Defense Minister Killed In Public; Desperate Search Continues In Nepal Mountains
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Our World Lead today, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un executes his defense minister with an anti-aircraft gun in front of hundreds at a military school. According to South Korean's intelligence agency, one of his crimes, dozing off during a meeting with the supreme leader. Let's bring in Peter Brookes, former deputy assistant secretary of defense under President George W. Bush. Peter, thanks so much for joining us. What do we know about the defense minister and his relationship with Kim Jong-Un prior to the execution?</s>PETER BROOKES, SENIOR FELLOW FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Well, obviously he was a survivor. He came to prominence during Kim Jong-Un's father's regime. So he survived the transition, the power transition. He continued to move up the ladder, the political and military ladder under Kim Jong-Un. And then recently he was made -- last year actually, he was made the senior military leader in the North Korean regime.</s>TAPPER: His name was Hyon Yong Chol. Peter, you've visited North Korea before. What do you think we can learn about Kim Jong-Un and the regime from this decision to execute Hyon Yong Chol?</s>BROOKES: Well, the other reasons besides falling asleep at a meeting, is perhaps, according to South Korea, there may have been some disagreements with Kim Jong-Un. The general had disagreements with him. There's also another possibility that he was sent on a military mission to Moscow. The general, if he has been executed, was in Moscow last month and some people are saying that besides attending a conference, his mission there was to get military arms. To get a military arms deal with Russia for North Korea and supposedly he failed in that. What I think we're seeing here is that Kim Jong-Un is sending a very strong message to the military. These are the individuals. This is the group that could possibly undertake a coup against him. These are the people with that sort of capability. And he's obviously saying he's not taking any nonsense or any disagreements. He also has credibility issues, Jake, with the military. His grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, the founder of North Korea, he supposedly fought the Japanese during the occupation during World War II. So he had real street cred with the military. His father, Kim Jung-Il, spent a long time working with the military before he came as supreme leader. And now Kim Jong-Un who's probably about 32, he became leader a couple of years ago when he was in his late 20s is much younger than these military generals and also has no military credibility or background. So he's sending the message to them that, if you're going to push me at all or disobey my orders, this is what could happen to you.</s>TAPPER: All right, Peter Brookes, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Let's turn now to Nepal where a desperate search continues for a U.S. military helicopter that went missing in the mountains there on Tuesday. Six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were on board the chopper delivering much-needed aid to earthquake victims when the helicopter lost contact 45 miles east of the country's capital, Kathmandu. CNN's Barbara Starr joins us now live from the Pentagon. Barbara, what is the latest on the search?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A second day of agony for these families of the missing, Jake, now as first light approaches in Nepal in the next coming hours, the air search will resume. Helicopters were up yesterday during daylight hours about 20 hours of searching. They have found nothing. No sign of the helicopter. No sign of those on board. We now know that the U.S. military has put satellites overhead to look for any sign of the aircraft. In addition, those rescue helicopters that are flying they have jumpers on board, two per helicopter. These are Air Force personnel that if the helicopter is spotted, they can rope down into the most remote areas and try to recover the crew, if only they could find them. A second night potentially out in the open. But the bottom- line answer is still no sign of the airplane, no sign of the crew. And the very difficult news, no one knows if it crashed and the fate of those on board -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Barbara, quickly, if you could, are there any prevailing theories about what may have caused this helicopter to go missing?</s>STARR: Well, as you recall, there was radio chatter from another helicopter flying nearby that the Americans had run into some sort of fuel problem. But we don't know if they ran out of fuel, was there a problem with the fuel system? But whatever did happen, the real challenge right now, this, again, a remote mountainous area, the geography is absolutely terrible in terms of any kind of search and rescue. Where would you put a helicopter down in these remote mountains of Nepal? That's the problem right now -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Sad story. Barbara Starr, thank you so much. When we come back, he's not officially declared he's running and all four of Chris Christie's children have an opinion on whether or not he should. He and his wife tell me what they're all thinking next.