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NEW DAY SUNDAY

Trump and Abe React to North Korean Missile Launch; North Korea Test-Fires Ballistic Missile; U.S. Immigration Authorities Arrest Hundreds; Mexico Tries to Aid Its Citizens in the U.S.; GOP Face Anger Over Obamacare at Town Halls; North Korean Leader Facing New Threats; Grammy Awards Set Sunday. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired February 12, 2017 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[05:00:20] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Nice and early, I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world.

Beginning with the latest provocation from Pyongyang, North Korea. A test-firing of another ballistic missile and adding a new foreign policy wrinkle to the early days of the Trump administration.

PAUL: Yes, here's what we know this hour. A U.S. official says an intermediate range ballistic missile which fired Sunday morning -- this morning, we should say. Sources say it was launched from a province in the northwestern part of North Korea. Now the missile traveled about 300 miles before it crashed into the Sea of Japan.

BLACKWELL: The timing of this launch likely not a coincidence. This happened just as President Donald Trump was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida. Now the two leaders made brief statements last night. Here they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (Through Translator): North Korea's most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable. North Korea must fully comply with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now CNN's Athena Jones is following the president in West Palm Beach, Florida. She has more on the White House reaction.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. That's right. We did hear brief statements from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and an even briefer statement, I should say, from President Trump here tonight at Mar-a-Lago, the president's estate here in Palm Beach. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, saying that North Korea's

most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable, saying North Korea must fully comply with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

That second line there is an echo of a line from the joint statement put out by the U.S. and Japan after the two leaders, Prime Minister Abe and President Trump, had their first official meeting at the White House.

In that statement they urged North Korea not to make any further provocative actions or not to take any further actions and they talked about the need for it to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions. So you heard the prime minister echoing that call tonight.

He also said that during the summit with President Trump, Trump assured him that the United States will always come to Japan's defense and said that the president and he completely share the view that we are going to promote further cooperation between the two nations and also we are going to further reinforce our alliance.

After the prime minister spoke, President Trump took to the podium and delivered a very brief statement saying, "Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. I just want everyone -- everybody to understand and fully know that the United Nations of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent. Thank you."

Now I can't stress enough that that is a statement that does not at all address what happened. It does not address the fact that North Korea launched this missile. It was a cautious statement, dare I say, a timid statement. Not the kind of language that we heard from candidate Trump or president-elect Trump. A clear signal that the White House is responding, very, very cautiously to this. Its first real national security test. Now barely -- not even a month in to the presidency.

So that is the statements we're getting so far from the White House and the Japanese prime minister in response to this latest provocation from North Korean. And I should mention this is something that North Korea likes to do. They like to test new administrations. They fired -- they fired off their second nuclear test early in President Obama's first term. And their third one, just a month into his second term. So this is not something that was not predictable.

In fact, U.S. intelligence picked up on movements in the past month or so that indicated this could be coming. And yet we get a very, very brief statement from President Trump. A bit of a longer one from Prime Minister Abe in this first response to a missile launch. Back to you.

PAUL: All right. Athena, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Well, now for the latest from South Korea, we turn to CNN International correspondent Matt Rivers. He's live in Seoul for us.

Matt, good morning.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And what we're hearing from South Korean officials is that this wasn't the level of tests that many were expecting. And by that, I mean, many experts including officials here in South Korea were wondering if there was going to be a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

[05:05:04] The missile that we saw tested early this morning here local time in South Korea was a test that we have seen the North Korean conduct before. In fact eight times last year alone, this intermediate range missile called a Musudan missile was test-fired. Seven of those eight times were considered failures by U.S. and South Korean Defense officials.

But what would have made this test different is if the North Koreans were able to test a longer range missile. It was back on January 1st that Kim Jong-un said that it was the top priority of the North Korean government to develop these long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States. He said it at that time that they were in the final stages of preparing for that kind of a test. And so while experts were expecting that there was going to be something like this happening after Donald Trump assumed the president, many were wondering is it going to be that long-range missile that we were expecting?

That did not happen yet, but most experts will tell you that it is only a matter of time at this point because the North Koreans are very determined to get this technology up and at the ready so they can have even more leverage when it comes to bargaining with the United States, Japan, South Korea, on the world stage using that one card really that they have to play, which is its nuclear weapons program and its missile program.

PAUL: Matt, are they saying anything about how this might affect South Korea politically since we know that there are elections coming up there?

RIVERS: Well, it is very interesting, we have been seeing lots of demonstrations in the streets. I've been here for about 72 hours now and every weekend there's political demonstrations. This is very much a divided country here in South Korea over some corruption scandals that are going on here in the national government. And so the question is, does this become a unifying force for the embattled president, President Park, here?

Could she use this to kind of coalesce support that frankly she doesn't really have right now. But coalesce support for herself, for her coalition and also for the anti-missile defense system that is U.S.-backed that is set to be deployed here in South Korea later this year. It's been a hot topic, something that the U.S. wants to see happen as a deterrent to the North Koreans. And it's something that the Park administration has also thrown its weight behind. So it's going to be interesting to see domestically here in South Korea how can President Park coalesce support over what can be seen as a unifying threat to the North.

PAUL: All right. Matt Rivers, we appreciate it this morning, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Now as we've discussed, North Korea has performed a series of nuclear tests over the past year. Last year it claimed to have detonated the country's first hydrogen bomb during an underground nuclear test. The country also tested-fired multiple ballistic missiles, as Matt said there. The most successful launch was in June. It fired into the Sea of Japan.

PAUL: In August North Korea had its most successful test-firing of a missile launched from a submarine. And then in September North Korea conducted its second nuclear test of the year, which was its most powerful nuclear test to date.

BLACKWELL: So then what was the purpose of this new test-fire? Will there be response from South Korea and from China?

PAUL: Our colleague Ana Cabrera discussed this with our military analyst retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, of course, and author and columnist for the "Daily Beast," Gordon Chang. Take a listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: North Koreans have often fired these launches toward the Sea of Japan. The accuracy of their weapons just are not very good. They aim and shoot and don't care where they land. They are trying to get distance, they are trying to read things like, does the missile fall apart? They may have been testing some type of heat shield on the reentry vehicle. They may have been testing whether or not a missile could withstand G's given a payload.

It wouldn't have been a nuclear payload. It could have been a weighted payload just to see how the missile reacted when something was placed on the top of it. So there are a lot of things -- I'm not a missilery but I know that a lot things that those who fire missiles are testing whenever they do these kind of things.

The interesting piece is, North Korea has fired multiple missiles during 2016. And they said they would continue to work toward an intercontinental ballistic missile. They are still doing that. They still have a lot of problems in their missile program, but this is another launch where they're tweaking Japan, the United States, China and others, saying, we still have the capability and we will continue to do this.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Gordon, I know you spoke earlier that the Chinese could have an important role here. What could the U.S. do in collaboration with the Chinese that might effectively counter what's happening there in North Korea and the development of these nuclear missiles?

GORDON CHANG, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, if China wanted to, it could certainly cut off loads of oil and it could cut off purchases of coal and all sorts of things to really undermine the North Korean economy, but it hasn't done that. You know, we've had a policy of trying to work with Beijing and that policy has been in effect since 2003, since the beginning of the six-party talks. But nothing has seemed to push China in the right direction.

[05:10:13] The one thing that we could do which we haven't tried, because we've tried virtually every policy, the one thing that we haven't done is to impose sanctions on Chinese banks and other Chinese entities that are actually quite coercive. If we were to do that, that, of course, would have all sorts of implications, but nonetheless, at this point, what we have been trying to do with China just hasn't been effective. So we need to try something different because Beijing has basically said it's going to support the North Korean regime and it's been consistent in that over the course of decades.

CABRERA: We know that --

HERTLING: You know, Ana, one --

CABRERA: Go ahead.

HERTLING: Yes. I'm sorry. One of the things, that you have to walk a very fine line, having been assigned with forces in South Korea. The policies that are involved between the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea, all have to deal with not only attempting to get North Korea to stop this kind of behavior, but you really run a very fine line between humanitarian disasters when you continue the kinds of sanctions that have been in place, you walk a fine line between how many sanctions will affect the government versus how many sanctions will cause a humanitarian crisis and will affect the millions of people that live in North Korea.

One of the concerns of China, as I'm sure Mr. Chang will tell you, is a humanitarian crisis. It would cause an implosion in North Korea and a huge humanitarian relief crisis, and it's one of the plans that the United States and South Korea has looked at in case that border opens up, if the dear leader is deposed and you have millions of North Koreans who then need humanitarian assistance. That's troubling as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: We'll have more on the breaking news throughout the morning. Also ahead on NEW DAY this.

Protests just outside the White House denouncing the recent wave of arrests by immigration officials across the country.

PAUL: Also anger continuing for the town hall events throughout the country. Lawmakers returning home to hear feedback on a possible repeal of Obamacare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Fourteen minutes past the hour and new this morning, a massive protest against a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants overnight. [05:15:06] Take a look at these pictures that really tell quite the

story of what was happening there.

BLACKWELL: Hundreds of people in Austin there marching, protesting the widespread arrest of immigrants in Texas and in several other states. Demonstrators there you can see holding signs, some of them blasting President Trump's plan for a border wall, people there also waving the Mexican flag.

Now the protests also showed up outside the White House Saturday to denounce the wave of arrests by immigration officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Immigrants are welcome here.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Immigrants are welcome here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Authorities have arrested undocumented immigrants in 12 states from coast to coast.

PAUL: The latest being more than 200 in the Midwest. Officials say most of the people they locked up had already been convicted of crimes.

We have more for you now from CNN's Rafael Romo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The detentions over the last week are in the hundreds and have been across the country especially in states with higher concentrations of immigrants. In California alone, officials say they detained 160 individuals. According to authorities 150 of the detainees had criminal histories and the rest were in deportation proceedings for other reasons.

Activists say the raids have terrorized immigrant populations and caused widespread fear in these and other states. But Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says raids are in compliance with the law and not just random operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KELLY, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: First of all they're not rounding anyone up. The people that ICE apprehend are people who are illegal and then some. ICE is executing the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: A labor union representing a school district in Texas has published a flier that tells immigrants what to do in case immigration authorities come knocking on their doors. A union spokeswoman calls the raids a crisis and says providing this information is important to students and parents at the school district. A local official reacted with indignation to the raids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have heard of several confirmed ICE actions in Austin. We are here to denounce those actions and to let the community know that we have their backs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a statement about the raids saying the following. "The rash of recent reports about purported ICE checkpoints and random sweeps are false, dangerous and irresponsible. These reports create panic and put communities and law enforcement personnel in an unnecessary danger. Individuals who falsely report such activities are doing a disservice to those they claim to support."

President Donald Trump made cracking down on illegal immigration a central focus of his presidential campaign.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: And the series of arrests have provoked fear and anxiety, uncertainty as well, among immigrants across the country.

PAUL: We're told that in fact fear is so deep some are even barricading themselves in their own homes. They don't answer knocks on their door. They're taping bed sheets over windows. They're staying off social media. There are nervous parents and their children constantly exchanging text messages and phone calls. And some, as we understand it, even avoid sending their children to school.

BLACKWELL: And we know there is a service hoping to quell those fears. This comes in the form of a Mexican call center.

Our Polo Sandoval reports from Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You wouldn't know it if you drove by this Tucson, Arizona, building that bears the Mexican seal, but inside is a small army of call takers. This is more than just a phone bank. It's a clearinghouse for Mexicans run by the Mexican government. It's called the CIAM or the Center for Information and Assistance for Mexicans. It's the only one in the U.S.

PATRICIA AHUMADA, CALL CENTER OPERATOR: We also explain all the consular services that we offer.

SANDOVAL: These days, Patricia Ahumada says people are concerned about more than just basic services. AHUMADA: It can be really tough for us as well. Because every story,

every call is another story. And I can have a call that can be about a passport, but I can also have a call saying that happened if my kids are U.S. citizens and I have to go back to Mexico.

RICARDO PINEDA ALBARRAN, CONSUL OF MEXICO, TUCSON, ARIZONA: The need is high. That's why we have around 40 people working over here.

SANDOVAL: Counsel General Ricardo Pineda who leads this team noticed a recent 100 percent increase in call traffic. The center received an average of 700 calls a day before Donald Trump was sworn in. Today nearly 1300, according to Pineda who thinks more of his fellow Mexicans want answers about President Trump's immigration orders. He says many of the calls come from undocumented Mexicans with the new fear of dealing with U.S. immigration authorities. They fear deportation.

ALBARRAN: What we are trying to do is referring over the communicate to professionals, to newly authorized attorneys, right here or in many locations around the U.S. that can provide information.

[05:20:10] We are doing that and we're going to continue to do that on a more intensive manner.

SANDOVAL: Pineda echoes a new message from his Foreign Ministry's office warning Mexican citizens in the U.S. to take precautions. The advice vice coming as hundreds of undocumented immigrants are being arrested in several states. The Mexican government foresees more severe immigration measures to be implemented with possible violations to constitutional precepts. Pineda says those concerns have prompted them to keep their lines open 24/7.

ALBARRAN: Call your consulate. Please come to the consulate. It's our duty to get along with you, to accompany you in any possible process.

SANDOVAL: With concerns about what the White House's next step will be it doesn't seem that the phones will stop ringing any time soon.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Well, dueling rallies across the country in a fight over whether to defund Planned Parenthood.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Men, women, children gathered outside clinics yesterday. Groups hoping to defund the organization held protests while Planned Parenthood invited supporters out to counter them. House Speaker Paul Ryan said last month the GOP plans to vote to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the Obamacare repeal.

Let's talk about this. These overdose cases that have spiked in the U.S., in the state of Kentucky. emergency crews responded to 52 overdose calls in Louisville just this week during a span of 32 hours. PAUL: Officials say most were caused by heroin. There were also

overdoses, they say, of alcohol and prescription medications. And no deaths have been reported but we're going to talk about this a little more in depth later in the show.

BLACKWELL: Now as lawmakers discuss the repeal of Obamacare, we have to talk about these protesters as well.

PAUL: Oh, my gosh, they are flooding town halls across the country. Next, a well-known claim debunked years ago resurfaces at a Florida event in response to the protest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL AKINS, PASCO COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: They do. Yes, they do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:32] BLACKWELL: Shouts of "What's your plan?" and "Do your jobs" still overwhelming town halls in states across the country. This is happening as lawmakers meet with voters to hear feedback on a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

PAUL: And now the long debunked idea of death panels even made a comeback in Florida.

Here's CNN's Boris Sanchez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tension is running high and emotions boiling over.

REP. GUS BILIRAKIS, (R) FLORIDA: My party had virtually no input.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boo.

BILIRAKIS: No input.

(CROWD SHOUTING)

BILIRAKIS: Well, OK. So -- that's OK. That's OK.

SANCHEZ: The crowd at a town hall in New Port Richey, Florida, not holding back, pushing hard against indications from Republicans that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act is looming without a unified plan for a replacement from the GOP.

(CROWD SHOUTING "WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?")

SANCHEZ: Town Halls like this one have been organized across the country by Republican lawmakers to better communicate their positions on health care to constituents. But in the past week, protesters have swarmed to these venues, giving lawmakers in both chambers of Congress an earful.

(CROWD SHOUTING "DO YOUR JOB")

SANCHEZ: On Saturday, Representative Gus Bilirakis from Florida's 12th District faced them, too. Some shared deeply personal stories.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter has a genetic disease called Gitelman syndrome. Now before the ACA, we spent thousands of dollars. We spent tons of time because she had a preexisting condition and nobody would touch her. We talked -- they were talking at one point $10,000 for one year's worth of insurance, OK. So now she has the ACA, since 2009 and she is now able to get the medication she needs to save her life.

SANCHEZ: Others were more forceful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not get rid of the ACA. You will have so many big problems. It's not funny.

SANCHEZ: A handful of Donald Trump supporters also got to voice their concerns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, yes, yes. So you need -- you need to find out the facts before you start complaining.

AKINS: Here's the problem I have with the Affordable Healthcare Act. Number one, there is a provision in there that anyone over the age of 74 has to go before what is effectively a death panel.

(CROWD SHOUTING "NO")

AKINS: Yes, they do. Yes, they do. It's in there, folks. You're wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am 77 years old, and I think it's unconscionable for this politician to tell me that at 74 I will be facing death panels. That's wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. I have --

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You misunderstood me. I'm on your side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're angry with this particular plan, not because of the plan itself, but because who is proposing the plan.

SANCHEZ: Representative Bilirakis who was reelected in a landslide last year assured constituents that he planned to take their stories back to Washington. The congressman has voted to defund the ACA in the past. A spokesman says he considers it his duty to take input from all of his constituents, though not all of them believe that he's going to actually change his stance.

DR. PETER RIQUETTI, PHYSICIAN: I think hearing personal anecdotes is something that plays well on news bites and sounds like you are invested in the community, but I think in reality it's a show.

SANCHEZ: As for the increased interest and public outcries at town halls, one Democratic activist says that we should expect more.

IVANA SHEPPARD, LOCAL ACTIVIST: So I don't see that passion and that anxiety and that fear dissipating unless we see some real change.

SANCHEZ: Boris Sanchez, CNN, New Port Richey, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Still ahead North Korea test-fires its first missile since President Trump took office. We're going to hear from our military analyst on what a response from the U.S. might look like.

PAUL: Plus an unstable regime?

[05:30:01] There are experts who believe North Korean leader Kim Jong- un is facing new threats from within.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Welcome back. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's the latest of the many ballistic missile tests from North Korea in recent years but it's the first of the Donald Trump presidency. Now U.S. and Japanese officials believe the launch was deliberately timed to the Japanese leader's state visit to the U.S.

PAUL: Well, South Korean officials say North Korea fired an intermediate range missile earlier today and the sources say it was launched from a province in the northwestern part of the country. Now this is a missile that traveled about 300 miles before crashing into the Sea of Japan.

BLACKWELL: Last night Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Trump issued a joint public statement of condemnation of the test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABE (Through Translator): North Korea's most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable. North Korea must fully comply with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

TRUMP: I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: President Trump's National Security adviser Michael Flynn did speak with his South Korean counterpart after this test-fire and they both condemned the launch, agreeing to, quote, "seek all possible options to deter Pyongyang in the future."

BLACKWELL: Our CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling explains what that could mean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:00] HERTLING: You know, everyone will focus on the military aspect of this, but they will bring in all elements of national power, diplomacy intelligence, information, economy and the military. In that principals' meeting, which will likely meet in Washington, D.C., this is not necessarily something that the president has to get involved in immediately, but you can bet that there's a bunch of folks pulling together, getting information to Ambassador Haley at the U.N. and what she might be asked to do following the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and all the folks from the intelligence community together.

Mr. Tillerson from the State Department will come together with -- and I'm sure -- because all of these individuals are new at their different departments, they're going to be relying very much on the old hands who have the information. The Southeast Asia desk of the State Department. The J-5 and the Pentagon. Those in the CIA who handle North Korea. So they are going to get the information together and perhaps present some options in a deputy's committee and then eventually a principal's committee.

So they probably just wanted to get the president the most up-to-date information and say this is what is happening in the national security element of your government right now. They're pulling the facts together. The wires are hot between here and North Korea and the Japanese government more than likely. I'm sure there's been some reach out to again Ambassador Haley at the U.N. because she's going to have to pull some things together in that body. That probably won't happen tomorrow, but it certainly will happen on Monday where North Korea will be condemned.

So as we're talking about this, the wheels of action are occurring within our government, but again, it is a new government, a new presidency and a lot of the folks at the head of these organizations are new and still trying to find a way around their department. So a lot of the old hands will take over for the next day or two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Christopher Hill is a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea. He's one of the foremost experts on this issue.

PAUL: Mm-hmm. And he says that this latest missile test isn't a crisis situation yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: I don't think tonight was a crisis. This was an intermediate missile. We've seen this before. We've seen the range. There may be new elements to it. But tonight is not a crisis. But overall, this issue in the next four years will be a crisis because North Korea intends to have a deliverable nuclear weapon.

And I think for Donald Trump, it was actually -- this has been a pretty good few days on East Asia policy. First of all, very successful visit to Korea and Japan by his Defense secretary. And then he got a very successful telephone call with Xi Jinping. And no what better way to show support, show solidarity, with the Japanese people than a North Korean test. So I think it has been a good day for the president in terms of the policy coming ahead.

And I think it's pretty clear what needs to be done. First of all, the alliances with Korea and Japan need to be strengthened. And, in particular, I think the U.S. has a role in trying to strengthen the relationship between Korea and Japan. That has to get better.

The alliance needs to be strengthen and it needs to be strengthen through the delivery that America has at its best which is to reach the ballistic missile system. And finally, he's going to have to pivot over and work with the Chinese on this because they need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. And he has pointed that out. He has in fact said in no uncertain terms that the Chinese were not helping enough when it comes to North Korea.

HILL: Well, he's also implying that it's kind of their job to take care of this as if he was going to outsource it to China. And I think certainly his conversations with Abe would reveal the fact that no one country can solve this problem. That's why President Bush and President Johnson had created that six-party process. So I think this has really given -- it's been kind of a dress rehearsal for President Trump in a sort of international context. And I think it's gone -- it's so far gone well. And now he has to put together a strategy. And I am sure part of that strategy has to be a kind of deep dive with the Chinese on how we're going to manage this because no one wants, in the next four years, North Korea will be fielding a deliverable nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The former Ambassador Hill there speaking with our colleague, Cyril Vanier, at CNN International.

PAUL: Yes. And I want to give you a sense of the status of the sanctions that have been talked about here. In November the U.N. slammed North Korea with some of its toughest ever, placing a cap on coal, for instance, which is the regime's top export. Also placed a new ban to prevent the country from exporting certain metals. And North Korea is also banned, we should point out, from exporting huge statues, which, for instance, they would sell to Africa for millions of dollars. So the U.N. expect the sanctions to cost North Korea more than $800 million a year.

[05:40:03] BLACKWELL: Now the previous sanctions targeted North Korean officials, diplomats, companies involved in the regime's nuclear program. There's also a complete ban on small arms and aviation fuel. And countries are required to inspect all cargo going to and from North Korea.

Now as North Korea continues to threaten global security with these missile launches, experts say that leader Kim Jong-un is facing new threats from his own, from inside his country. PAUL: Yes, the threats include high-level defections, open criticism,

disloyalty inside the military.

For more we want to get that from Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New warnings about the threat from Kim Jong-un and the violence inside his regime. Former intelligence officials and a former envoy who dealt with Kim's father and grandfather warning members of Congress that by any metric Kim's recent patterns of behavior are very dangerous.

SUE MI TERRY, FORMER CIA ANALYST ON NORTH KOREA: Based on the number of pillars of stability eroding, I say the regime is more unstable today than at any time in the past.

TODD: South Korean officials say Kim Jong-un recently fired one of his top lieutenants. Kim Won Hong was minister of state security, an immensely powerful position.

VICTOR CHA, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: They're responsible for overall internal security in North Korea, threats to the regime. And also security directly around the leadership. The notion that the military state security has now been sacked is a sign that -- you know, there's something going on inside the system.

TODD: When he was in power, Kim Won-hong had been tasked with rooting out spies inside the regime. And the U.S. government had sanctioned him for allegedly overseeing the beatings, sexual assaults and killings inside North Korea's notorious prison camps.

Kim Jong-un fired him shortly after losing the most senior North Korean diplomat to defect in almost 20 years. Thae Yong-ho had been number two at North Korean's embassy in London. Shortly after he escaped Thae revealed that Kim Jong-un had killed so many of his own top officials that there was unprecedented discord among the elite.

THAE YONG-HO, NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR: Low-level dissent or criticism of the regime until recently unthinkable are becoming more frequent.

TODD: Former CIA analyst Sue Terry says there are other signs that the young dictator may be under threat. She says he doesn't have the absolute loyalty among the military and other security services that his father and grandfather could always count on.

TERRY: There's also corruption among the security services and the soldiers and the police where everybody can be bribed basically.

TODD: Which she says makes it easier for defectors to escape and a new warning from a former top envoy who says he's worried about Kim selling his newfound nuclear bomb expertise to the highest bidder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That the North Koreans will be the source of fissile material directly or indirectly to some rogue regime or to a terrorist group. The problem with the transfer to a terrorist entity is that there isn't really a good deterrent option.

TODD (on camera): Robert Gallucci and others who sounded those warnings before Congress say there's no clear-cut path for President Trump and his security team to deal with all of these threats from Kim Jong-un, but Gallucci says he believes it was the right move for the president's Defense secretary James Mattis to make South Korea his first stop on the job.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Ah, Sunday morning and old man winter wants to visit you. There is a new winter storm threatening the northeast.

Julie Martin is live to try to talk to us about what's happening. A little preview here.

Good morning to you, Julie.

JULIE MARTIN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christi. For the second time this week, New England is bracing for a major winter storm. I'm going to detail the timing and the impacts when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:08] BLACKWELL: So back-to-back storms for the northeastern U.S. A winter storm warning now has been issued for eight states. And some of which are still dealing with more than a foot of snow from last week's storm.

PAUL: CNN meteorologist Julie Martin live in the severe weather center. Thank goodness they did not send you out, Julie. Where are you problems today?

MARTIN: They did not. I'm not having this problem today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[05:50:29] PAUL: you know, Julie, it's been -- it's really been such a wonky weather pattern. I mean, it's really cold and then it warms up. What are the temperatures like going into the days following this?

MARTIN: Actually, temperatures are going to be more average-like as we go throughout the rest of the week. And conditions look pretty dry, at least for the next couple of days. And the thing about this storm, the temperatures here are not going to be bitterly cold. In fact, there is some warm air in place so that makes the equation even a little more messy for meteorologists. In fact, you know, some of this could be rain, some of it could be a mix. And much of it could be snow as we get farther north.

Now for New York City, for example, it's really more of a winter mix this morning and then turning over to rain. So I guess that might be a silver lining.

PAUL: All right. Julie, thank you so much.

MARTIN: Sure.

BLACKWELL: All right, are you on Team Adele or are you a member of the beehive? Who will take home some of the biggest awards in music?

All right. We're looking ahead at some of the big awards and the nominees to music's biggest night. The Grammys tonight.

PAUL: And a pregnant Beyonce performing.

BLACKWELL: Look forward to that.

PAUL: It's going to be fabulous, doesn't matter. Alec Baldwin, meanwhile, he decided, I think I'll go back to "Saturday Night Live."

BLACKWELL: One more time.

PAUL: Just one more time. And you know what that means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECILY STRONG, ACTRESS: Mr. Trump, you understand this is a TV court, right?

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: That's OK. I'm a TV president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:37] BLACKWELL: It is one of the year's biggest nights in music. The 59th Annual Grammy Awards airing tonight.

PAUL: You may be watching for the fashion on the red carpet. You might be watching for the performances, or for who wins. But there is a lot to see tonight.

CNN's Stephanie Elam has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Adele to Beyonce, the Grammy Awards honor the biggest names in music and 2017 is no exception.

JEM ASWAD, SENIOR EDITOR, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: It is the Vatican, sort of, of the music business and of music entertainment.

ELAM: Beyonce leads the charge with nine nominations, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and the night's most competitive prize, Album of the Year.

The singer's latest collection, "Lemonade," faces off against Adele's "25," Justin Bieber's "Purpose," Drake's "Views," and Sturgill Simpson's "A Sailor's Guide to Earth."

Awards aren't the only thing on deck at the Grammys. Expect some big collaborations. Lady Gaga with Metallica and The Weekend with Daft Punk are just a few of the duets set to hit the stage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: All right. So the cast of "Saturday Night Live," plenty to work on.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they do.

PAUL: Plenty to work on this week's -- the president's first few weeks of office. Thanks to, we should say, Alec Baldwin.

BLACKWELL: Returning to host "SNL" for the record 17th time, and of course he brought his Donald Trump impersonation with him. Also making a return, Melissa McCarthy to revive her take on White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA MCCARTHY, ACTRESS: Now I am going to open it up for questions. And I am going to probably freak if you start asking stupid ones. Speaking of freaks and stupid ones, Glen Trush, "New York Times." Stupid hat, go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I just wanted to know what the president intends to do now that the appeals court denied your request to stop the travel ban.

MCCARTHY: You're testing me, big guy. Look, it's simple. If the appeals court won't do what's right, President Trump will see them in court specifically the people's court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That isn't real.

MCCARTHY: Duh, that isn't real, uh. I'm Glen and I'm not real. It is real, Glen.

STRONG: Do you have one legitimate reason we need this ban?

BALDWIN: Of course I do. It's so simple. The bad people, they're pouring in and you see them and it's ISIS and San Bernardino and Chicago. I mean, look at Chicago, it's hell. There are bad dudes coming in here, bad hombres, bad boys, bad boys, what's you going to do?

STRONG: All right. That sounded less like an argument and more like a refrigerator magnet poetry. All right. Mr. Trump, I hear you want to bring in a character witness. BALDWIN: That's right. Someone who's known me for years. He's

family. He's an incredible person with impeccable credentials. Mr. Vladimir Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Oh, and Melissa McCarthy also addressed the Nordstrom controversy over Ivanka Trump's line this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: And then there's some light terrorism this week when Nordstrom's decided to stop selling Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and accessories. OK, and that's Nordstrom's loss. Because these are high, high-quality products. In fact, I'm wearing one of her bangles right now. It's beautiful. It's shimmery, it's elegant. And at $39.99? That is unbelievably affordable, OK? And don't even get me started on her shoes. Because these babies are a real head turner. All right, any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Just mentally, though, are you OK?

MCCARTHY: Are you kidding me? You better run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right. I don't know where to go with that. So let's tell you that there is an awful lot of news to tell you about this hour.

BLACKWELL: And next hour starts right now.