PROSPECTS OF SUMMIT BETWEEN U.S. AND N. KOREA

Hello and welcome to Press Perspective for this Monday February 3rd.

For those of you celebrating the lunar new year hope your festivities last week were good.

We start this workweek with a look at prospects of possible engagement between the U.S. and North Korea amid the return of the Trump administration to the White House.

For more I have Cheon Soram with US government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia here in the studio.

Soram welcome.

I also have Celio Fioretti with French daily La Croix.

Celio it's good to have you here.

1) Soram, North Korea's delegate to the UN office in Geneva has reaffirmed his regime's dedication to its nuclear weapons.

Let's begin with his remarks and their relevance.

2) Celio, after the remarks by the North Korean delegate to the UN in Geneva, the regime tested a cruise missile system in late January.

Do tell us more about this test and its implications.

3) Soram, the tough rhetoric and the cruise missile test was then followed by a visit to a nuclear facility by Kim Jong-un.

What appears to be the purpose of these latest words and actions by North Korea?

4) Celio, during an interview with Fox News that aired on January 24th, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of reaching out to North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

Pundits believe talks will be harder this time.

What do they mean?

5) Soram, last Friday, American magazine "The National Interest" shared the thoughts of two North Korean defectors about the possible demands that may be made by Trump and Kim in the event of another summit between them.

Do tell us more about the potential demands and their prospects.

6) Celio, Mr. Trump has called North Korea a "nuclear power", triggering concerns about a potential shift in U.S. policy on North Korea.

What are the prospects of North Korea being recognized as a nuclear weapons state?

I mean, how would France, which is one of the five nations formally recognized as possessing nuclear weapons, respond?

7) Soram, beyond the Korean peninsula.

There have been quite a number of media reports about the absence of North Korean soldiers from the front lines in the battle between Ukraine and Russia.

What more can you tell us?

8) Celio, last Friday, Mr. Trump claimed he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin may soon take "significant" action to ending the violence in Ukraine.

What precisely did he say, and what endgame do you envision?

All right.