sanctions. if both sides aren't willing to budge, this is going nowhere. >> how do you explain this fascination of kim jong-un by the president of the united states? to quote david axelrod, he said it's better they're talking than war but still, what do you make of it? >> reporter: the fact that over a year ago they were insulting each other -- president trump was insulting kim jong-un on twitter and now they're writing each other these glowing, gushing letters and he's spending more time talking to kim jong-un than the democrats about the shutdown, its extraordinary and surreal. this is the world we live in. all i can say is that the north koreans studied president trump very closely for a long time before they ever got in the same room with him and the way to get something from him is to lavish him with praise and tell him what he wants toll hear. north korea probably has more