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

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:

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

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

Watch the moment below. Jeva Lange