*By Christian Smith*
South Koreans responded with a mix of optimism and worry Tuesday after President Trump announced he would suspend joint military exercises with South Korea as Kim Jong-un considers how to dismantle North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
President Moon Jae-In of South Korea [watched on TV and smiled](https://www.facebook.com/KoreaClickers/photos/rpp.181274814520/10156484091904521/?type=3&theater) as the American president and the North Korean leader met in Singapore. But Trump's unexpected announcement that he would stop joint military drills made some of America's allies in South Korea uneasy, according to Martyn Williams, editor at NorthKoreaTech.org.
"The right wing in South Korea is already not very pleased with these military drills stopping taking place," Williams said in an interview with Cheddar.
The president's statement, which appeared to be an off-the-cuff comment in a discussion with reporters after his meeting with Kim, was not part of the joint statement signed by the two leaders. The United States and South Korea conduct regular war games to prepare for the possibility of a conflict with North Korea, and there are about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
Trump had said he hoped to strike a deal with Kim to eliminate North Korea's nuclear program, and touted the "very comprehensive" statement the leaders agreed to at the summit. But Williams said denuclearization will take more negotiations.
"I think it was a good first step, but what comes next is the most important thing," Williams said.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-winners-and-losers-of-the-north-korea-summit).
The National Emergencies Act of 1976 was passed in an attempt to regulate the president's ability to declare open-ended national emergencies. The point of the law, commentators said at the time, was to give Congress the power of oversight on matters of national urgency. It is perhaps ironic then that President Trump announced he will, under the provisions of that law, declare a national emergency as a way to circumvent Congress and build a border wall.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Feb, 15, 2019.
Amazon's decision to pull its new HQ2 out of New York City is very bad for the city ー and a sign that the home of Wall Street is falling victim to anti-business attitudes, according to former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder. "I think it's a hit to the New York economy. New York is a big city, it's a strong city, but it used to be the home to capitalism. Now it's coming under some of these socialist policies and it's going to lose companies like Amazon ($AMZN)," Puzder told Cheddar on Thursday.
Amazon has backed out of its plan to build a second headquarters in Queens, New York. The abrupt decision shocked even those who opposed Amazon's planned expansion in Long Island City. Cheddar spoke with Jimmy Van Bramer, deputy leader of the New York City Council.
A day before the anniversary of the Parkland shooting, a massacre that re-framed the debate over gun control as a defining cause of Gen Z, Congress advanced its first piece of gun legislation in decades. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a newly elected Democrat from a Parkland-adjacent district who sits on that committee, discussed the victory with Cheddar.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019.
Catching a ride in New York just got more expensive, and passengers aren't the only ones complaining. "It's a problem for the drivers," Aleksey Medvedovskiy, the president of NYC Taxi Group, told Cheddar Wednesday. "It's a problem for the general public."
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019.
The daunting task of paying back astronomical student loans may soon be less taxing, California Congressman Scott Peters tells told Cheddar Tuesday. Rep. Peters (D-Calif.) has received 99 co-sponsors on his bipartisan Employer Participation in Repayment Act, which would allow employers to contribute to their employees' student loan payments, tax-free.
The shocking rise in teen vaping is a public health crisis that the FDA has been slow to address, according to a nationally recognized cardiologist. Dr. Kevin Campbell, who is also CEO of Pace Mate, a digital cardiac monitoring service, said the recent study from the CDC that linked vaping to a spike in teen tobacco use shows that more serious steps need to be take. The first step? Get rid of the flavored nicotine "pods," which Campbell said are acting as a gateway for teenage beginner vapers to get hooked on nicotine.
