President Trump responded Tuesday to a Wall Street Journal report that Kim Jong-un's late half brother was a CIA source who met with agency operatives, saying that such an arrangement wouldn't have occurred under his administration.
"I saw the information about the CIA with respect to his brother or half-brother, and I would tell him that would not happen under my auspices. ... I would not let that happen under my auspices."
The big picture: Kim Jong-nam met a potential CIA contact in Malaysia in February 2017 — during Trump's presidency — according to the WSJ. On that trip, he was murdered by the North Korean government with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur's airport, according to the U.S. and South Korea, though North Korea denies the allegations.
A new report from the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), which includes interviews from 610 escapees, unearths fresh details on how North Korea executes its citizens.
By the numbers: TJWG found 318 reports of public execution sites in North Korea over the last 4 years. There were 19 reports of "public executions of more than 10 people at once." Almost all of the reported state-sanctioned killings were public executions by firing squad.
A Russian investigative journalist whose arrest on dubious drug charges was widely condemned — including on the front pages of three of Russia's biggest newspapers — will be cleared of all charges, according to his news outlet, Meduza.
Why it matters: This is a stunning reversal. The journalist, Ivan Golunov, was almost certainly targeted because of his work, and almost certainly freed because of the furious backlash — which extended even to state media. The police responsible for the arrest have reportedly been suspended, and the Kremlin has admitted mistakes were made.
North Korea said the U.S. must "withdraw its hostile policy" toward Pyongyang or agreements reached at the landmark Singapore summit may become "a blank sheet of paper," Reuters reported Tuesday, citing state media.
Why it matters: President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's Hanoi summit in February collapsed over denuclearization and sanctions relief issues. Now, Pyongyang says the joint statement Trump and Kim signed in Singapore on June 12, 2018, is "in danger" because it says the U.S. is "turning a blind eye to its implementation" with an "arrogant and unilateral U.S. policy" that it says "will never work,"per Reuters.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif issued a vague threat today, declaring that the U.S. "cannot expect to stay safe" after starting an “economic war” with Tehran.
Context: Zarif’s remarks came during a visit from his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, who called U.S.-Iran tensions “highly explosive and extremely serious.” Zarif also said Iran would continue to work with Europe to save the 2015 nuclear deal.
Riot police surrounded Hong Kong’s parliament Monday after some overnight clashes with officers following mass protests, as authorities vowed to press ahead with legislation that would allow the extradition of individuals facing charges to mainland China, Reuters reports.
Details: Hundreds of thousands of people protested throughout Sunday in response to the pending legislation that's due to go before the full legislature on Wednesday, per AP. Riot police clashed with hundreds of demonstrators after a march ended at government headquarters, according to AP and Reuters. The standoff ended in the early hours.
