North Korea airs film glorifying summit with Trump – POLITICO

Defense

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s state TV has aired a documentary glorifying leader Kim Jong Un’s recent visit to Vietnam that omitted the failed nuclear negotiations with President Donald Trump.

The footage’s release Wednesday came amid reports that North Korea is restoring some facilities at its long-range rocket launch site that it dismantled last year as part of disarmament steps.

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The documentary shows a smiling Kim talking with Trump while walking together inside a Hanoi hotel last week.

It shows Kim’s black limousine passing through a Hanoi street lined with residents waving flags. The footage also shows Kim visiting the North Korean Embassy where some skipped and wept with emotions before they took a group photo with the backdrop of a huge picture of Kim’s late father and grandfather.

The documentary cited Kim as saying North Korea and the U.S. must put an end to their decades-long animosity and confrontation. But it didn’t mention about the lack of an agreement following the Kim-Trump summit.

The Hanoi summit broke down due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea. Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the talks’ breakdown, but both sides still leave the door open for future negotiations.

North Korean documentaries are typically propaganda venerating Kim, the subject of a strong personality cult among the North’s 25 million people. Some observers say omitting the status of the nuclear talks also shows the North hopes to continue negotiations, while also not letting North Korean people know of any diplomatic failures that could damage his leadership.

Earlier Tuesday, two U.S.-based websites specializing in North Korea studies cited commercial satellite imagery as indicating that North Korea is rebuilding some structures at its northwestern rocket launch facility. South Korea’s spy service gave a similar assessment to lawmakers in Seoul in a closed-door briefing on Tuesday.

“I would be very, very disappointed in Chairman Kim,” Trump said when reporters asked him about reports of new work at the North’s launch site. “I don’t think I will be” disappointed, Trump said, “but we’ll see what happens.”