[Allen:] Well, the last time North Korea's top negotiator was in Washington, he hand-delivered a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to President Trump. Less than two weeks after that, the two met in Singapore. Now, Kim Yong-chol is back in Washington, and he may have another letter for President Trump. But it comes as the U.S. rolls out a new missile defense strategy and the Pentagon says North Korea remains a threat to the United States. For more about this, here's Paula Hancocks in Seoul.
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn International Correspondent:] North Korea's top negotiator Kim Yong-chol is in Washington, D.C. right now. He was seen leaving Dallas International Airport with the U.S. Special Representative to North Korea, Steve Biegun. Now, Kim Yong-chol will have meetings on Friday. He's expected to meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Potentially, the U.S. President Donald Trump, as well. We don't know for sure. But he did last time, last year when he came. He met with Mr. Trump. And he came with the a rather oversized envelope carrying a message, a letter from the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. This time, as well, he will be delivering a message from the North Korean leader. The intention of this clearly from the North Korean side to try and break this stalemate in the denuclearization talks. And try and push towards that second summit between Kim Jong- un and President Trump. Now the date and location still being speculated on Hanoi, Vietnam appears to be the front-runner at this point. Bangkok has not been ruled out. And so, certainly, we could be hearing an announcement on that very soon. But the timing of Kim Yong-chol's visit is also interesting because it comes just hours after Trump rolled out a missile defense strategy. And this missile defense review at the Pentagon explicitly states that North Korea is an extraordinary threat to the United States. Now, this is consistent with what U.S. military and intelligence assessments have been stating all along. It is not, however, consistent with what the U.S. president has been saying all along. He has explicitly said that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat. He said this back in June after that summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore. He touched down in the U.S. and he tweeted that just landed a long trip but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. Now, potentially this could be about timing. It could be about strategy with North Korea, we simply don't know. We also heard from the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, and he said that the U.S. is still waiting on concrete steps from North Korea to denuclearize. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
[Allen:] As France readies itself for the 10th consecutive week of yellow vest protests, President Emmanuel Macron is rolling out a new strategy, talking and listening. And he's calling it, the Great Debate. Our Jim Bittermann has more from France.
[Jim Bittermann, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] For a few hours, the pleasant little Normandy Count of Bourgtheroulde was the political flashpoint of France. It was here that French President Macron in an attempt to defuse months of sometimes violent street protests chose to launch what he's calling the Great Debate. An extraordinary nationwide exercise in direct democracy that will continue from now until March 15th. To kick it off, the president met with 600 mayors who spent two hours telling him about the grievances and complaints of their fellow citizens. Centuries before the launch of the great debate, town halls have maintained a grievance box where citizens can write down their complaints. Since the yellow vest movement began, thousands of gripes have been collected. Chief among them seems to be the decline in purchasing power. But they range from the inequality of the tax system to the speed limits on rural roads. In Bourgtheroulde, about a hundred of the town's 3,800 people have taken time to complain. The mayor says local citizens are most concerned about taxes and mobility. The lack of public transportation for example on the expense of maintaining a car. He's not sure how much residents will take part in the great debate. But he'll organize meetings anyway. At a local florist shop, the owner who has lost time and money because of the yellow vest protest thinks that great debate will help ease the crisis.
[Cedric Deshayes, Florist, Bourgtheroulde:] You have to take matters in hand. Dialogue with people, get close to them and try to find a way to unblock things because if it goes on like this, then we're heading for chaos.
[Bitterman:] But a few miles away at a traffic circle that has been occupied since the beginning of the yellow vest movement, factory worker, Olvier Bruneau, says he's not participating in any debates. Macron, he says has shown contempt for the movement.
[Olvier Bruneau, Protester, Yellow Vest:] He does exactly what he intends to do without taking into account the complaints he already has, and without even looking at them.
[Bittermann:] That kind of resentment is more visible here in rural France where the feeling is that people are second-class citizens. Professor and author Denis Lacorre, says Macron's emphasis on modernizing France has left many here feeling like they've been left behind.
[Denis Lacorre, Professor And Author:] So it created a resentment. A kind of president who favored wealth, the rich, the American ways of doing things, particularly from Silicon Valley and forgot the lower-middle-class.
[Bittermann:] The president's grand experiment and direct democracy is meant to address that sense of exclusion, but much depends on what conclusions are drawn at the end of it. President Macron, says every kind of question can be raised during the Great Debate. But there remains a great deal of skepticism about the process. Skepticism about whether or not it's just a delaying tactic by the government to weigh out the protests. Or, whether the government will really respond to the kind of issues that are raised. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Bourgtheroulde, France.
[Allen:] And still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.
[Clarissa Ward, Cnn Chief International Correspondent:] These roads are still dangerous. Especially, early in the morning because there are ISIS sleeper cells in the area. They come out overnight and they plant roadside bombs.
[Allen:] U.S. allies say they will keep pushing ISIS out of Syria one town at a time. CNN's Clarissa Ward takes you to the frontlines.