europe one example of arms control busting launchers for north korean ballistic missiles are based on trucks manufactured in china key. portion was imported from china in two thousand and eleven and that's a side of only twenty four all six regal's have been called for by the united nations they have a clear. and we've had to think said if occasions which show that we can fit in the fall in full force the business. off road

trucks for use in the logging industry are not covered by sanctions so was this a willfully misleading declaration they were used in china for military purposes no so chinese company. asked why more serious diligence which they don't have a problem they don't care maybe even me want to be defeated soln as they can make excuses they can make money out of north korea. as the power to stop them well that's a question that well i don't i'm sure now that it's tough because you can pile up spotted this issue and the chinese got to do significantly it by asked. the question is when it comes to you sanction its resolutions who have just found

that univision in china should. foreign ministry only and therefore it needs to be if not even. and this scope of the un resolutions could be so complex in my discussion with chinese called the press i always get the impression that they don't get the. deep understanding that with lucia's which they agreed. perhaps they chose not to understand but it's not only china that aids and abets north korea in its missile program in two thousand and twelve the south korean navy recovered from the sea what was left of a missile north korea had launched it contained parts from many different countries cobbled together by hand. the fourteen kinds of foreign source tied himself on the. three rockets and

most items my fashion to overtake rome united kingdom former soviet union seat china u.s. south korea so all countries which have rejected export control regulation what do you feel good but that could be a bit of a speech or whatever oh yes and that's a key component that's a key while robots mockers pretty certain that north korea is not in fact making much headway in developing its own ballistic missiles what a cow is not so sure. it's really the craft. you see. that the. convoy was to some. it was the. bye bye have you think. so.

it's not beautiful it doesn't seem to be. productions but it's ok for the screen. they will use the same methods to manufacture. missiles and as a missile. at the united nations the current us administration has called for a total embargo of north korea total isolation to bring it to heel. we call on all nations to cut off all ties with north korea in addition a fully implementing all un sanctions all countries should sever diplomatic relations with north korea and limit military scientific technical or commercial cooperation. that ultra hardline approach is met with little support internationally or within the us evelyn farkas is a security expert and served in the defense department under barack obama. i

disagree with that i mean anything to maintain the dialogue keep the conversation going i think would be useful now i will say defense of the diplomats what i'm hearing from them in private conversations is that the north koreans do not want to talk to our diplomats they're not interested in negotiating and again i think this is because kim jong un has decided he's not negotiating until he has his full full nuclear terms and the world knows it. the federal republic of germany has had diplomatic relations with north korea since two thousand and one. as deputy foreign minister not go pharma helped establish that. chancellor at the time was harsh word. situation is dire. security is not guaranteed there will be more families. and i agree with our foreign minister

on establishing ties. this is the minister still has to work out the technical details but the decision has been taken but it is intriguing. what happened next proved to be a disappointment for. north korea did not open up to the world it wanted kids. i mean. a months later another delegation came. they told us what they wanted a steel plant. there. they said we should give them one but the turks and company had recently closed that. i had to explain at considerable length that the german government does not have the right to seize private property and give it to somebody else of. the. i told them they would have to negotiate and there would be money to pay. they

didn't like the idea and said this isn't what a true friendship looks like not the way they see it they were rather dismayed and then they left again. the country once more than steel plants these two north koreans visiting a dingy cellar in ukraine in two thousand and eleven thought they were stealing plans for advanced missile technology. they were fake it was a sting operation by ukrainian counterintelligence the two had posed as members of a trade delegation they were found guilty of espionage by ukrainian court and are still in prison. north korea has leased part of its embassy in berlin to a hostile but un sanctions ban commercial operations on its embassies just started

of hard currency revenue. what's more the embassy has been used as a base for espionage and the procurement of much. in this and we have to assume that north korea has acquired parts for its missile program on various markets and via shell companies and proxies in foreign countries. and that it has done so in germany as well. i started you rule also said north korea is currently engaged in such procurement activities at its embassy in berlin. then no we cannot rule that out but if we become aware of such activities we hold them but we cannot guarantee that we hear about and prevent all such transactions in. the united nations monitors are also concerned they have asked the german authorities about north korea's activities here. we have asked to

change the government for information more what technology will screw us for seeking for but we never got any reply from german government or the united nations us the german government for information and they didn't get an answer. quite often is a respect for germany so almost a key key change. i mean i get life from jim. we're asked mr ford a car to write all this down for us so we can bring the matter up with the head of germany's domestic intelligence service i asked mr marson about germany's cooperation with the u.n. regarding north korea. so your question because i know nothing about this. we do as a rule reply to all inquiries we received by the foreign ministry. but i can

provide no information on this particular matter. and you can prepare first. as has been said such inquiries are answered as a rule but that's a huge allegation it is indeed an allegation but from my perspective i would not say it is a serious one because i presume that if it were the president himself would have been approached or i would have been approached by the foreign ministry. and i haven't heard that that has happened. does not amount to a clear denial the suspicion remains that germany has failed to support un monitors the way it should now. it's not just small parts that have made their way into kim jong un's missiles things all kinds of goods under north korea by road done don't.

we know that get delivered the question is what does it say on the paperwork for the missile components were sent to libya that were declared as water purification equipment. to north korea the volume of deliveries is not great we're not talking about large numbers of items. you know fishel photos on poses besides impressive looking hardware other missiles are real and are they dangerous . but i wouldn't stall things that way why not i've just done something like that on the phone says the piece of precision engineering on a concrete floor initially needs a special cradle as you would treat it like a warhead on. is this a real functional nuclear warhead ready to mount on a missile. this people the cables look odd this would vibrate and scream during flight. these are proper sockets it's all very suspect it looks like it comes from

the local hardware store was with us. slotted screws and hex screws the whole thing really is a bit weird with guns. and the chart carefully placed on the wall behind showing the warhead in the missiles nose cone. says it proves nothing. you can't go from zero to a fully functioning missile you could actually fire if i was in this business long enough to know you just can't do it that's the heat. if it is right then its weapons program is not currently as dangerous as north korea would have us believe but is he right what do other experts say how should the international community deal with kim. state me bluffing that's for sure. they

say that they have. must hide all gene bomb. that can be loaded onto the i.c.b.m. which may not be correct we don't know what we know for sure they have successfully completed the test we've estimated feel that of one hundred sixty toss which we have never seen before they meter lies one lot we don't know so for a look can be if they have section to cable with the for me july vision but it's a matter of time i'm an optimist and therefore i believe that there would be and should be a negotiated outcome through diplomacy but no other options sanctions and pressures will have been here an imitation is military actions south korea will strongly oppose china rochelle word or simple or pose in

a military sanction ok and whatever is regime change. it won't be easy indeed all you way to resolve north korean nuclear problem is that a will negotiation of course need to take much longer time but still lies in the if not a state ok show some science know only branch to north korea even despite their kind of domestic challenges it can do and will bite american offered we don't want a war that we don't want north korea. don't want to in order to do that is there any other way to be patiently negotiated to be or we may exert pressure. to invite china to be more. the best case scenario would be they don't have a full program they freeze it for they have

a full capability that's probably not realistic and so that's why i say realistically they have a nuclear weapons program capability they have a deterrence against the united states and our allies and so we just implement you know mutual assured destruction like we have with china russia cetera the north korean government is not going to use nuclear weapons against any country in the world unless it thinks that its existence is at stake meaning there is an impending invasion. unless it responds to a false alarm such as they want to know why you in january that would be enough to trigger disaster. at the former soviet base in ukraine staff tells us about such a terrifying incident the intelligence had once reported the launch of and i mean nuclear missile.

through our interpreter a laina mikhail tells us that there were always two soldiers on duty here thirty five meters underground at the ready to launch a nuclear counterstrike. they had twenty seconds to decide whether to do so or not all. the players are flipping two switches at the same time they would send off eight nuclear missiles each targeting a major western city. which is also a little. more below. and the world is talking once again about the risk of nuclear war i mean can you imagine if you talk about a new nuclear war to start tells me he doesn't think it will come to that it goes everybody knows that would be catastrophic but he is not so sanguine. because no

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this is deja vu news live from berlin our shooting at a florida high school leaves seventeen people dead the sausage back to nineteen year old former student had been expelled he's now in police custody and will fall smaug box for the very latest. also on the show no way but now to under intense pressure from his own party south africa's president jacob.