[Rosemary Church, Cnn:] Message to Trump. New satellite pictures show stepped-up activity at a North Korean nuclear site. Comforter in chief. Barack Obama tries to soothe the nerves of those still worried about the incoming president.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] At my core, I think we're going to be OK.
[Church:] And free for now. The head of Samsung avoids an arrest warrant on bribery charges, triggering outrage across Seoul. Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom. North Korea will likely test-fire two new intercontinental ballistic missiles in the near future. South Korean military officials also told Yonhap News Agency that Pyongyang may be looking to send a message to the incoming Trump administration in the United States. Meanwhile, a group that monitors North Korea says it's seeing renewed activity at the country's main nuclear facility. Analysts at 38 North say these satellite images show an uptick in work around a plutonium reactor. So, let's turn to Paula Hancocks, who joins us live from Seoul in South Korea. Paula, what is going on here? Could this just be a strategic message to Donald Trump during his transition to power, or might we actually see the launching of these intercontinental ballistic missiles? Just how concerned should everyone be?
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Rosemary, everyone I speak to points to the New Year's address from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader. They say you have heard it from the very top of North Korea that he is close to test launching an ICBM, an intercontinental ballistic missile. He has said that he would do it, and officials and experts say that he should be taken at his word. Now, Yonhap News Agency is citing unnamed military sources, and the defense ministry at this point is not willing to say anything on the record.
[Roh Jae-cheon, South Korea's Office Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Spokesman:] There are reports that show recent signs of a possible North Korean missile launch, but there's nothing we can confirm at the moment. As you all know well, judging it can be launched at anytime and anywhere once North Korean leadership decides, we're on alert to maintain our readiness.
[Hancocks:] And that's the line that the South Korean officials have had the entire time, for many months. They have said this is possible. We are just waiting for the green light from Kim Jong-un. We have heard that about a nuclear test as well. In fact, after the fifth nuclear test last year, almost the day after South Korean officials were saying, well, there could be another one soon. We are waiting for it. So they are on constant alert for this. The timing will be crucial, though, whether or not the North Koreans decide to do it just after the inauguration. We've heard from North Korean officials, a director at the foreign ministry just last November after the election, saying that they weren't going to do anything. They're going to wait and see if they could have a different kind of relationship with president-elect Donald Trump. But that may have changed at this point. Rosemary.
[Church:] Yes, and, Paula, another reason for concern is news of renewed activity at North Korea's main nuclear facility. Satellite images apparently showing activity around a plutonium reactor. What could this all mean?
[Hancocks:] This is another thing that North Korea said it would do. It said it would restart the reprocessing of plutonium at the Yongbyon nuclear complex. Now 38 north, this U.S. think-tank that monitors these satellite images, has said that there appears to be some buildings within this complex that don't have snow on the roof, which effectively means it could be heated from inside. So there could be activity although they say they see no steam in the satellite images between October of last year and January of this year. Roads, they say, appear to have been cleared as well. But of course they are the first to admit this isn't an exact science. They are studying satellite images, but just another concern that there could be some move back to reprocessing plutonium. Rosemary?
[Church:] Our Paula Hancocks, keeping a very close eye on this developing story, joining us there from Seoul in South Korea where it is just after 5 o'clock in the evening. Many thanks. Well, a possible crisis in North Korea comes at a crucial point of transition in the White House. And as our Jim Sciutto reports, there's growing concern that Trump's team is not quite up to speed.
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn's Chief National Security Correspondent:] Tonight, multiple officials tell CNN the crucial transition between the outgoing and incoming security teams focused on the most sensitive threats facing the nation has been slow and uncertain as first reported by the New York Times. The White House says it is unsure the Trump team has read the thousands of classified documents provided to them, focusing on threats ranging from North Korea's nuclear program to the fight against ISIS, to the disputed islands in the South China Sea. And while the current national security adviser, Susan Rice, has interacted with retired general Michael Flynn, Trump's pick for her replacement, the teams have, quote, "begun engaging at the staff level only recently." This, according to a source close to the transition. It's an account that Trump's incoming press secretary disputes.
[Sean Spicer, Incoming United States Press Secretary:] K.T. McFarland, the deputy national security adviser has met with her counterpart countless times. There's been reams of briefings that have been sent over. I think there's a big different in how they judge things.
[Sciutto:] However, several State Department officials have also described very little interaction with the Trump team although the department has produced dozens of briefing papers. Earlier this month, Rice kicked off the transition with this vow.
[Susan Rice, United States National Security Advisor:] Our entire national security team has been working for months to prepare for and facilitate a smooth transition. This goes beyond party or politics. This is what the American people expect and deserve.
[Sciutto:] For which Flynn thanked Rice.
[Michael Flynn, Incoming United States National Security Advisor:] I want to personally, again, thank Ambassador Rice and her entire team for their preparation, the transition materials as ambassador highlighted that they've provided to us.
[Church:] Let's bring in CNN national security analyst and security consultant Juliette Kayyem. She joins us via Skype. Good to see you, Juliette. So, there are of course a lot of concerns, especially when it comes to foreign policy. How ready do you think the Trump team is to deal with a crisis, one perhaps posed by North Korea because indications are that that could very well be his first big challenge?
[Juliette Kayyem, Cnn National Security Analyst:] So, I think there's legitimate questions now as we are less than 48 hours away at the preparedness, in particular of the national security staff. At the agency level, State Department, Defense Department, CIA, the only picks that we've heard of are the agency heads, the cabinet secretaries. At the lower levels, the levels where work gets done, deputy secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, there's not even names let alone confirmation hearings, vetting, or security clearances. At the White House, which is very different, Michael Flynn, who is the national security adviser, only has one of two deputies. And there's no names for senior directors in areas like North Korea or nuclear proliferation. So, in terms of just the body count, this administration, this transition is very far behind than either Obama or Bush before him.
[Church:] Yes. I was going to ask you that because just how does his team compare to previous transition teams beyond President Obama when it comes to readiness for anything that might occur?
[Kayyem:] So, look, I mean it's not like there's not people there. There's, you know, career deputies. There's bureaucracy that knows how to function. But if the whole idea of having a peaceful transition is that Donald Trump, the President on Friday, will have his team in place, that's not only there physically but actually has been well versed on the issues, knows what to do, knows what the options are, that there's certainly no evidence that that is actually occurring. They're very far behind on personnel issues, on substantive issues. And what we do know is that enemies are certainly likely to use this transition as a time to sort of strut their stuff, make themselves known, whether it's Russia, which we tend to talk a lot about, but as we're seeing North Korea is North Korea planning an inauguration surprise for a new president? Obama will be long gone by then.
[Church:] And given what Trump has said about Russia, Germany's Angela Merkel, NATO, and Brexit, do you think he's in possession of all of geopolitical knowledge necessary for the leader of the free world?
[Kayyem:] Well, I think that information is available to him. I certainly know that there's career staff at these agencies that know a lot. The question is just simply how receptive is Donald Trump and his team to new information? I think what you're seeing is Donald Trump views the world transactionally. He likes Russia. He doesn't like North Korea. You know, he sort of views international relations as the deal. But what we know in the real world is many countries are sort of "frenemies." Take a country like China. You know, you know, we agree with it on some issues. We disagree with it on others. And you can't really take a transactional approach to a country like China, which has its own interests. Sometimes they align with the U.S. Sometimes they do not. And so we're going to see whether he's willing to absorb that information, his team is willing to absorb that information.
[Church:] And Juliette, this is what Trump told the Times of London. He said and I'm quoting here "Day one, which I will consider to be Monday as opposed to Friday or Saturday, right? I mean, my day one is going to be Monday because I don't want to be signing and getting it mixed up with lots of celebration," end of quote there. So, Trump is being inaugurated on Friday. Isn't that day one? And how laudable does that leave him and indeed the country if he is declaring to the world that he is taking the weekend off?
[Kayyem:] It was a very odd statement. Even if you're going to do it, just do it. Don't say it because it is a trigger to those who may want to act up this weekend that President Trump views it as a celebratory weekend. You know, look, the party's over. He is president. There is no vacation. There might be, you know, resort getaways, but you're never on vacation. It was a very odd and, I think, discomforting thing to say given the intensity of essentially what's going to be happening Friday at noon. I served on the transition for Obama. Our job started at 12.01 that day. There was no vacation that weekend.
[Church:] Yes, that is day one, it seems. Juliette Kayyem, many thanks.
[Kayyem:] Thank you.
[Church:] Well, Friday marks a big change for the U.S. President Barack Obama will be turning the country over to Donald Trump. The president- elect has been working on his address ahead of Friday's swearing in. He shared this photo on social media showing him writing the speech last month. Meanwhile, Mr. Obama used his last presidential news conference to make remarks pointed at his successor while trying to reassure Americans about the transfer of power. Michelle Kosinski has more.
[Michelle Kosinski, Cnn White House Correspondent:] President Obama opened his final press conference as president by thanking the press corps, telling them they make the White House work better.
[Obama:] You're not supposed to be sycophants. You're supposed to be skeptics. You're supposed to ask me tough questions. America needs you, and our democracy needs you.
[Kosinski:] And he defended his decision to commute the sentence of Private Chelsea Manning, convicted of stealing and leaking sensitive military documents to WikiLeaks.
[Obama:] Let's be clear. Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. You know, I feel very comfortable that justice has been served and that a message has still been sent.
[Kosinski:] The president promised that fundamental democratic principles are undermined in the days ahead, he will not remain silent.
[Obama:] There's a difference between that normal functioning of politics and certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at mistake.
[Kosinski:] And the president offered up advice he gave to President- elect Trump, cautioning him on who he surrounds himself with.
[Obama:] This is something I have told him, that this is a job of such magnitude that you can't do it by yourself. You are enormously reliant on a team.
[Kosinski:] As the first black president, President Obama said he expects he won't be the last to lead the nation.
[Obama:] I think we're going to see people of merit rise up from every race, faith, corner of this country because that's America's strength. When we have everybody getting a chance and everybody's on the field, we end up being better.
[Kosinski:] And finished this last gathering by expressing his optimism for the future of the country.
[Obama:] At my core, I think we're going to be OK. We just have to fight for it. We have to work for it and not take it for granted. And I know that you will help us do that.
[Kosinski:] This is a president leaving after eight years very popular, but his candidate didn't win the election. He ran his historic campaign on hope and change, but he ends with a message, "I think we're going to be OK. We just have to fight for it." I mean, that is not a very optimistic attempt at an optimistic final message. It's clear, though, he also didn't want to be critical even though he has been in the past. He wanted to frame his points as sort of warnings or advice, and he also wouldn't weigh in at all on all the democrats in Congress who are now boycotting the inauguration. There are dozens of them. His administration has said that they don't think that they're harming a smooth transition or contributing to division in America. But this was President Obama's chance to weigh in on that, but he chose not to comment at all. Michelle Kosinski, CNN, the White House.
[Church:] And CNN has unique access to Barack Obama's final days in power. Tune in for The End, inside the last days of the Obama White House." it airs Thursday at 5 p.m. in Hong Kong, 9 a.m. in London. Several E.U. leaders are taking issue with Donald Trump's comments that other countries would follow the U.K. and leave the alliance. Austria's chancellor says he doesn't see that future.
[Christian Kern, Austrian Chancellor:] We are not concerned about a breakup of the European Union or that other countries will join the United Kingdom, because I think what somebody has to accept and also the president of the United States is that Europe is not only geography. It's not a business model. It's a community which is based on values, respect for human rights, democracy, rule of law, social justice, equal rights for women and men. And so, that's a which is something which is important, precious, but it's fragile, that's true. But I don't have any doubts that every party who is a member of the union today knows how important that is for the whole continent, for our welfare and for the political setup of Europe.
[Church:] And later this hour we will talk with one of Angela Merkel's confidants about what the German chancellor think of Donald Trump. Well, now to a breaking news from central Italy, Reuters says local media is reporting that many people are feared dead inside a hotel that was hit by an avalanche. There were 20 people staying at the hotel plus staff. The area was hit by a series of earthquakes on Wednesday triggering the avalanche. Emergency officials elsewhere say at least one person was found dead in a building that collapsed in Teramo. Inauguration plans are set in Gambia, but it's uncertain whether the man who won the election will actually take office. And Samsung's vice chair avoids arrest in South Korea's corruption scandal. Why prosecutors say they're not letting up on the case.