U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are preparing for a second summit in Vietnam next week. Intelligence officials have said Pyongyang is still advancing its nuclear program, but U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday cited progress, noting that North Korea hasn’t tested nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles in more than a year. “So that’s better than the place we found it when the Trump administration came into office,” Pompeo said in an appearance on NBC’s Today show.

The top North Korean diplomat in Italy and his wife went into hiding in November in a possible defection, a South Korean member of Parliament said Thursday. The South Korean National Intelligence Service briefed Parliament on the possible defection of North Korean acting Ambassador to Italy Jo Song Gil on Thursday. Kim Min-ki, one of the lawmakers briefed, said the spy agency reported Jo and his wife vacated their official residence in early November before he wrapped up his service late that month.

The international law enforcement agency Interpol on Wednesday appointed South Korean Kim Jong Yang as its new president. The decision was made during the agency’s annual assembly this week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, attended by most of its 194 member countries. Kim had been serving as acting president after China detained former President Meng Hongwei as part of an anti-corruption sweep in September. “Our world is now facing unprecedented changes, which present huge challenges to public security and safety,” Kim said.

School choice advocates are spinning last week’s election results in the most positive light possible.

“School choice victorious in the 2018 elections,” read the headline on a press release issued by the American Federation for Children.

That’s a bit of a stretch. While voters elected pro–school choice candidates in many states, they dealt a significant blow to the choice movement’s flagship initiative—the education savings account (ESA).

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) this week celebrated the 50th birthday of the movie rating scale, which started as an attempt to ward off censors and became a part of the collective consciousness of U.S. moviegoers. The organization released survey results showing that 91 percent of American parents were familiar or very familiar with the G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 classification system, and 95 percent thought it was helpful.

As Afghanistan wraps up a parliamentary vote marred by nearly 200 violent attacks and 50 deaths, U.S. officials insist the country can manage the violence and protect the democratic process.

Last weekend’s vote was the first to take place in war-torn Afghanistan since 2010. Afghan officials deployed about 70,000 police and soldiers to guard polling stations after the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS) vowed to target voters.