First time about demonstrations against his government saying protests are allowed but the violence is not plus. This intensify in the democratic republic of congo demonstrators want the president to resign immediately also. Goodbye to twenty seventeen other hello to twenty eighteen celebrations as the world brings in the new. North koreas leader kim jong il threaten the u. S. And also reached out to his neighbor in the south he made the comments in his annual new years address kim says pyongyang has weapons capable of reaching the u. S. Mainland and that the launch button is on his desk he also warned washington that in twenty seventeen north korea completed its push to become a Nuclear Force and that its time to start mass producing Nuclear Warheads but the defiantly to made some unusually friendly remarks about south korea saying the path to dialogue with seoul is open and that he hopes ties will improve between both countries. I dont we should actively create an atmosphere to move forward with the National Reconciliation and reunification improving ties between the north and the south is an urgent issue that not only the north and south want what everyone else wants its a grave matter to which the entire korean nation needs to put its efforts towards resolving these contacts and dialogue between the north and the south will expand exchanges on cooperation and we should dispel mutual misunderstanding and distrust and take responsibility and our role as the main agent for reunification florence really joins us live now from the south korean capital seoul florence so despite seemingly conciliatory jones towards the south the north Korean Leader still maintained his threatening rhetoric towards the u. S. Absolutely and as all of branch that he is off that is really directed only at south korea and South Koreans president moon j. N. Who took office in may is more of a liberal compared to his predecessors so the conciliatory tone is perhaps in recognition of that north korea has said its even willing to send its athletes to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympics and paralympics that those games are being hosted in pyongyang in south korea just eighty kilometers south from the border with north korea now but analysts are really asking what is kim jong un hoping to achieve from this piece of the church to the south well some analysts say he is perhaps hoping to drive a wedge between the u. S. And south korea traditional allies and perhaps this is being made much easier by the fact that in south korean president isnt as much of a hard line politician on north korea compared to previous south Korean Leaders now he is perhaps also trying to buy more time for north korea to pursue its Nuclear Ambitions because as you pointed out this was an overture thats just been made to north to south korea and not to the u. S. Listen to what else he had to say. Bulent youre going to assume that the u. S. Mainland is within the range of our Nuclear Strike and the Nuclear Button is put on the desk in my office at all times they should clearly understand that this is never a trend sort of reality. So clearly this is an indication that the war of words with the u. S. Is not going to stop its also an indication that north korea has absolutely no plans at all to give up its pursuit of Nuclear Weapons in fact quite the opposite kim jong un called for the mass production and deployment of Nuclear Warheads as well as missiles he also reiterated what was said in november that north korea has completed its push to become a Nuclear Force now of course the outside world has no real way of knowing this what we do know is what weapons experts agree is that north korea has the capability to strike anywhere in the United States this is after it conducted a launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in november but experts weapons experts say we dont yet know whether it has the capability to attach a Nuclear Warhead to a weapon that can really enter the earths atmosphere intact and the only way of doing knowing that is if north korea were to conduct an Atmospheric Nuclear test now there was no specific mention in kim jong un speech about that but the key message here is clear that it says its now a Nuclear State although we have no way of knowing this for sure but that should deter the u. S. Of considering any attempt to start a war with north korea or just Lawrence Larry the insults lawrence thank you well lets talk to robert kelly hes an associate professor in Political Science at Tucson National university he joins us now from robert good to have you back with us as significant was this speech by kim jong especially given a surprisingly conciliatory jones towards the cells. Yeah he does this every year north Korean Leaders have done this for a while its rare for north Korean Leaders to directly speak to their populations so outside analysts watch this every year theres a lot of commentary about it that and so the speech in itself is not new the tone is a little bit more belligerent then tones in the past have been but i think that sort of fits with what weve seen in two thousand and seventeen in the response donald trump i think the big news of the speech quite honestly is that done nothing is going to change right they talk about continuing to build more and more of these things the button being on the desk with sort of a direct threat right so all the tension that was there in two thousand and seventeen it looks like its going to keep on rolling along and robert do you sense that china perhaps had something to do with a change of tone towards the south given President Trumps pressure on beijing to do more. Probably but i also think the north has a genuine interest in at least reasonably decent relationships with south korea a reason we didnt relationship with south korea that is to say that this is the north korea misses the days when south korea used to give it assistance and aid and subsidies and stuff like that this was known as the sunshine policy which was continue which was begun under previous liberal president s and this up hope in north korea the current liberal president of south korea bring that back so i think the North Koreans are entirely content to have the relationship they have with the United States right now the nukes in the tension and all that obviously with donald trump thats not going to change and theyd like to find a way than to go along with some of the other players the north has done this for a long time sort of playing one off the other off the other right and so if you if the americans are giving you a hard time and you go to the south you and i say robert the rhetoric between kim jong un and donald trump pretty much remains the same the north Korean Leader as you say talked about having missiles that can reach the u. S. And hes got the Nuclear Button on his desk. Yeah absolutely i mean its its kind of what you would expect right i mean so its frightening right i mean the North Koreans are good at this kind of stuff theyre good at bluster are good at this sort of game theyve made these kinds of or you know agree just threats in the past i dont really see any change what we see in two thousand and seventeen i am im genuinely concerned right i mean the more the North Koreans build the more missiles the more Nuclear Weapons they have the more tests they do and stuff like that the more sites they have the more the pressure raises in the United States to do something more dramatic than sanctions and stuff like that right so North Koreans just arent signal pullover slowdown in any way which raises the possibility of course the americans will eventually strike just a final thought from you robert away from the Nuclear Issue he also talked about the north korean economy how significant is that right do you think this is important because the last kim not the disc kim took over two thousand and seven the kim before him the father really really mismanaged the economy to the point that people really concerned that the economy might actually undercut the north Korean National security that might be like a coup or Something Like that there was a huge famine under its predecessor under its father and so one thing the new kim has emphasized a lot is the idea of not only National Security in the army and the traditional issues but Economic Growth and so north korea has actually grown by the estimates we we guesstimate really about north korea by the as the guesstimates we have north korea has actually sort of turn this economy around a little bit in the last five years and so this kim is banging away at that as a theme of legitimacy as a way of legitimizing his rule right kelly thanks for talking to us thank you for having me happy new year. Now to iran where the government is using new measures to deal with protesters social media apps including the messaging Service Telegram which has fourteen million users have been blocked as the government tries to stop communication between about upcoming protests and rallies around the country for three days against the clerical elite who protest as blame for Economic Hardships and alleged corruption well the governments warning of a crackdown if the protests continue president Hassan Rouhani has spoken for the First Time Since the demonstrations began saying iranians have the right to criticize the government but their actions shouldnt lead to violence this pizza shop. After four days event government demonstrations its the president s first public reaction trold k. Three iranians have the right to protest but that cant lead to violence he said. It should be clear to everyone that we are people of freedom according to the constitution and Citizens Rights people are free to express their criticism and to protest however we need to Pay Attention to the man by criticism and protest should be in such a way that it will lead to be improvement of the people and the state. He was also quick to criticize President Trump for his tweet about iran. This man who today in america wants to simplify people has forgotten that a few months ago he called the nation of iran terrorists and this video of protests posted on social media has been blocked by the iranian government the ban follows a nationwide demonstration since thursday government ministers said the video encourage more people to join the rallies. We all saw how they misuse cyberspace and promoted violence trained systematic riots toward weapons and explosives crafting simulated protesters to fight the police and encourage the burning of houses and stores these people are surely not part of our people Iran State Television has reported that some social media sites and messaging apps have been blocked to maintain more termed peace and from the government warnings that irans revolutionary guards corps was prepared to deploy what was described as an iron fist if the demonstrations continued their commander said the protests have degenerated into people chanting political slogans and burning public property. Protests took place again on sunday but the extent of those is still unclear video posted from the city of durham on saturday night show demonstrators dragging away one of those injured state television in tehran said two people were shot dead but denied that police or the army were involved. In the clash that took two lives no bullets were shot from police and Security Forces the people gathering was meant to end peacefully but the presence of the agitators unfortunately this happened and resulted in the deaths of two protesters. The protests will have rattled the government they werent just limited to terror on but took place across the country the only question now is whether they can gather momentum and how long the government is prepared to put up with this challenge to its authority peter sharp al jazeera. Time for a short break here and ill just say right when we come back israels governing the could party passes a draft resolution urging an extension of much of the occupied west bank plus. Im not going to front as you know where tons of rubbish may be from what ive not only causing a direct impact on eco system but tensions between both countries. We got some basically cold weather to start the new year for north america fair amounts of cloud just coming into the westernmost area of a cloud you can see further north that is a little to set to that just shows how cold the land is here temperatures in chicago a top temperature minus sixteen celsius for new years day in chicago there minus seven the high in new york and well see a top temperature modest twenty one for us a little bit of cloud down towards southern parts possibility of a few spots of rain possibly some snow you notice all the way down into texas five hours of cloud still mild across the western side of the country al a at around twenty three degrees not same out across east impasse you can see were still subzero for many this area cloud that we have running down across florida will also affect northern sections of the campaign has seen some very heavy rain recently just making its way towards mexico and that cloud and that rain that will still be in the picture is a go on through the next day or two mexico city seeing some very different seventeen celsius the top temperature here as we go one three monday and tuesday come across into the caribbean here its not too bad for the Greater Antilles a fair amount of cloud a little race was with a possibility of showers but the smaller runs. When diplomacy fields and fear sweep then our borders are wide open wide open to drugs terrorists weve proven that barriers are built to impose division and its ill to sixtys instead of being an obstacle or tornado wastes into became another obstacle to peace in a four part series aljazeera revisits the reasons for divisions in different parts of the world and the impact they have on both sides walls of shame at this time on al jazeera. Welcome back a quick reminder at the top stories here on aljazeera north koreas leader kim jong un says hes open to dialogue with south korea and the times should improve between both countries can make the comments in his new years address he also said north korea as weapons capable of reaching the top u. S. Mainland on the launch button is on his desk. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has made his first speech following days of protests against Economic Hardship and alleged corruption run he said the government must provide space for criticism but also want to just as that violence was unacceptable. Not protests demanding the resignation of the president of the democratic republic of congo have turned violent eight people were killed and dozens arrested by Security Forces after catholics call for a Peaceful Demonstrations across the country reports. In the democratic republic of Congo Catholic worship is praying this sunday they pray with a political purpose they want president Joseph Kabila goal turning everyone. Else to their. I think very good it was very nice not think it was funny. Was their prayers were heard by Security Forces in kinshasa twenty seventeen ended as it began kabila second term as president ended in december twenty sixth saying he refused to step down and the un says kong Security Forces killed forty people who protested the decision four hundred sixty were arrested the one year on they marched off to mass twelve also boys and priests were among the dozens arrested tear gas was fired into churches was the hospital is filled with protesters once more so goes the human that i was saying if you term is over give opportunities to others to run your son of the country you belong in the senate gives others the opportunity to lead maybe theyll do it better than you did. Catholic bishops brokered peace talks between the opposition and government with the agreement that could be low would leave office at the end of twenty seven tame but hes still in power and now the catholics and the opposition are united ill just make a coming and shooting one because it is not just simply because we are coming we have come here in order to have ways to pray for all we mission was opposition voices can be heard by ending the fractured country from all corners even in the troubled east a thriving battleground between rebels Security Forces say they use of force is justified one Police Officer was killed and this Police Station was torched by protesters were going to talk to this we are in need of peace i assure all of our government authorities tha