Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with today's White House visit by South Korea's president, who praised Trump's

garish redecoration of the Oval Office in a flurry of ritual flattery, which foreign leaders now

understand is a requirement, only to have Trump bring up the refrain of how well he got along with Kim Jong-un,

who threatens the annihilation of South Korea and has his troops fighting in Ukraine to help Russia,

and how Trump is looking forward to another meeting with the North Korean dictator this year.

Joining us is Stephen Norper, founder and president of Asia Dialogue and a senior

UN program advisor who serves on the faculty of the Punaho Academy and Hawaii Pacific University,

a former State Department senior analyst, he's held fellowships at the East-West Institute,

East West Center,

Korea's Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security,

and the Edward R. Murrow Center for Public Diplomacy.

Then with a DNC meeting today in Minneapolis,

as the Democratic Party's coffers are almost bare since big donors are holding back funds due to the lack of direction and a

growing split between the younger activists and the older centrists.

We will speak with Philip Rocco, a professor in the Department of Political Science at

Marquette University and the co-editor of Publius, the Journal of Federalism.

He is the co-author of Obamacare Wars, Federalism, State Politics,

and the Affordable Care Act. And his latest book is Counting Like a State, which examines how

conflict and cooperation between federal, state and local governments shape the implementation

of the United States Census. And we'll discuss his article at Jacobin,

...