North Korea is fawning over the 'amazing' Trump-Kim DMZ meeting. U.S. media is treating it like reality TV.
In North Korea, the state-run KCNA news agency declared the whirlwind meeting between leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump at the DMZ on Sunday an "amazing event" made possible by a "bold, brave decision" by the two leaders and the "unprecedented trust between the two countries" that has blossomed under Kim and Trump's relationship.
In 2017, Trump "secretly planned to walk right up to the North Korean border to show Kim Jong Un that America would stand up to his brutal regime," and "in 2019, Trump publicly implored Kim to meet him at that same border in order to smile, shake hands, and discuss the future the two countries could bring about together," says Politico's Anita Kumar. "It was a dramatic turnaround that showed how Trump, groomed in reality TV and the flashy New York real estate world, can use the same exact camera-friendly, symbolic location for completely different theatrical gestures."
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"In classic Trumpian fashion, the nation's first reality-show president built up the suspense of his third meeting with Kim like a seasoned television producer," reports The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim. After the DMZ meeting, as Trump "watched Moon and Kim share an embrace, and Kim began returning to North Korea," she adds, "Trump couldn't help but clap — briefly, but excitedly — as the day wound to a close."
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