HUMAN RIGHTS/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/SINGAPORE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Barreling toward a historic summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump has his sights set on a nuclear deal, leaving allies and advocates worried that he may give short shrift to human rights abuses and regional security concerns. With a week to go before the June 12 meeting in Singapore, Trump has largely kept his focus on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, recently stressing that it may take more than one meeting to achieve that goal. That singular focus could mean Trump looks past a range of troublesome actions by the regime as he promises Kim ‘protection’ in exchange for giving up a nuclear program that could pose a direct threat to the U.S. mainland. Critics have started invoking the Iran nuclear deal that Trump recently exited as a cautionary tale. Republicans and some Democrats objected to the 2015 agreement for not doing more to halt that country’s ballistic missile program and support for Hezbollah and other extremist groups…White House officials say the plight of the North Korean people, who live under one of the world’s most repressive governments, is not a priority for the summit.”
-Zeke Miller and Catherine Lucey, “Trump urged to raise human rights, regional issues with Kim,” The Associated Press, June 4, 2018 1:24 pm