• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan is scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin today on the second day of an economic summit meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, and North Korea is likely to be the top issue.

On Wednesday, the Russian leader, above, rejected South Korea’s call for an oil embargo on North Korea, warning against pushing the country “into a dead end.” Satellite images show landslides at the North Korean mountain that was the site of last weekend’s powerful nuclear test.

In phone calls with other world leaders, President Trump rejected the idea of negotiating with the North. The U.S. military is putting the finishing touches today on the Thaad missile-defense system it deployed near Seoul.

Mr. Trump and President Xi Jinping spoke by phone, too, but the idea that China can rein in Pyongyang is based on flawed assumptions, according to our Interpreter column.