Bays there jus south korea for those of you just joining us lets bring you up to speed of whats been going on for the 1st time in history a sitting president of the United States has stepped inside north korea. Accepted than trans invitation to meet with stepping over the line into north korea its their 1st face to face talks since negotiations where north Koreas Nuclear program broke down in february south korean president moon jane accompanied trump at the Demilitarized ZoneMason Ritchie is a professor of International Relations and the specialist on u. S. Korea relations at university of foreign studies he joins us via skype from seoul good to have you with us so weve seen a very historic moment are you hopeful given all the positive statements being exchanged that this will transpire and something more meaningful than simply handshakes and smiles. Honestly im not ill start by saying obviously to jaw jaw is better than war war so at the end of the day im glad that kim showed up and. I hope that you know him and. Do continue to keep this process going but the thing that we really need to remember is that this is all top heavy i think its heavily determined by photo ops and theatricality and we dont really have so far as we know this is part of the evidence shows a working level process in which both sides have seen that can honestly negotiate and make serious concessions on a working level on an expert level to actually lead to the 2 things that actually need to happen out of this whole diplomatic process let me jump in at all if you will why do we not have a working level process as you proceed well you know at least the political culture of north korea. Tends simply to make it the case that. The chairmans being leader of north korea has a tremendous amount to say and everything and so far you know perhaps a bit of take that we dont know why he hasnt empowered his working level experts to make then human concessions my assumption is actually because he thinks he might be able to extract that control on the trump side or on the u. S. Side tends to undermine his own working level and senior level officials with his tweeting. You know i think that both of those contributes that dynamic where we dont have a serious working level process but let me jump in again though if you. Play devils advocate here for a moment and say if that is the dynamic that is is is guiding these 2 countries and i said those supporters of President Trump might say thats precisely why his approach might have a chance of success because it is down to the post new dynamic of these 2 people. I mean anything can happen so i guess not totally to be excluded but at the end of the day you know a. Nuclear program like north korea is an extremely complicated endeavor involving hundreds of thousands of people tremendously complicated pieces of technology and on the other side sanctions involve an extremely. Complex Legal Process become the u. S. Domestic level and on the International Level and im sorry at the end of the day leaders cant do that by themselves they dont have the expertise. We seem to have heard when trump was addressing refuses just as he walked off the sit down i wonder if you he seemed to indicate that he would invite chairman kim to the white house could that be indicative of some process style single being launched. I think thats indicative of the fact that trump can talk 1st and think later im going to go is no on that you know theres always a chance that something isnt worked out and advance like i said you know it is possible but it seems highly unlikely right now that indicative of something going on on the working level where you could actually see you know and you know actual significant amount of movement or denuclearization zone sanctions thats not to say to him or to accept. But i dont think that thats because of many working level progress thank you very much for analysis lets take our viewers back to south korea near the border of the Demilitarized Zone. To do whats happening now james. Well we think sami that they are still inside the Freedom House the 2 of them so that is interesting because the big question was whether everything that we were going to see happen today was going to be for the cameras it seems there is a meeting going on one fascinating fact off twitter from a journalist that i trust whos been watching the live feed and looking at detail of the pictures is that when people were ushered out seen not in the room but outside the room was the u. S. Secretary of state mike pompei it would be very much the administrations point man he was cia director was the 1st to secretly visit pyongyang getting this process going steve began who is the the negotiator on behalf of the u. S. And the fox news host Tucker Carlson theyre both there all 3 of them waiting outside the door fascinating that 2 of them are not in the room and that one of them is so close to the room Tucker Carlson is being believed to be a somewhat unofficial advisor to President Trump we know then that the meeting is going on President Trumps time here at the d. M. Z. Much much longer than had originally been planned he should now have been back in seoul addressing u. S. Troops u. S. Military bases are now for space at the same air force base where air force one is waiting to take him back to washington d. C. It seems theyll be leaving later than planned sames that way and clearly james are in very unclear of graft territory right now correct. Sami ill be honest ive been doing this quite a long time and i think the 1st president ial meeting on one of these visits that i covered was george h. W. Bush. You expect these president ial trips because they have the teams that go in advance the advance teams that scope everything out plan everything plan every single shot every single camera angle you have the u. S. Secret service that have every rooftop covered snipers in place people everywhere and you saw those chaotic scenes in part because the u. S. Dont control the situation this was on the dividing line between north and south korea they cant control what the North Koreans do they cant control what the south koreans do and you have reporters pushing being pushed back by the secret service and by the north korean Security Team of kim really unprecedented sea completely unplanned chaotic in a way which i think backs up to an extent what President Trump said i dont really believe to be honest that this was organized after a tweet just 36 hours ago but it has certainly been very hastily organized and is most unusual it would be very interesting down the line to read a memoir from one of the officials involved in this i think it really will be eye opening. Thanks so much james spays there. Well donald trump told kim jong un that he was proud to step into north korea and held his friendship with the leader. Well i want to thank you here i mean. You hear the power of the board nobody triggered voice because you dont. Feel you have it and this was a special moment and this is i think really the prisoner would say it was a story moment the fact that were meeting and i want to thank chairman kim for Something Else when i put out the social media notification if he didnt show up to the press was going to make me look very bad so you made us feel good that we should play that we developed a great relationship i really think that if you go back to laos years and you look at what was going on prior to my becoming president it was a very very bad situation a very dangerous situation for south korea to go to korea for the world and i think the relationship that weve developed a it has been so much to so many people and its just an honor to be with you when it was an honor that you asked me to step over the line and i was proud to step over the line i thought you might do that i wasnt sure but i was ready to do it and i want to thank you its been great great very historic they were just sitting one of the folks from the media would say this could be a very historic moment and i guess thats what it is. Enjoy being with you thank you very much. That is equal for here ive always wanted to meet you at this place as a symbol of the separation of the north and the south and to remind you of the unfortunate past meeting at such a place shows that we are willing to put an end to the unfortunate past and also open a new future to provide positive opportunities in the future. All right lets bring in now ross fine gold is the Political Risk joins us via skype from taipei good. Have you with us given that this meeting that were watching but a historic moment is happening on the back of what we saw in the g. 20 with some positive signals shall we say in the broader sort of u. S. Asia particular u. S. China relationship is that do you think that this meeting has a great chance of producing something some stance if well the fact that the meeting occurred already is president shrub is clearly going to declare a victory whether one looks at it as a Foreign Policy victory or a domestic u. S. Politics victory keeping in mind were now in our 2020 alexion season we saw the democrats debating a few days ago about what was the greatest Security Threat they dont seem to be prioritizing north korea anymore they were talking about iran and russia and china that really plays into Donald Trumps hands to say that the things that hes been mentioning throughout the day as far as progress on north korea are actually true and that hes going to push back on the critics whether its in the media or analysts like me on t. V. Who want to say that there hasnt been substantive progress President Trump is going to continue to say there actually has been a lot of substantive progress and that the tensions have been significantly reduced and this is something that his predecessors havent been able to do so for donald trump this week and really appears to be a political in a Foreign Policy victory so far to what extent is progress on the north korean issue really depended on progress in u. S. China relations. Well we know that china is always going to be supportive of north korea in recent years we constantly see stories that talk about chinese frosh regime with north korea and north korea developing its Nuclear Missiles and increasing tensions with the us or japan or south korea we all Major Trading partners of china but ultimately even if that shrew we see that china does allow some sanctions violations to occur or they allow some small trade to occur even if china overtly says were complying with the international or the u. N. Sanctions regime we saw the recent visit if she jumping to china to north korea it still indicates that the bonds of friendship remain very deep and that are going to prioritize u. S. Interests over their own u. S. Interest or the korean interest when it comes to north south korea Korean Peninsula issues so the u. S. Shouldnt be counting on china when it comes to north korea and i dont think donald trump really is and thats why we see donald trump meeting directly with kim jong un rather than relying on stage of being to reach a settlement for north south korea issues. How Much Movement has there be unrealistically on the issue of the process of denuclearization and sanctions relief. Well we know that they obviously havent reached any substantive agreements and continue to talk they have what was initially agreed to in singapore last year and clearly what President Trump says that here are the things that north korea has stopped doing when he talks about Nuclear Tests or long range missile tests this is true and again we have to be fair to president tromp on that aspect and its also true that we havent reached the grandson omitted the birth occasion process is that the u. S. Wants and thats why theyre still talking whether its the 2 leaders talking or hopefully the chief new good turn of the other alternative would be to go back to the tensions that we saw in the 1st few months of the Trump Administration i dont think any regional governments want to see that happen whether its china south korea or japan so again the critics are of course theyre going to say that its all photo ops and no deal has been reached but the other side of that is is some Key Takeaways which President Trump does emphasize that the tensions dont exist the same way he did before and for now at least north korea is not continuing some of the more provocative actions will they return to that of course its possible especially as we get we go into the u. S. President ial election season if a different president elected in 2020 this process might take a very different direction theres a lot we dont know we only could deal with what we see now or in recent months and that is a reduction in tensions. All right stay with us thanks for your thoughts so far do stay with us lets just bring up the speed of what we have been seeing so far and donald trump isnt the 1st sitting president to see the d. M. Z. For u. S. Leaders before him have gone there around reagan being the 1st in 1983 the Demilitarized Zone separates north korea and south korea running 250 kilometers long its a virtual no mans land fortified on both sides panmunjom where the 2 leaders are meeting is known as the truce village it was the designated place. Where officials from both sides can meet back to Russ Feingold ross so very historic moment how much room is there on the u. S. Side for compromise and some of those issues that lead to a complete breakdown in hanoi. It get it depends on what the demands are as far as verification the problem with north korea and past agreements that its reached with the International Community is that north korea never 5th fills its obligations they always seem to cheat now that was under kims father or grandfather maybe it will be different this time especially if you get the trade off that hes seeking with the reduction in the International Sanctions regime theres no hope in the us or expectation that they would fill anything that is not very very strict and thats why the hanoi meeting ended prematurely because the us insisted on a very strict verification regime it wasnt something that kim jong un was willing to agree to that day and maybe as of today hes still not willing to agree and again thats why the sanctions can continue to be imposed and these are extraordinarily painful sanctions for the north korea we know that theres a lot of sanctions violations that go on and this is why the north korean regime can continue to survive whether its through china or other nefarious actors around asia who will continue to trade goods or wyo or call busy busy with north korea we know that continues to go on we dont know what korea continues to engage in its cyber activities that are involved hacking or blackmail and they make money from that theres narcotics stealing but theres a lot of bad behavior by north korea allows the regime to survive and thats why the Trump Administration really hasnt given in on anything and on that point i think we see that even south korea as much as they want to move quickly they cant pressure the United States to ask for a more reduced level of verification that the United States would be satisfied with how much support is the broader least speaking in asia for the policy then of maximum restraint maximum pressure on north korea if this doesnt lead to something substantial. Well the Current Situation is not necessarily a bad one for governments around age you know previously some of them had diplomatic relations they had embassies in north korea or with korea had embassies in various countries around asia there was a small level of trade there were north korean workers in Different Countries who have now had to go home as a result of the maximum pressure sanctions but the tensions have been reduced and thats also to the advantage and something that governments around asia want to see obviously its not in their interest for the u. S. To have large scale military exercises with south korea or japan because that does increase tensions of course there reduced risk of it actual military conflict is something governments around asia are very happy so of course leaders around the region theyre going to take the view that theyre happy to see donald trump and kim jong un meeting rather than to go back to where we were 2 and a half years ago or under the Obama Administration so again this is a situation at least as its a day that leaders around age are going to be very supportive of perhaps with one exception thats going to be shinzo lobby of japan because for the most part japan is has been a bit add an outlier in this process south koreas mood has met with kim jong un many times she jim king was was just in north korea and they maintain that strong relationship and obviously has really cracked into that circle of regional leaders who are now saying we could talk to kim jong un and we get along with him hes still on the outside looking in for this process all right thanks so much fine gold that go by tall diplomatic at the james basies live in pudu in south korea in the the Demilitarized Zone so a few moments of policy i assume they still in that meeting a positive sign james. We think theyre still in their meeting the reporters were all obviously inside the Freedom H