around their nuclear test site. now kim jong un replaced three topilitary commanders with loyalists ahead of the summit. experts say these are loyalists who may be more amenable to making concessions on north korea s nuclear program than the older officers who are hawk issue on maintaining the program. one of the military leaders helped kim jong un purge his uncle, so these men are among his trusted inner circle. ana: always interesting. for more on this, let s bring in noah rothman. let me read to you something the new york times wrote about this meeting. mr. assad has been condemned by the west for using chemical weapons against his own citizens. the visit, hosting assad, is not
north korea state media reports that assad will visit kim jong un. syria and north korea have a rac relationship going back decades. jennifer griffen is live at the pentagon. what do you think we should think of these reports? well, remember, dana, this is north korea state media that announced the syrian president would travel to meet with kim jong un ahead of the summit with the u.s president on june 12. but it may be misleading and maybe the result of the ambassador of north korea misunderstanding what he said. he presented his credentials to assad on may 30, assad said i m going to visit the dprk. but there was no indication as of when.