Human rights not on North Korea summit agenda

NORTH KOREA: With hours to go before President Donald Trump sits down for a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, senior U.S. and North Korean officials are huddling over last-minute negotiations. The summit will set a framework for future negotiations over the regime’s nuclear program, but will not raise human rights issues—despite unspeakable atrocities.

What do North Korean defectors want? According to WORLD’s cover story, complete denuclearization, the closing of political prison camps, and an end to “the enslavement of the North Korean people.” For now, rice bottle launches from South Korea continue.

CANADA: China might deserve a trade war, but Canada? The Canadian dollar is down after President Trump picked a fight with the nicest people on earth (to quote The Wall Street Journal). After Trump’s weekend tirade against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the free marketers note Canadian dairy farmers may enjoy unfair protection, but American farmers by far are the biggest winners under NAFTA—with U.S. agricultural exports to Canada quadrupling since the agreement went into effect.

UNITED STATES: Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg revealed his animus toward conservatives when he fired Kevin Williamson in March, but he remains an astute observer of foreign policy—who believes the Iran deal was flawed, favors Israel, even supports Jared Kushner’s diplomatic efforts. So Goldberg’s investigation into what defines the Trump Doctrine is pertinent, and reflected in one top White House adviser saying Trudeau “deserves a special place in hell.”

MYANMAR: Government officials have signed a memorandum of understanding with UN officials that could pave the way for Rohingya Muslims chased from their homes to return. But the 1 million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh first must survive monsoon season.

YEMEN: A Saudi-led coalition military attack on Yemen’s vital port city of Hodeidah—held by Houthi rebels and long a target in the war—could cost up to 250,000 lives. UN officials are racing the clock to negotiate a settlement to avert what they say could be a “catastrophic” humanitarian disaster.

SOMALIA: Al-Shabaab militants again used a suicide bomb to target a base where one U.S. special forces soldier was killed and at least three suffered injuries in an assault last week. The attacks took place in Jamaame, a southern Somali town under the control of the al-Qaeda branch.

SYRIA: Christians and Yazidis are again fleeing Islamic assaults as they did four years ago in Iraq—only this time Islamic militants are working in tandem with Turkey’s military forces, using American-bought air and ground weaponry with the tacit approval of U.S. and European leaders. My report includes eyewitness accounts by displaced Christians from Afrin.

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