Trump saluted a North Korean military officer, and Pyongyang is eagerly broadcasting the footage

Trump saluting North Korean officer. — (Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/Robert Maguire)

North Korea has released its footage of President Trump and Kim Jong Un's Singapore summit, and it contains a particularly eyebrow-raising gaffe from the U.S. president.

After entering a hallway apparently following the initial handshake between the two leaders, Trump is seen in the footage greeting a number of North Korean officials alongside Kim. When Trump reaches a uniformed officer of the North Korean military and extends his hand for a handshake, the officer salutes the president. Trump then salutes the North Korean officer in return.

While the moment appears to be an honest mistake by Trump, who has confessed he hadn't slept for 25 hours in the run-up to the meeting, it is also a stunning blunder from an American commander in chief. After all, former President Barack Obama was excoriated for bowing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in the first year of his presidency, including by Trump. In a particularly apt comparison of how times have changed, Time's Ryan Teague Beckwith recalled the outrage that followed Obama once saluting a U.S. Marine with a coffee cup in-hand:

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Many, though, were in fact outraged by Trump's salute:

Watch the moment below. Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.