operations and the deputy national security adviser planning for the event. the possibility of the historic meeting with trump and kim jong-un. dave and christine. we will see what happens, i guess, as trump says. ivan, thank you. u.s. government employees in china on alert after one official experienced a range of abnormal symptoms. it appears the symptoms were similar to those which occurred in cuba recently. top diplomats involved. we have cnn s matt rivers with the latest. what happened to this american and what is the state department saying about it? reporter: we know so far and within the last hour or so, china said it conducted its own investigation into what happened. preliminarily saying they have no leads or causes. let s update the viewers on what caused this. yesterday afternoon in china that the u.s. embassy sent a
kind of a ceremony to signal dismantling in the coming hours. dave and christine. no nuclear experts, but will ripley will report from there shortly. ivan, thank you. in hawaii, a lava flow from kilauea no longer imposing a threat to the geothermal nuclear power plant. the lava flow hardened creating a wall. the burning blue you see is methane gas. that is the flame coming from the cracks in the street. hawaiians are three weeks into the natural disaster with no end in sight. i m certain we re not safe and not out of danger. this is not over. it s continuing. we just don t know when it will stop. overnight the state s tourism authority declared hawaii is open for business. encouraging travelers to visit.
4:13 eastern time. north korea s harsh rhetoric is back with a flourish. pyongyang latshing out at vice president mike pence calling him a political dummy and warning of a showdown if the summit fails. we have cnn s ivan watson in seoul. ivan, it appears the summit is still on. reporter: yeah, really mixed messages. you have both u.s. and north korea suggesting the summit might not happen, then you have a public war of words between top u.s. and north korean officials after vice president pence on monday told fox news if north korea doesn t make a deal, it could end up like libya, which is a thinly veiled threat. now we have a top north korean diplomat responding with a statement calling him a
supersedes. i think they want transparency too. the president is a fan of transparency. lawmakers in both parties will see classified russia intel today. and more signs of strive with the u.s. and north korea. top official in pyongyang calls the vice president a political dummy. doubts swirl about the planned summit in singapore. and nfl players have a choice. stay in the locker room, stand up or pay up. the new national anthem rule which has players angry. here is how the tabloids state it. dishonors the flag. the nfl kneels to trump. welcome back to early start. i m christine romans. i m dave briggs. 6:30 p.m. in seoul. we will be live there shortly. 5:30 a.m. in the east. top shift. democrats participating.
is back with a bang. the foreign minister lashing out at vice president mike pence calling him a political dummy and warning of a nuclear showdown in the summit in singapore fails. we have cnn s ivan watson in seoul, south korea. really escalating the dialogue here, ivan. what is the latest on the summit? reporter: a public spat between senior u.s. and north korean officials with the question whether or not the summit will actually happen. in this case, you have a top north korean diplomat responding to vice president pence s pretty open threat that north korea would go the way of libya if it doesn t make a deal with president trump. you recall in libya s case, u.s. backed rebels overthrow the government and take the dictator moammar gadhafi, drag him out of a ditch, and shoot and kill him. the north korean diplomat