Trump Highlights His Ties With North Korea's Kim Jong Un by Posting Photos of Them Together

[Financial News] President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed this month that he is on good terms with North Korea, again emphasized his close relationship with Kim Jong Un by posting old photos of himself with the North Korean leader on social media.
On the 24th, local time, Trump posted three photos with Kim Jong Un on Truth Social without any explanation. The first appears to have been taken during the first North Korea–United States Singapore Summit in Singapore in June 2018. The other two appear to show their meeting at Panmunjom in June 2019.
Trump did not post a photo from the second North Korea–United States summit held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019. At the time, Kim traveled by train to Hanoi to meet Trump, but the talks produced little progress.
As the war in Iran dragged on this year and Trump faced diplomatic difficulties, he suddenly began mentioning North Korea and Kim Jong Un this month to shift attention elsewhere. On the 16th, Trump described North Korea on Truth Social as "a country that does not threaten the United States and respects it." He also said he did not want to send the wrong signal to North Korea through the RIMPAC exercise and announced that he would scale it back. At the same time, he stressed that he gets along well with Kim Jong Un. On the 17th, Trump also told reporters that Kim had "responded" to his offer for dialogue. On the 19th, Trump said he would meet Kim Jong Un within the year and added that Kim had "57 very powerful nuclear weapons."
In a statement on the 19th, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un and director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, said she had "no knowledge at all" of any talks between Kim and Trump. She noted that "we have already said several times that our head of state has personal good memories and feelings toward Trump." She added, "The relationship between the two leaders remains excellent. The whole world knows this, and I do not think it is anything particularly surprising."


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