[Berman:] This morning, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is putting the world on notice. He claims Pyongyang is close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile. CNN's Saima Mohsin live in Seoul with the very latest. First of all, you know, he's made these claims before, Saima. Do we believe this one to be true? And if so, what are the implications?
[Saima Mohsin, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes, a huge concern, of course, John. And we really need to separate the rhetoric from reality to know where we are heading with this claim. Very hard of course to independently confirm it. We have to rely on North Korea watchers and defectors who can give us some insight into their nuclear capabilities. What we do know, of course, is that North Korea does have nuclear weapons. Two nuclear tests conducted in 2016. A lot of them, the fifth and largest, as you know, in September which led yet to sanctions. But that doesn't seem to be stopping Kim Jong-un, as he mentioned in his New Year's Day address. Now the fear of whether he really does have an intercontinental ballistic missile and is progressing towards testing that is the fact that back in February 2016, they launched a satellite in North Korea. Now a lot of experts are telling us that that means that that could be a template to having a long-range missile. The next steps of course is having a miniaturize nuclear warhead to attach to that. But Kim Jong-un is saying that he's pushing forward. Now just a few days ago, John, a high-level diplomatic defector, the former deputy ambassador to North Korea's embassy in London said here in Seoul where he escaped to in the summer that Kim Jong-un is progressing with his nuclear ambitions. He wants to progress by the end of 2017 and he wants to time that, John, when President-elect Donald Trump will be in the White House, in Washington, D.C. There will after an election here in South Korea a new president in Seoul. And now he believes that Kim Jong-un, that is, believes that those two new administrations' hands will be tied and they won't be able to take action against North Korea John.
[Berman:] And we have heard that President Obama has spoken to President-elect Trump about concerns over North Korea. This is something the two men have discussed. All right. Saima Mohsin, thanks so much.
[Romans:] All right. Two Dakota Pipeline protesters making their voices heard at the Minnesota Vikings game. You can see they hang up a banner with #noDAPL. It also hung from what appeared to be a repelling gear alongside their banner. The protesters were eventually arrested after officers got them to the ground. The Vikings home stadium is named U.S. Bank Stadium. Protesters claim the financial institution has financial links to the controversial project. U.S. Bank declined to comment.
[Berman:] The new year begins with a severe storm threat along the Gulf Coast with heavy rain expected. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us with the latest Pedram.
[Pedram Javaheri, Ams Meteorologist:] John and Christine, good Monday morning to you both.
[Javaheri:] Guys.
[Romans:] All right. Pedram, thank you so much for that. All right. With his inauguration only 18 short days away, Donald Trump focused on repealing some of President Obama's key policies and questioning the Russian government's involvement in hacking Democrats during the election. We got more on that next.