TRANSCRIPT

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show on the increasing tension between North Korea and the United States. The Wall Street Journal is reporting today the White House is reconsidering its recent aggressive stance toward North Korea out of fear that it could inadvertently trigger an even deeper crisis.

In recent days, North Korea has moved a medium-range missile to its east coast, threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, and threatened to restart its nuclear facilities.

Last month, the U.S. flew stealth bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons over South Korea. The United States has also sent two guided-missile destroyers to the waters off South Korea and announced plans to deploy an advanced missile defense system to Guam in the next few weeks, two years ahead of schedule.

AMY GOODMAN: The Journal reports the United States is now putting a pause on what several officials described as a step-by-step plan the Obama administration approved earlier this year, dubbed "the playbook," that laid out the sequence and publicity plans for U.S. shows of force during annual war games with South Korea. One senior administration official said, quote, "The concern was that we were heightening the prospect of misperceptions on the part of the North Koreans, and that that could lead to miscalculations."

To talk more about the latest on North Korea, we’re joined by Christine Hong, assistant professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, on the executive board of Korea Policy Institute. She has spent time in North Korea, including a visit to the country as part of a North American peace delegation.

Professor Hong, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk about this latest crisis across TV screens last night and people’s texts all over. We were getting breaking news the—North Korea threatening a nuclear attack on the United States.