Trump Shifts Tone; Protests in Seoul
BLITZER: President Trump arriving in South Korea today. He's getting ready for a major speech to the South Korean National Assembly later this evening. Ahead of that, we're already seeing a shift in tone from the president. There have been no taunts aimed at the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, no threats of war. While North Korea says it's watching President Trump's visit closely and vowing to bolster what it calls its nuclear sword of justice. CNN is the only American network on both sides of the Korean border right now. Our White House correspondent Sara Murray is standing by in Seoul with the president. Will Ripley is in Pyongyang. Will, what are you hearing from the North Koreans?</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, North Korean officials here in Pyongyang told me they will be listening very closely to President Trump's speech in South Korea in the coming hours, a major speech. The administration has been hinting that they may announce a decision about whether to put North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a list that they were taken off almost ten years ago during negotiations at that time over North Korea's nuclear program. We know how that turned out. North Korea now has a bigger nuclear arsenal than ever and more advanced missile capabilities than ever. But they feel they are not quite there yet when it comes to rounding off their nuclear program, in their words, and they are vowing to conduct more tests at a time of their choosing. The question, will that time be during President Trump's trip here in Asia and, of course, how would the Trump administration respond to that? We did heard a more conciliatory tone from President Trump in South Korea. The North Koreans acknowledge that words do matter with President Trump indicating a willingness to sit down for negotiations. However, the North Korean are also looking at the actions of the United States. There were naval drills happening between the U.S., South Korea and Australia and even larger drills set to kick off in the coming days in the Pacific involving three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups. A major show of force by the United States that North Korea says only encouraging them to showcase their own nuclear strength, to send, in their words, a clear message to the Trump administration after negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea have broken down. North Koreans not ruling out talks all together, but they do say that they feel they need to prove to the Trump administration that they have an effective nuclear deterrent and they say their nukes are here to stay, whereas the United States wants full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Something that is really a non-starter for government officials here in Pyongyang. Wolf, they say their nukes are here to stay.</s>BLITZER: Will Ripley reporting for us. Will, thanks very much for that report. Will is in Pyongyang, North Korea. After saying the time for strategic patience with North Korea is over, President Trump then pivoted his message this morning saying North Korea should come to the table and make a deal. And he then offered this assessment.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be meeting with the various generals</s>BLITZER: Let's go to our White House correspondent Sara Murray. She's traveling with the president in Seoul right now. So, Sara, what do we expect to hear from the president's major speech later tonight?</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're told the president is going to put the conflict with North Korea in a historical context and, of course, talk up the importance of the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea, in addition to calling on China, to calling on Russia, to put more pressure on North Korea to further isolate this nuclear nation. But these are the messages the president has been driving essentially since he took office. I think what people are really going to be watching for is the tone. Are we going to see the kind of tone that we've gotten from President Trump stateside where he's lobbying nicknames at Kim Jong-un and talking about fire and fury, or will we see something similar to what we saw from the president here in Seoul, where he's offering a rosier take on diplomatic efforts and making it clear that he sort of sees a military option as a last resort.</s>BLITZER: Sara, there were some anti-Trump protests in Seoul, where you are right now. What were they protesting?</s>MURRAY: There were some protests and they were -- protesters were chanting things like "no Trump, no war." Look, there is anxiety here in South Korea about the rhetoric that we have heard from President Trump. The people here are the neighbors to North Korea. So any decision the U.S. makes, particularly a military decision, would have a direct impact on their lives. That is an unease, an uncertainty that certainly analysts have said is very palpable in this region. I think that's what we saw from the protesters today.</s>BLITZER: Sara Murray in Seoul for us. Sara, thanks very much. We'll, of course, have live coverage of the president's speech later tonight here on CNN. Meanwhile, a Democratic lawmaker walking out of a moment of silence on the House of Representatives' floor out of protest over guns. I'll speak live with the congressman who represents the church's district about this and more, what he's been told about the investigation. Stand by. Plus, he always raises eyebrows when he speaks, but one of the president's former campaign advisers now giving explosive new testimony about who knew what involving his own Russian contacts during the Trump campaign.