our correspondent robin brant is in seoul. bring us up to detail on what the latest is and what we're hearing on the legitimacy, they say, of their nuclear programme. well, these are fairly mild words which have emerged in north korean state—run news agencies, a statement which describes what they say is a legitimate self—defence, referring to their nuclear possessions, against what they say are the threats and the vigor of the united states. so stating that kind of military concept that lots of nuclear states do, essentially having these weapons act as a deterrent against other nations using them. so that is the words we have this morning. i think perhaps tomorrow, on 15 august, which is liberation day in north korea, we may expect some more of the rhetoric, perhaps more of the bellicose language we have heard emerging from kim jong—un, bellicose language we have heard emerging from kimjong—un, who is north korea's leader. tomorrow is one of those days when offered a statement is made or some kind of show of strength.

yogita limaye has the latest from south korea's capital, seoul. well, what north korea has done is now given the details of this attack that it now given the details of this attack thatitis now given the details of this attack that it is planning on guam. yesterday it said it was carefully examining this plan and said it would present it to kim jong—un. todayit would present it to kim jong—un. today it said this plan involves firing for rockets, which will fly overjapan, and land in the seas near guam overjapan, and land in the seas nearguam and overjapan, and land in the seas near guam and they plan to present this plan to kim jong—un near guam and they plan to present this plan to kimjong—un by mid august and then it will depend on when he gives the go—ahead for them to execute the plan. you know, also in this statement what they say about president trump, that he is a man arrest of reason and only absolute force can work with him. yesterday there was a mass rally in north korea which the government says was to support the leadership.

as we have been hearing they are prepared, seoul of course is prepared, seoul of course is prepared too. what's the situation like today there? yesterday was a national holiday, liberation day, and we heard from south korea's relatively newly elect the president and his message is a far more conciliatory one than recent predecessors and he spoke yesterday about trying to expand south korea's diplomatic efforts to finally bring peace to the korean peninsula. as rupert was reflecting, this decision from kim jong—un gives space at the moment but i think the most informed view is that it is brief and possibly temporary and it is now up to the us, maybe china and maybe north korea to think about what they wa nt to north korea to think about what they want to do next. it appears kim jong—un is holding back from the threat of a launch of missiles. rex tillerson has mentioned again that the us is interested in diplomatic efforts, but the key thing now is what happens next week when we have this annual military exercises between south korea and the us. they are between south korea and the us

our correspondent robin brant is in seoul. the us top military adviser is there to have talks today? yes. joseph dunford to have talks today? yes. joseph du nford flew to have talks today? yes. joseph dunford flew into south korea yesterday. he meets with president moon and the south korean defence minister. this is a scheduled visit. he is also going to japan and china. but it will turn to be dominated by the rising tension on the korean peninsula. he comes here as an important official in the current administration, who say they do not see any imminent prospect of a war, a nuclear war, between north korea and the united states. that is the assessment of the cae director. but he did say he would be surprised if north korea didn't attempt to test more missiles. —— cia. they were, of course, to tests injuly. it is liberation day tomorrow, the 15th, in north korea. often these days a use by kim jong—un to in north korea. often these days a use by kimjong—un to make in north korea. often these days a use by kim jong—un

yogita limeye, bbc news, seoul. our other top story this hour: a group of men in military uniform who led the uprising against the government in venezuela have released this video online, saying that they want to restore democracy in the country. it was described as a terrorist attack and troops have been deployed. earlier, venezuelan president nicolas maduro says the army has successfully foiled what he says was a terror plot in the country's third largest city, valencia. officials in afghanistan say insurgents have attacked a village in the northern province of sar—e pul, killing 50 people. they were mostly members of the mainly shia hazara community. the taliban said they'd killed 28 local militia but denied responsibility for any civilian deaths. israel say it will ban journalists from the aljazeera network and close the broadcaster's office injerusalem. the israeli communications minister has said he plans to revoke the press credentials of aljazeera's television journalists and pull its broadcasts from local

let's get reaction from seoul, robin brant easierfor us. jim let's get reaction from seoul, robin brant easier for us. jim matthes also saying that diplomatic efforts we re also saying that diplomatic efforts were yielding results, and also seoul would be very keen for diplomatic diplomacy to work, to weave some kind of resolution in this war of words —— mattis. weave some kind of resolution in this war of words -- mattis. yes, the people living in this city who have lived with the prospect, even the potential of a military conflict with neighbours in the north for a long time, perhaps those who more than anyone else in the world want to see this rhetoric toned down and wa nt to to see this rhetoric toned down and want to see the prospect of a lasting peace between south korea and north korea. it is interesting — much talk yesterday here from government officials reflecting the sentiment expressed on the us military site about preparing this. they are ready to act if pyongyang decides to do anything in terms of any kind of physical at

the bbc‘s yogita limaye joins me from seoul. what's the reaction? we expect the president to speak in a couple of hours, its liberation day in south korea, will be celebrated by north korea, will be celebrated by north korea as well. the details of that statement, published in the north korean official news agency today, basically says kim jong—un carefully examined this plan and discussed it for a long time with his generals. but it also says he is going to watch for a little more time what they describe as the foolish and stupid behaviour of the us before they decide to make that strike. if south korea was expecting the rhetoric to calm down a bit, that doesn't seem to be happening, even though yesterday the south korean president came out and sent out an emphatic message saying he doesn't wa nt emphatic message saying he doesn't want waron emphatic message saying he doesn't want war on the korean peninsula and they need to be a peaceful resolution and that's what he emphasised to america's top ranking general, generaljoseph dunford, who was vis

its artillery placed seoul, south korea's capital, within easy range. we're not looking at an immediate nuclear war situation right now. but we should also be aware of the opportunities for miscalculation and escalation that could lead to nuclear use. so, what should be the international response to the threat? well, years of talks failed to persuade north korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, and now it's refusing dialogue. past "carrots," including support for a weak economy, also failed. and the "stick" of limited sanctions, well, that hasn't worked either. the new response is more severe economic pressure. it is now backed by the united nations, including the us, russia and china. although china has yet to show how far it really will go. which leaves the grimmest option of all, american military action. president trump's comments this week only increase north korea's paranoia about the threat from the united states, and it's not going to change north korea's current course of action. we need to get on the road towards dialogue with the north, as d

speaking from the south korean capital seoul, he told me that the timing of this latest missile launch is significant. well, i think it's significant for a number of reasons. it comes off the back of a number of military exercises between the united states andjapan, and exercises between the united states and japan, and the united states and south korea. so i think what the kim administration is increasingly becoming adept at doing now is getting to a point where it exploits the gaps and the fissures between these allies and kind of ratchets up these allies and kind of ratchets up the tension gradually. i don't think this should be viewed as the first step on a continuum to attacking guam. ithink step on a continuum to attacking guam. i think this has been going on all year now and perhaps even longer. right. so what's your reaction to the us position on all options on the table, and of course president trump's latest tweet that talking is not the answer? well, of course there's clearly a number of different vantage points at the moment in the us administration and we see the president

it is 8:00am in singapore, 1:00am in london and 9:00am in seoul, where the annual wargames are on the agenda. a massive joint military exercise involving south korea and the united states is about to begin. tens of thousands of troops, aircraft and naval vessels will be involved. but pyongyang isn't happy, saying it amounts to pouring gasoline on a fire. amidst heightened rhetoric on both sides, yogita limaye has been to the point where north and south meet. it is a place where a handful of european military personnel still monitor the armistice signed between the two koreas 64 years ago. it's a little bit like being in the eye of the hurricane. so everything is very tense around, but here, here it is calm and nice and peaceful. so it's a little bit of a strange situation sometimes. right next to the border between north and south korea, these are the men guarding the ceasefire between the two countries. the korean war, which started in june 1950, ended 27 july 1953 with an armistice agreement. and that is the same armistice agreement that is valid here today. there is no peace betwee

and for more on that story we'll be going live to our correspondent in seoul robin brant a little later in the programme. but first let's take a look at some of the day's other news. modern slavery and human trafficking has become so widespread that there are victims in every large town and city in britain, with ordinary britons unwittingly coming into contact with victims every day. the uk's national crime agency says there are likely to be tens of thousands of victims. human rights lawyer, cherie blair, has long campaigned against modern slavery. she spoke to us earlier. it's surprising, actually, where these people can turn up. it could be the people who are picking strawberries in the fields, if you are in a rural area. it could be the girl who is doing your nails in the nail bar that doesn't speak very good english and seems very shy and frightened to speak. it could be the guy washing your car in one of these hand carwash places. so these are the sort of places — and of course, the sex industry is an industry where there are very many such people. also making news today: fresh p

international opinion against any contact and separated families may pay the price, as karen allen reports from seoul. imagine not seen each other for half a century. brothers, sisters and other loved ones separated, now united, if only for if you precious hours before another good buy. this was two years ago. plans were in the pipeline for more reunions like this soon. then this happened. north korea tested a second ballistic missilejust korea tested a second ballistic missile just last week. lasting apartany missile just last week. lasting apart any hope of further humanitarian gestures. —— blasting. the border with north korea lies beyond this barbed wire and this vast wall of ribbons with messages to loved ones, on the other side really a sign of hope. but after the missile test last week expectations of more family reunions have been pretty much dashed and for some people this would have been the final chance. but for pensioners like this 90—year—old, watching developments unfold time is marching on. he arrived herejust developments unfold time is marching on. he arrived here just before

the bbc‘s yogita limaye is in seoul. taking a look at what is developing right now in the un security council, most of the countries, south korea, japan, the united states and all of their allies are uniting against north korea. that's right, at this meeting comesjust 3.5 weeks after another such meeting of the un, where stringent sanctions we re of the un, where stringent sanctions were passed against north korea, banning major exports from the country. the objective was to try and economically squeeze the country so and economically squeeze the country so they could push it to stop its missile tests and get it to the negotiating table. that is clearly not worked. analysts say sanctions do not work so it is difficult to say what the international community can actually do. but what is important is to see what china's position is on all of this. yesterday we did have a statement from china where they said that the us is partly responsible for this situation. china has been asking for what they call a dual freeze, so nort

joining us for the latest is our correspondent, in seoul. so the north korean to finally revealed the kind of missile that was launched overjapan on monday. it is being a wordy statement that they've released? that's right. the take away from that statement is that the us is very much their target. what they've said quite significantly in they've said quite significantly in the statement is that the rocket they launched yesterday was a prelude to containing guam. that's a reference to the threat they made two weeks ago, firing for rockets in the waters near guam and creating a ring of fire around the us pacific territory. what they've also said if the military unit which conducted the military unit which conducted the missile test yesterday is the one that is tasked with taking out us targets in the pacific. as you pointed out, they say the reason they conduct of that test was to counter drills conducted by the us and south korean forces here in this country. the very much saying the us is the reason, what they call pocket groups of south ko

yogita limaye reports from seoul. to the korean people it was bigger than watergate. any other kind of national scandal that happened in any other part of the world. the trial involving lee jae—yong is perhaps one of the most closely watched here in south korea and around the world. use the de facto boss of one of the world's biggest companies, samsung, and he's involved in a massive corruption scandal that saw mass protests involving hundreds of thousands of people on the streets. the former president, park was impeached. and mist li is facing trial because he is accused of paying bribes, of making donations to non—government organisations that were run by miss park's trend but in return the government support for a merger that would eventually allow him to become the head of samsung after this father's death. samsung is huge in south korea, the company accounts for 15% of all sales that take place in this country. you have samsung apartments, samsung hospitals, samsung universities and even a samsung universities and even a samsung amusement park. as far as the