Trump announces end to North Korean nuclear threat

NORTH KOREA: President Donald Trump posted in a tweet upon returning to Washington from Singapore: “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” The communique signed by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after yesterday’s historic sit-down, though, offers no concrete steps toward dismantling Kim’s nuclear program but pledges further negotiations led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Christians are the “No. 1 hostile class” for the Kim regime in North Korea, Open Doors President David Curry told WORLD Radio, with 50,000-80,000 Christians in North Korean labor camps. Trump and Kim did not address human rights during the summit, though in his State of the Union message five months ago, Trump said, “no regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea.”

CORRECTION: I reported on Monday three Americans remaining in prison in North Korea, forgetting (I know, my bad) they were released in May.

UNITED STATES: The Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Dallas passed yesterday what experts describe as a “strong” resolution (see Resolution 5) calling for “a just and compassionate path to legal status” that maintains “the priority of family unity.” A growing number of Baptist leaders are challenging Justice Department policies that have led to separating at least 700 children, including infants, from their families since last October.

The United States has separated parents from minors before. But the definition of “illegal” has expanded under Attorney General Jeff Sessions—whose recent directives and “Zero Tolerance” policy now make all approaches at the border, including requests for asylum, illegal, and therefore subject to detention and separation.

EGYPT: Police detained a Coptic photographer for having a water bottle during the month of Ramadan, among the latest reports of Christians harassed for not observing the Muslim daytime fast.

SPAIN has sacked its national team manager two days before its 2018 World Cup campaign in Russia begins.

IRAQ: Promised U.S. aid has failed to reach non-Muslim communities devastated by ISIS, reports Iraq’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda, as a U.S. House subcommittee prepares for a Thursday hearing on the delay.

SYRIA: A State Department spokesperson provided a statement to WORLD following our Monday story on Christians and Yazidis forced from northwestern Syria by Turkish-led forces:

‎The humanitarian situation and‎ reports of abuses in Afrin remain a concern. The United States continues to call on all relevant actors operating in the northwest, including Turkey, Russia, the Syrian regime, and armed groups to provide unfettered humanitarian access‎, protect civilians, and allow for the safe and voluntary return of displaced ‎people to their homes, including in Afrin city, as soon as possible.

Those who evacuated must be allowed freedom of movement, including the right to return home, and provided access to immediate humanitarian assistance and medical care.

We urge all parties to exercise restraint in its military actions and rhetoric, ensure ‎their operations are limited in scope and duration, ensure humanitarian aid continues, and avoid civilian casualties. We have repeatedly expressed our serious concern to Turkish officials regarding the situation in Afrin.‎

NOTE: Globe Trot will be on summer sabbatical while I am traveling overseas and recharging. It will return July 16.

To have Globe Trot delivered to your email inbox, email Mindy at mbelz@wng.org.