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NKOREA-US-SUMMIT-NUCLEAR-TRUMP-KIM,PROFILE
Opposites, rivals, heirs, negotiators: Trump and Kim
SINGAPORE, June 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The summit between Donald Trump and
Kim Jong Un will be among the most improbable diplomatic encounters in
history, featuring principals who could not be more different — but who also
share some surprising similarities.
Trump was the oldest US president ever to take office when he was sworn in
a little over 500 days ago, and will turn 72 on Thursday.
The North Korean leader is still in his mid-thirties and remains among the
world’s youngest heads of government, but has already been in power for more
than six years.
The chosen heir — once his elder half-brother fell from grace — Kim was
groomed for years to take his place at the top of Pyongyang’s political
pyramid.
And in a one-party state where according to rights groups tens of thousands
languish in political prison camps, he has no need to fret about re-election
or tomorrow’s headlines — or to respond to them on Twitter.
In contrast, Trump reached the White House via a career in property
development and reality television, followed by an unprecedentedly populist
presidential campaign that upended the US political establishment.
And although he is his country’s Supreme Leader, Kim does not hold the
title of President. That is reserved for his grandfather, the North’s founder
Kim Il Sung, despite his death in 1994.
– Family values –
But the two leaders also share some parallels.
Both grew up in luxury, went into the family business and have appointed
trusted relatives to key positions.
Dynastic descent from Kim Il Sung is the basis for Kim’s personal
legitimacy — Pyongyang’s propaganda promotes the similarities between them
in looks, mannerisms and even handwriting.
His sister Kim Yo Jong has emerged as one of his closest aides. She acted
as his envoy to the Winter Olympics in the South, spent almost the whole of
his first summit with the South’s Moon Jae-in at his side, and accompanied
him to China to meet President Xi Jinping.
Yo Jong is in Singapore with her brother, having flown on a separate
aircraft to preserve the family bloodline in case of disaster.
Trump’s father Frederick Christ Trump was a self-made property developer.
The president has appointed his daughter Ivanka as an assistant and her
husband Jared Kushner is a close adviser, while his son Donald Jr was part of
his election campaign.
Both Kim and Trump are unbending in their demands for loyalty.
In the month starting February 28 Trump sacked or lost the services of his
White House communications director Hope Hicks, chief economic adviser Gary
Cohn, national security adviser HR McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
and veterans affairs secretary David Shulkin.
Kim recently appointed a new director of the military’s powerful General
Political Bureau described as a “highly trusted” lieutenant, and has
established his authority over both the ruling Workers’ Party and the
military by ruthlessly purging potential rivals.
The most senior victim was his uncle and mentor Jang Song Thaek, who was
executed in 2013 — denounced by state media as “despicable human scum” and
proclaimed guilty of a variety of colourful crimes and political sins.
And last year his half-brother Kim Jong Nam was brazenly assassinated in
broad daylight, smeared with a deadly nerve agent as he walked through Kuala
Lumpur’s international airport in a hit which most analysts say could only
have come from Pyongyang.
– Holding hands with history –
The two men share a taste for colourful rhetoric — last year Kim called
the US president a “mentally deranged US dotard” and was dubbed “little
rocket man” in turn.
But in his new diplomatic role — until March he had not left his country
for more than six years — Kim has come across as polite, respectful and even
charming in meetings with the Chinese and South Korean leaders.
“The kind of counter-intuitive thing is, I think they are going to listen
to each other,” said Yonsei University professor John Delury. “I think they
are going to get on well.”
In addition to nuclear weapons, a long handshake could be high on the
agenda in Singapore.
Both men have shown a predilection for grasping the palms of their fellow
leaders, Trump with the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron and, more
awkwardly, with British Prime Minister Theresa May.
In turn, as the cameras rolled at a farewell ceremony at the end of their
first summit, Kim held hands with the South’s Moon — for several minutes.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1427 hrs