TOP NEWS Trump says North Korea ‘no longer’ a nuclear threat as he returns to Washington Washington Post Trump’s vow to end military drills with Seoul stuns a region Washington Post Vague on Details, Trump Is Betting on ‘Special Bond’ With Kim to Deliver Deal New York Times North Korea says nuclear dismantling a ‘step-by-step’ process with U.S. rewards along the way Washington Post Iran says it can’t remain in nuclear deal without benefits Washington Post EAST ASIA Trump says North Korea ‘no longer’ a nuclear threat as he returns to Washington Washington Post6/13/18 President Trump declared Wednesday that there is “no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea” as he returned to Washington, offering a rosy assessment of a summit with the leader of a nation that still possesses nuclear weapons. Trump’s vow to end military drills with Seoul stuns a region Washington Post6/12/18 President Donald Trump on Tuesday rocked a region and suggested the upending of decades of U.S. defense posture on the Korean Peninsula when he announced that he was stopping annual U.S.-South Korean military drills and wants to remove the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South as a deterrent against North Korean attack. South Korea to seek ‘precise meaning’ of Trump’s plan to end war games The Hill6/12/18 South Korea said on Tuesday that it needs to figure out the “precise meaning” of President Trump’s announcement that he would suspend joint military exercises on the Korean peninsula. Coming Attractions: Trump Showed Kim a Faux Movie Trailer About a Transformed North Korea New York Times6/12/18 President Trump once told advisers to think of every day of his tenure as another episode in a television series. But with his landmark meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, he seems to be eyeing a move up to the big screen. POW deal with North Korea followed strong lobbying by Defense Department: ‘It’s a humanitarian issue’ Washington Post6/12/18 On Tuesday, the two countries agreed to “commit” to recovering the remains of fallen troops, “including the immediate repatriation of those already identified,” according to the document. Fact-checking President Trump’s claims about the North Korea deal Washington Post6/13/18 Here’s a roundup of claims made by President Trump at a news conference on June 12 and in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News about his talks in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. With Misleading Claims, Trump Dismisses 1994 North Korea Nuclear Deal New York Times6/12/18 Following his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, President Trump claimed on Tuesday that North Korea “took billions of dollars” during the Clinton administration for “nothing.” Neither is true. Fact-checking Donald Trump in Singapore about North Korea Politifact6/12/18 Here a few of the most notable statements by Trump, with additional context. U.N. nuclear watchdog says open to any role in North Korea if asked Reuters6/12/18 The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it would carry out any verification role it was asked to in North Korea, though that would depend on further talks between Washington and Pyongyang after the two countries’ leaders met on Tuesday. Lawmakers in Both Parties Are Skeptical as They Assess North Korea Meeting New York Times6/12/18 Lawmakers from both parties, deeply mistrustful of a leader who has brutalized his own country, greeted a joint agreement between the United States and North Korea coolly on Tuesday, with top Republicans warning President Trump that any final accord on Kim Jong-un’s nuclear program should be submitted to the Senate for ratification. GOP Sen. Jim Risch: No North Korea deal without verification CNN Politics6/12/18 Idaho’s GOP Sen. Jim Risch said on Tuesday the US would not make a nuclear agreement with North Korea without a verification regime. Vague on Details, Trump Is Betting on ‘Special Bond’ With Kim to Deliver Deal New York Times6/12/18 On paper, there is nothing President Trump extracted from North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in their summit meeting that Mr. Kim’s father and grandfather had not already given to past American presidents. North Korea Plays Up U.S. Concessions to Kim Jong Un Wall Street Journal6/12/18 State media says Trump told Kim he planned to end joint military exercises with South and end sanctions North Korea says nuclear dismantling a ‘step-by-step’ process with U.S. rewards along the way Washington Post6/13/18 North Korea’s state-run media is framing the agreements reached at the Singapore summit as a “step-by-step” process intended to bring U.S. rewards in exchange for gradual moves by Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program. MIDDLE EAST Iran says it can’t remain in nuclear deal without benefits Washington Post6/12/18 President Hassan Rouhani says Iran will not be able to remain in the 2015 nuclear accord unless it benefits from the agreement’s provisions. Iran is delighted by Europe’s support for nuclear deal, Rouhani tells Macron Newsweek6/12/18 Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron by phone on Tuesday, expressing his pleasure at Europe’s continued support of the nuclear agreement despite U.S. withdrawal. Iran says will begin uranium enrichment at Fordow if nuclear deal unravels Reuters6/13/18 Iran will begin uranium enrichment at its Fordow plant and will install new nuclear equipment at its Natanz facility if it withdraws from a nuclear deal with major powers, said the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE ‘The Devil Is in the Detail’: Russia Reacts to Trump-Kim Summit The Moscow Times6/12/18 This is how Russian officials reacted to the highly-anticipated meeting: U.S. NUCLEAR POLICY US to boost nuke sniffing with modified C-130s Defense News6/12/18 When the Air Force dispatches aircraft to the Asia-Pacific to monitor the atmosphere for signs of nuclear activity from North Korea, it relies on its WC-135 Constant Phoenix nuke-sniffing planes. But with only two of those in the service’s inventory, it’s possible the WC-135s might not be able to respond to every contingency. OPINION AND ANALYSIS Trump Pardons Another Celebrity Criminal Foreign Policy6/12/18 At the Singapore summit, the U.S. president let Kim off the hook. The biggest winner of the Trump-Kim summit is China Washington PostJosh Rogin 6/12/18 In Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wildest dreams, he could not have envisioned a better outcome of President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – at least as it concerns Beijing’s interests. In Diplomacy, Trump Is the Anti-Reagan New York TimesBret Stephens 6/12/18 For now, it’s hard to see what the Singapore summit has achieved other than to betray America’s allies, our belief in human rights, our history of geopolitical sobriety and our reliance on common sense. North Korea Is a Nuclear Power. Get Used to It. New York TimesVipin Narang and Ankit Panda 6/12/18 North Korea has arrived as a nuclear power, and there is no going back. Reaction to the Singapore Summit 38 NorthRobert Gallucci 6/12/18 The only possible reaction to the summit is disappointment. Ending War Games With South Korea Isn’t a ‘Stunning Concession.’ It’s the Best Thing to Come Out of the Summit So Far TimeBeatrice Fihn 6/13/18 By saying he would discontinue this practice, Trump is in effect offering to stop the simulated mass murder of innocent civilians. This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like New York Magazine6/12/18 If America is attacked, the strike probably won’t come from North Korea. And it will be even scarier than we imagine. A slushy “freeze-for-freeze”: The deal China and North Korea always wanted BrookingsTarun Chhabra 6/12/18 President Trump is right: North Korean leader Kim Jung-un is “very talented,” and Chinese President Xi Jinping is “a very special person.” The Singapore summit proved a landmark victory for both. Trump Gushes Over North Korea New York Times6/12/18 Mr. Trump deserves credit for setting in motion a process that for the time being will keep the two adversaries talking to each other. But the statement he signed with Mr. Kim was strikingly spare, with little evidence of any substantial progress despite Mr. Trump’s claim that it was “comprehensive.” The U.S. cannot pull this off alone Washington PostMoon Chung-in 6/12/18 Commitment for commitment is one thing, but action for action another, and implementing mutual pledges presents its own perilous odyssey. As we move into this next phase, the efforts of Trump and Kim alone will not be sufficient for the task, and it is critical to look to neighboring countries and the region as a whole. Promises, Nuclear Promises Wall Street Journal6/12/18 Trump says he can tell Kim has changed, but the evidence is scant. SPECIAL INTEREST Who is Uncle John Trump? President says ‘brilliant genius’ professor taught him about nuclear weapons Newsweek6/12/18 “I used to discuss nuclear with him all the time,” Trump said at the press conference, adding: “He was a great expert, he was a great brilliant genius.”