Trump Posts Photo of Panmunjom Meeting with Kim Jong-un, Saying 'We Get Along Great'

U.S. President Donald Trump posted a photo on social media on August 15 (local time) from his impromptu meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom.

On Truth Social that day, President Trump uploaded a photo showing himself standing side by side with Chairman Kim in the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom.

He wrote, "We don't look like we get along in this particular photo, but there are many other photos where we are smiling," adding, "Kim Jong-un and I get along GREAT!"

The Panmunjom meeting took place on June 30, 2019, during President Trump's first term in office.

It marked their third meeting, following the Singapore summit on June 12, 2018, and the Hanoi summit in Vietnam on February 27 – 28, 2019.

At the time, President Trump met Chairman Kim at the Military Demarcation Line, shook hands, and briefly stepped across to the North Korean side.

With this, President Trump was recorded as the first sitting U.S. president to step foot on North Korean soil.

The two leaders subsequently held talks for nearly an hour at Freedom House on the South Korean side, joined by then-President Moon Jae-in.

Previously, President Trump also posted a photo from the Singapore summit, his first meeting with Chairman Kim, on June 13.

That marked around the eighth anniversary of the Singapore summit.

Trump's successive posting of photos with Chairman Kim is interpreted as an effort to promote his diplomatic achievements while emphasizing that he is the only Western leader to have maintained a good relationship with Kim.

Furthermore, it can be viewed as a recurring message signaling his interest in potentially pursuing another summit with Chairman Kim.

In fact, former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok previously told the press that during a meeting at the White House on March 13, President Trump remarked regarding a potential meeting with Chairman Kim around the time of his visit to China (in mid-May), saying, "It would be really nice to meet (Chairman Kim). But couldn't that be around the time I go to China this time, or maybe not, or perhaps sometime after that?"

Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, predicted in an issue analysis on August 13 that Chairman Kim "could aim for a meeting with Trump to reaffirm the basic principles of the Singapore Joint Statement," suggesting a summit could materialize after the U.S. midterm elections in November.

(Photo: Captured from Trump's Truth Social, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.