U.S.: Missile Was "Probable" ICBM
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. We are live at CNN London. Thanks for being with us this Tuesday. This is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. It's a we've heard many times before, an angry North Korea launches a missile test complete with boast of its massive power and range. But here is why this test on this day could be different. Pyongyang claims that the missile reached a height of nearly 3000 kilometers and landed nearly a thousand kilometers away. If that's true, it means parts of the U.S. mainland could be within reach. Now in the last hour, U.S. military analysts say it probably was an ICBM missile, intercontinental continental ballistic missile. As Paula Hancocks explains the test has worried friends and enemies alike.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Celebrated as an historic event in North Korea raising alarm bells among its neighbors and foes. Pyongyang says this was a successful ICBM, an intercontinental ballistic missile. An excited news anchor spoke of the shining success in a special broadcast on North Korean television. A clearly delighted Kim Jong-un surveyed the scene. A test launched the North Korean leader had promise since the start of this year. But concerned (inaudible) a national security meeting and a warning from Pres. Moon Jae-in calling on the North not to cross the bridge of no return, warning of a redline without specifying what redline was. Trying to call for restraint from all sides urging North Korea to refrain from violating U.N. Security Council resolutions.</s>JASPER KIM, EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY: As always with North Korea's strategic (inaudible). I mean, here you get missile test and you get a wide audience focused on -- supposed to be on the G20 Summit, about trade and cooperation, now all these party leaders up from around the world are going to be talking about North Korea, North Korea, North Korea.</s>HANCOCKS: South Korea's military says it's now working with the U.S. to analyze the data and decide whether it was in fact an ICBM. They admit the range was longer than the May 14th launch. That test described by experts as the most significant advancement in its nuclear weapons program to date. Unofficial assessments of this launch are worrying for the</s>U.S. DAVID WRIGHT, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: According to my calculations, they can reach all Alaska, but they cannot reach the lower 48 states or the large Hawaiian Islands. But they have the ability to reach Alaska.</s>HANCOCKS: A July 4th celebration for North Korea that the United States does not want.</s>GORANI: Well, Paula Hancocks joins us now live from the region. She is in Seoul, South Korea. So what does this tell us the fact that it is an ICBM, an intercontinental ballistic missile, that's what it's believed that North Korea fired. What does it tell us about the country's missile capability?</s>HANCOCKS: Well, Hala, it means that North Korea is making strides in developing its long-range capability. Now this is something that the North Korea has been very clear about it. It shouldn't come as any surprise to us that they have -- they are trying to carry out his ICBM test. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un said it in his New Year's address saying he was close to test launching it. North Korea has consistently said they want to be able to hit mainland United States with a nuclear- tipped ballistic missile. This is all part of the -- of what North Korea said is it self-defense. It wants to be able to protect itself from what it sees as a hostile United States and hostile policy against it. But what it does show is that there has been significant progress just consider that Kim Jong-un has been in a massive rush to try and perfect this capability. He's tested far more missile than his father and his grandfather put together and since the beginning of 2016, there has been more intense testing than ever before in North Korea's history -- Hala.</s>GORANI: All right, certainly the worry is that they will go farther and farther. Right now, we about a thousand kilometer range, it's believed. Thanks very much, Paula Hancocks. She is Seoul, South Korea. Now the U.S. response to North Korea's claim to missile test was scathing predictably. President Trump took to Twitter once again to announce his reaction. He criticized the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Let's go to the White House and speak to CNN's Kaitlan Collins. So Kaitlan, I'll quickly read through the two-part tweet that Donald Trump posted on Twitter, "Hard to believe," in part it reads, "that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea." What should we read into this?</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, that's the only response we had from the White House right now. As you recall, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said recently that the president's tweets are considered official statements from the White House. And today we've learned from there that there will be no other forthcoming statements on what happened in North Korea until we find out more. CNN has learned that top national security, military, and diplomatic officials, are having unscheduled meeting today to weigh what options the U.S. could pursue in light of what happened in North Korea last night. Now the president has long suggested that China should put pressure on North Korea to rein in its nuclear missile program. He spoke with the president of China on the phone on Sunday where he raised the threat of the growing nuclear program in North Korea. This is before the missile had launch last night and I think that in that tweet that he thinks that should do more to end this nonsense. He has a meeting with the Chinese president at the G20 Summit in Germany at the end of this week as well. So it's likely they will bring up and discuss it then.</s>GORANI: But is that the strategy basically asking China?</s>COLLINS: Well, that's been Donald Trump's strategy for a long time. He's often said that he thinks that should put pressure on them, but two weeks ago, he tweeted that he appreciated their efforts and that they did their best and they tried. But that those efforts hadn't worked so it look like he is turning away from counting on China to put more pressure North Korea to solve this problem.</s>GORANI: All right, thanks very much, Kaitlan Collins at the White House. Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin and we've learned this today are getting ready to come face-to-face, and we are learning -- we knew that they would need, but it's more than sort of sideline handshake. This is going to be their first ever meeting. It is an official sit down. It could be therefore a bigger deal than initially thought. The Kremlin said it won't be just a casual chat, but a full-fledged seated affair. Fred Pleitgen joins me now with more. So will he -- the big question is Russia having been such a topic of conversation during the campaign and now on the first few months of the administration of Donald Trump. Will he bring in Russian interference into the U.S. campaign?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's going to be the main thing that people are going to be looking at. And I think because this is a full-fledged meeting, it also raises the stakes I think for both Vladimir Putin and of course, especially for President Trump because he is under so much scrutiny at home as well. People are going to be looking at the actual language, but they are also going to be looking at the body language between the two. And I think of it seems as though President Trump, you know, is too friendly, if you will, with Vladimir Putin that it could hurt him among some of his critics. And the big thing they are going to be looking out for is whether he raises that interference by the Russians in the U.S. election and it really is unclear. I mean, so far it seems as though those were close to the president like for instance, H.R. McMaster, is saying there really isn't a set agenda for this meeting just yet. So it's not clear whether or not it's going to be raised and certainly hasn't been made clear by the administration, but it definitely will be raised to think of something that would be quite important to hear from --</s>GORANI: We are hearing from sources who told CNN that it is not expected to be high on the agenda, if it makes into the conversation at all, though -- even though people are genuinely interested in what's happening in Syria, genuinely interested in how the U.S. will talk to Russia about Ukraine. This would be really the main question that people want answered.</s>PLEITGEN: Well, certainly, for U.S. audience --</s>GORANI: For U.S. audience.</s>PLEITGEN: -- certainly will be the main question, what you're right. I mean, there are other big issues aware the U.S. and Russia are just very much at odds and there was one senior Russian official who said that right now the relations between these two countries are at a zero level. So certainly the Kremlin has been fairly disappointed so far from their vantage point by the Trump administration at the same time there are those big issues on the topic of Syria, on the topic of Ukraine, on the topic of security in Europe as well. So there are some real issues that need to be that need to be tackled by these two leaders or at least spoken about by these two leaders that I think, you know, many people are going to be looking for that. But at the same time whether or not President Trump brings it up is certainly something that's going to be the utmost scrutinized.</s>GORANI: Well, we get a glimpse into his character and personality on Twitter. We know a thing or two also about Vladimir Putin. He's been in a position of leadership in Russia for many, many years now. And one has to wonder what would a meeting between the two men on a personal level look like?</s>PLEITGEN: Yes, I think that is going to be very interesting especially since both of them seemed to have this machismo about. You know, both of them understand what it's like to make an impression in public, and I think for both it is very important what they are perceived. They are perceived as being very strong in public so that's going to be an interesting thing to see. Of course, you're absolutely right. Vladimir Putin, you know, he has dealt with a lot of U.S. presidents in the past. He's dealt with a lot of other leaders in the past, how was Donald Trump going to match up to that, I think that something that is going to be very, very interesting to look at. And also it seems as though both of them, you know, they've spoken about their mutual admiration for one another, is that really going to translate into good relations between the two? Because it is the first that they are actually meeting face to face.</s>GORANI: And they've spoken on the phone, we know that, and several times. This will be the first face to face, and I do wonder the setup, it's going to be an official sit down, does that involve questions after or we do not know yet?</s>PLEITGEN: That I think will be up to them whether or not they would take questions afterwards. But yes, it's going to be an official sit down, not just a handshake on the side, not just the quick photo opportunity also. So, you know, possibly there will be questions, although, it would probably be up to the two of them and their entourages on whether or not they actually would want to go through with that.</s>GORANI: We know journalists have been wanting to ask more questions (inaudible). We'll see. Fred Pleitgen, thanks very much joining us live here in the studio. It's already been a busy week of diplomacy for Vladimir Putin. Today, he met with the Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow. Mr. Xi called the talks fruitful. You hear that a lot in (inaudible), fruitful, candid, saying they pledged to strengthen cooperation on a number of issues including North Korea's nuclear program. The leaders called for a simultaneous freeze on Pyongyang's missile tests and joint military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea. Still to come this evening, taking the fight against ISIS to the very heart of its last remaining stronghold. We'll see how the militants are now cornered in the old cities, Raqqa and Mosul. And this --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mississippi secretary of state told the commission to, quote, "Go jump in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi is a great state to launch from."</s>GORANI: Even a Republican dominated U.S. state say President Trump is overstepping his bounds when it comes to the touch subject of voter fraud. We'll explain how and why they're pushing back against the president.