PRESIDENT TRUMP HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE WITH PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN~POMPEO ALSO SPEAKS~GRIM PICTURE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN NORTH KOREA

PRESIDENT TRUMP HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE WITH PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN~

POMPEO ALSO SPEAKS

President Trump said Thursday he hopes to normalize relations between the United States and Nk, but noted such a development would happen at the end of the ongoing push to denuclearize the isolated nation. “Normalizing relations is something that I would expect to do, I would hope to do when everything’s complete,” Trump said during a White House press conference with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “We would certainly like to see normalization,” he added. Trump added that Nk has “tremendous” potential economically and that Abe, Sk president Moon and China President Xi Jinping have all expressed interest in doing business with Nk. U.S. officials have indicated they would be willing to lift economic sanctions on Nk if leader Kim agrees to fully abandon his nuclear program. Trump said he’s open to signing an agreement that would end the Korean W but called that “a first step.” “That’s really the beginning. Sounds a little bit strange, but that’s probably the easy part. The hard part remains after that,” he said. Trump is slated to meet with Kim next Tuesday at a luxury hotel in Singapore.

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U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT PAINTS GRIM PICTURE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION 

IN NORTH KOREA 

BY DAVID CLOUD

SEE: https://www.wayoflife.org/friday_church_news/19-23.php; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

(Friday Church News Notes, June 8, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - 

The following is excerpted from “Report: ‘Praying, Singing Hymns, and Reading the Bible’ Can Lead to Prison Camp,” CNSNews.com, May 30, 2018: 

“Weeks before President Trump is expected to meet with Kim Jong Un, a State Department report issued Tuesday painted a grim picture of religious freedom abuses at the hands of the Stalinist regime--including ‘executions, torture, beatings, and arrests’ of people of faith. The report said that some of the up to 120,000 North Koreans being held in prison camps ‘under horrific conditions’ were incarcerated for religious reasons. It cited North Korean defectors and international non-governmental organizations as reporting that ‘any religious activities conducted outside of those that were state-sanctioned, including praying, singing hymns, and reading the Bible, could lead to severe punishment, including imprisonment in political prison camps.’ A South Korean NGO had recorded 1,304 cases of religious freedom violations carried out by North Korean authorities during the year in review, including 119 killings and 87 disappearances. Detentions accounted for another 770 of the incidents. ... ‘An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions.’ It cited a religious freedom advocacy group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, as saying the regime often applies a policy of ‘guilt by association,’ targeting not just Christians but detaining their relatives as well, irrespective of their own beliefs. The envisaged Trump-Kim summit in Singapore is focused on the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs and related security concerns. But rights campaigners are urging the president to put human rights on the agenda too. ... State Department ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Sam Brownback said, ‘The president is right on point on North Korea. He’s very engaged on this, as you know. The Secretary [of State Mike Pompeo] is very engaged on this. And I think they’re raising all of these issues,’ he said. ... Brownback recalled that during his days in the Senate--he was a Republican senator from Kansas from 1996-2011 before serving as governor of Kansas--he raised concerns about North Korea, ‘but you couldn’t get anybody to act.’ ‘Well, this president is acting and he’s taking this issue on, even though it’s threatened us for years, if not decades.’”