test, don t use nuclear missiles, don t do anymore actions. he s understanding that. pyongyang university of science and technology released this government statement saying the government there detained another u.s. citizen. a person named tony kim. kim was about to leave the country about teaching there for several weeks when officials detained him. ambassador haley said the country s dictator is trying to use kim as a bargaining chip for talks with the united states. north korea is holding three american citizens. the white house reported that president trump spoke with president xi jinping yesterday. it was reported that our president asked xi to just restrained in dealing with north korea. john bussey is here from the wall street journal. when does this come together and mean? it s interesting.
and they do that. they ll figure out the problems. the question is not if they can build an icbm. it s when. secretary kelly is right. hen they mate a nuclear warhead to an icbm, they pose a real threat. i hate to talk about red lines, but that become a red line for the united states. what do we know about the fate, the wherewithal of this american professor who was arrested just before taking off from pyongyang airport? well, we understand from the university in pyongyang the pyongyang university of science and technology where he was a professor, a man is in his late 40s. his name is kim song duck. he goes by the name of tony kim. he was working on aid and relief programs. detained the at the airport while he was trying to leave the country. and the swedish embassy there,
korea, the pentagon taking on a brand-new warning, sending this out to north korea today after the rogue nation detained an american system this weekend and threatened to sink a u.s. aircraft carrier. a pentagon spokesman warns north korea to refrain from provocative destabilizing action and rhetoric. the american was stopped before he attempted to fly out of the country. we re told tony kim, that s his name, he had just finished teaching for several weeks at pyongyang university of science and technology. but we don t know why he was detained. president trump is set to talk with japan s prime minister and china s president tonight and the topic of north korea will likely be a big focus. still ahead this hour, countdown in washington in what could be the most impactful week of trump s presidency. health care, tax reform, and government spending are all on the table. we have brand-new poll numbers ahead of the president s 100th day in office. and later, a frightening moment captured
university just outside pyongyang, and as you noted, was arrested on the way out. this is not the first time, by the way, that someone affiliated with the pyongyang university of science and technology has been arrested. the founder of that university was arrested when i was the director of korean affairs at the state department back in 1998, and it took me about a month to get him out. heaven knows what s going on with this situation, but i wanted to share that with you and your viewers. we appreciate that. nbc news is working to independently confirm that information, but when it comes to the other reporting of kelly talking about what appeared in commentary, you know, north korean missile taking out an aircraft carrier with a single strike, also threats towards australia. how can the types of demands and threats be lessened at a time where they could demonstrate that capability or we have to preemptively respond to that type of language? well, it s highly questionable north kore
standing behind the assessment. earlier i spoke to author suki kim who lived in pyongyang for six months teaching english and she talked about what life is like in that isolated country. i ve been covering north korea since 2002 as a journalist. in 2011 which was the last year of his life i went in there undercover into the school for the elite. and how did that start? what did your experience start off with? as far as what struck you the most when you began? well it was a locked compound guarded by the military filled with all male north korean students aged between 19 and 20. the school was culled pyongyang university of science and technology. it was all filled with sons of the elite, the future loodeaders of north korea. they didn t know the existence of the the internet. that is fascinating in itself. they have you coming in as the teacher. how were you received by them?