Globe Trot: One man's impossible escape from North Korea

NORTH KOREA: In middle school, Ji Seong-Ho watched classroom seats empty, as his classmates died of hunger. And it gets worse from there. The young North Korean recounted his impossible escape last week at the Oslo Freedom Forum. I try not to often say, watch the whole 15 minutes, but I’m saying it now.

CHINA: Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and, 26 years of denial later, Chinese officials continue to crackdown on activists from the period, including those in their 70s.

IRAQ: In the extremity caused by ISIS is opportunity, and here’s our latest update on how to help the walking wounded, highlighting three accessible examples—the work of a church in Indiana, the work of skilled professionals, and the work of educators with a proven longstanding commitment to Iraq. Email me if you want more specific information on donating or connecting directly with Alliance Church in Erbil.

SYRIA: Rebel groups say Syrian government forces are leaving ISIS unmolested as it pushes to take Aleppo, the country’s largest city, in an apparent act of collaboration (or defeat) that will mean the end of Syria. The rebels also say the United States is refusing air support to help fend off attacks from both ISIS and government forces.

One hypothesis (mine): In nearly a year of fighting ISIS, the United States has offered tepid, just-in-time support to those fighting the Sunni-based militants, and at times has appeared to actually allow ISIS to take new territory—all while also negotiating a new alliance with Shiite Iran. Perhaps President Barack Obama sees his determination to no longer fight in the Middle East, shared by most Americans, meeting the realpolitik secular drift at the U.S. State Department, which turns a blind eye to the religious dimensions of the conflict and attendant atrocities, as a way to achieve parity in the region. The likely end result: a powerful Sunni caliphate state (with support from Turkey and Saudi Arabia) stretching from the Levant to the Iranian border that in this line of thinking would check both Israel and Iran, while appearing to leave existing U.S. alliances in place. This takes remaking the Middle East, something previous presidents have dreamed of, to a whole new level.

VANITY FAIR: “A surgically damaged man appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair, and the applause is mandatory,” writes David French on the tragedy behind celebrating the transgender movement.

SUDAN: Scant evidence could be presented against two South Sudanese pastors who face the death penalty for spying and undermining the government. Their trial was extended from Sunday to Monday, then adjourned until June 15.

AFRICA: A Catholic research group says the Catholic church in Africa has grown by 238 percent since 1980.

NOTE: The Chesterton quote in Friday’s Globe Trot is from the book Orthodoxy and the chapter "The Romance of Orthodoxy.”

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