Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of t your future. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social changeha worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Ie thank you. K woodruff north korea is at the epicenter of world attention tonight. It blasted its way there today with a Nuclear Explosion that touched off shockwaves both seismic and political. The test drew global criticism, and raised fresh questions about what if anything can be done. Do well have the full story, after the news summary. The u. S. President ial campaign also echoed today with talk ofal the north korean blast with two months to go till election day. Lisa desjardins has the story. Reporter the north korea news forced both american candidates to respond hillaryo clinton, after meeting with a National Security panel in new york. We are not going to let north korea pursue a Nuclear Weapon with a Ballistic Missileic capacity to deliver it to the United States territory. That is absolutely a bottom line. Reporter donald trump argued its another of what he says were clintons catastrophics failures. He spoke at the value voters summit in washington just today it was announced that north korea performed its fifth nuclear test its fourtl since Hillary Clinton became secretary of state. Its just one more massives failure from a failed secretary of state. Reporter the republican hit on a different Foreign Policy issue last night, when he spoke to larry king on r. T. , a news channel run by the russian government. U. S. Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies reportedlye are investigating whether russia launched a covert operation to disrupt the 2016 election. T what do you make of that . I think its probably unlikely. I think maybe maybe the democrats are putting that out who knows . Reporter Trumps Campaign said later he didnt mean to gog on russian state tv. He actually did an interview with larry king, and he said he was doing it for his podcast; hh didnt know it would be on russia tv. Reporter meanwhile, clinton in kansas city last night signaled a shift in tone away from trump attacks, and toward her personal side, addressing the National Baptist convention i still remember my late father a gruff former navy man on his knees praying by k his bed every night. Y that made a big impression on me as a young girl, seeing him humble himself before god. Reporter this goingpositive push is multimedia, including this new tv ad, stressing herad message. Weve got to bring people together. Reporter candidates and voters will take a break this weekend. Both trump and clinton havent agreed to suspend campaigning sunday to mark the 15th anniversary of 9 11. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff also today early voting began in north carolina, the first of 37 states that allow the practice. A federal judge today refused to stop construction of an Oil Pipeline Near a north dakota indian reservation. But right after that, threeaf federal agencies asked they pause work voluntarily. The Standing Rock sioux have drawn thousands of protestors to support their cause. They say the project harms Water Supplies and disturbs ancient sites. Wall street took a beating today on fears of higher Interest Rates and lower oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 394 points to close at 18,085. The nasdaq fell 133 points and the s p 500 slid 53. The u. S. House of representatives has given final approval to letting families of 9 11 victims sue saudi arabia. 15 of the 19 hijackers were saudis, but riyadh strongly objects to the bill, and the white house warns of a veto. Still, republican congressman peter king of new york andr others say theyre undeterred. This is the most basic constitutional right. This is an obligation. Its an obligation we in the congress have to not allow foreign lobbyists or Foreign Countries or anyone else to intimidate us. Justice must be done. We want to make sure that there are no more 9 11s. This is one more step we can take to show foreign governments they cannot step aside. They cannot walk away if something is carried out where theyre sort of looking the other way making believe its not happening. Woodruff the vote came after house members from both parties marked 9 11 on the steps of the capitol. They paused for a moment of silence and then sang god bless america, in the same location where they gathered immediately after the attacks, 15 years ago sunday. New warnings today on Samsungs Galaxy note 7 phone because the batteries can explode and spark fires. Now, the Consumer Production Safety Commission is telling people to stop using the phones and turn them off. And the federal Aviation Administration warns against bringing them on airplanes. Samsung has issued a global recall. And, a nasa probe is off on a sevenyear first of its kind mission to gather samples from an asteroid, and return them to earth. A rocket launched the probe from cape canaveral, florida on thursday evening. An hour later, the osirisrex spacecraft shot out of orbit. Its heading for the asteroid bennu, to bring back about two ounces of dust. Still to come on the newshour st reevaluating the global approach to north korea after its latest nuclear test, mark shields and david brooks analyze the weeks news, and much more. Woodruff we return to our top story north koreas latest nuclear test. And its reverberations around the globe. Our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner begins our coverage. Reporter north korea touteda its latest nuclear test as a major breakthrough injo deliverability. translated the nuclear test finally examined andly confirmed the structure and specific features of movement of a Nuclear Warhead that has been standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets. This will enable the nation to produce at will and as many as it wants. Reporter that claim has yete to be substantiated. But todays test was the norths most powerful yet. International observers reported the underground blast had a seismic magnitude larger than any of the four previous tests. South korean officials estimate the blast had a yield of ten kilotons, a sharp increase from the sixkiloton test in january. Just as ominous, north korea has demonstrated growing success with Ballistic Missiles. Is on monday, it fired off three mediumrange rockets. All flew more than 600 miles before splashing down inhi japanese waters. Last month, pyongyang also successfully launched ath l submarinebased missile. E todays nuclear test drew swift condemnation. In seoul, south koreas president charged north Korean Leader kim jong un has gone mad. translated north Koreas Nuclear test, which is already only seen as a challenge to Thee International community. And we and the internationalnt community have reached the limit of our patience. I think the mental condition of kim jong un, who wont listen to the International Community and neighboring countries to stay in power, is out of control. Reporter china north koreas closest ally warned against further provocations. translated any unilateral action that is in the interest of its own will not yield anything, it could onlyyi intensify the situation and complicate the issue. Reporter and president obama, who returned from asia early today, said in a statement the u. S. Will never accept north korea as a nuclear state. But Top Republicans aimed their criticism at the white house. He a statement from House Speaker paul ryan dismissed the president s initiatives, saying y todays test marks the latest setback in a campaign to contain north Koreas Nuclear ambitions, going back decades, and three u. S. President s. North korea did agree to halt its Nuclear Weapons program back in 1994. But the years since then have seen an endless cycle of onoff negotiations, threats, sanctions and ever more advanced tests by the north. A state Department Spokeswoman was asked what happens next we wont stop our effortswo working with our International Partners to increase pressure oa this very opaque regime in reaction to provocative acts like this. Reporter in new york, the United NationsSecurity Council met yet again in emergency session to condemn the north, and weigh its options. But china which has veto power on the council stopped short of saying it would back new t sanctions. That prompted secretary Defense Ash Carter to say beijing has an important responsibility and r needs to do more. For the pbs newshour, im Margaret Warner. Woodruff for more and to explore the worlds options, we turn to gary samore. He served on the National Security staff during the first term of the Obama Administration as the coordinator for arms t control and weapons of mass destruction. Io hes now at Harvard UniversitysKennedy School of government. And Greg Thielmann was the director of the strategic, proliferation and military Affairs Office at the state department from 20002002. Hes now on the board of directors of the arms control association, a proarmscontrol advocacy group. And we welcome both of you to the program. Greg thielmann, to you first, we just heard this described as the norths most powerful nuclearr test yet. How significant was it . Well, its the latest piecee of bad news in terms of north koreas continuing evolution of nuclear and missile programs. Its the most powerful nuclear test yet, the second this year, and it represents an acceleration of north koreas movement in a very bad direction. Woodruff so what does this say about their nuclear capability, where they can reach, how much destruction they can wreak . Its very hard to answer that question precisely because we really dont know how advanced the North Koreans are in being able to miniaturize their Nuclear Devices so they fit on top of a Ballistic Missile. So theres a lot of guesswork involved. But i think its fair to sayy that, at this point, the North Koreans may have the about the put a nuclearko warhead on a mediumranged Ballistic Missilem and that missile could hit japan, it could hit south korea, and they are probably that far, according to what we t hear from south korea and u. S. Intelligence sources. Ll woodruff gary samore, what are the North Koreans trying to say with this test, do you believe . Well, of course, the specific timing was to celebrate the t 68th anniversary of the foundation of north korea, but i think, more broadly, i think kim jong un is determined to demonstrate that he is not going to be cowed or deterred by u. N. Security council injunctions and the threat of sanctions which are demanding he halt testing and eventually give up his Nuclear Weapons program. So i believe thecl North Koreans are trying to make it clear to the Security Council and the big powers, especially china and the u. S. , that they are determined to retain and expand their Nuclear Weapons capability. Nu woodruff Greg Thielmann, does this represent a failure of american policy toward the world and north korea . I think it represents a failure toward the objective almost all countries in the world agree to which is not to expand the number of countries that possess Nuclear Attack capability. Woodruff so but whats been wrong about that policy ifc has it been too tough . Has it been too weak . E how do you size it up . Well, of course, u. S. Nuclear nonproliferation policy scoredor some impressive successes, and i think the Iran Nuclear Agreement of last year is a good example of that. In the case of north korea, its one of the most difficult of all challenges we have, and there is certainly reason to criticize the North Koreans for being bad negotiating partners, and they have not been willing to carry out some of the obligations to which theyve agreed. But there are also problems on the other side of the table. One of the problems we have now is there is no table. We are not talking to the North Koreans. There are no negotiations going. Let me turn to gary samore. How do you see this question of flatout this means whats been going on until now has failed . Yes, i think thats right. H i mean, going back to president reagan, when we first suspected that north korea was pursuing a Nuclear Weapons program,a the United States has tried many different ways to slow down or prevent north korea from acquiring Nuclear Weapons, including nuclear diplomacy. Weve had three agreements, threats of preemptive war, economic sanctions. Weve tried many different methods and theyve all failed. As greg said, its an indication of how difficult the problem is. You have a country that feels it has an existential need to have Nuclear Weapons in order to survive, and u. S. Options,p whether theyre diplomatic, coercive, military, are very limited. So the question will be whetherw or not this test of north koreas continuing defiance will create opportunities, in particular for the u. S. And china, to work together, and that will be seene in the u. N. , whether or not the chinese are prepared to support additional sanctions measures. On woodruff well, let me asket you about that because, up until now, the u. S. , as we know, has said there are precon visions. North korea has to meet certain conditions before the u. S. Will sit down at the table and talk. Should that policy go away . Should there now be talks without preconditions . Well, just to be clear, the u. S. Is prepared to meet with the North Koreans, with north korean diplomats without any conditions. Nd the question is whether the conditions for Nuclear Negotiations, for a forming negotiation. And for me, a minimum condition has to be an agreement that the purpose of Nuclear Negotiations is to achieve eventual disarmament. Nobody expects that to happen ip the near term, but in some kind of sequence, series of steps. Secondly, while the talks are going on, north korean refrain r from nuclear and longrange missile testing. So me, thats a reasonable minimal requirement, and i thini you can get the chinese and other major powers involved in the talks to agree to that. Now, the Obama Administrationdm has been asking for more. Mo they have been asking for restraints on north korean fissile material destruction as a condition for starting negotiations. I think that hasnt worked andan we have to look at trying to come to an agreement with china on conditions that are more realistic. Woodruff Greg Thielmann,gr how do you see that . What do you think needs to happeno now . I mostly agree with what gary said that i think we could make a mistake in even trying to get north korea to go back to its previous commitment to a denuclearized korean peninsula. I think right now thats putting the bar too high. We need to negotiate with the North Koreans, and even if the objective the only objective we can agree to is a freeze on north Korean Nuclear and Ballistic Missile testing, ic think that, too, would have value. That doesnt mean we have to abandon our objective to ultimately get rid of all Nuclear Weapons in the korean peninsula, but to require the North Koreans, before entering negotiation, to accept that as the ultimate objective of the negotiations i think is askingsk too much. Woodruff so youre sayingng tell the North Koreans what . We will sit down with you what . We will sit down andd negotiate the terms of a freeze on nuclear and Ballistic Missile testing, and we will make very clear that our objective is to u