2018 North Korea - United States Summit

Submission 15,115

Overview

The 2018 North Korea – United States Summit refers to a meeting between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un held at the Capella Hotel in Sentosa Island, Singapore in mid-June 2018.

Background

In late March 2018, secret meetings were held with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang to discuss planning the summit. On May 10th, it was revealed that the summit would take place in Singapore.^[7] On May 24th, Trump pulled out of the summit, accusing North Korea's "tremendous anger and open hostility" halting the meeting.^[9] On May 25th, Trump tweeted he was pleased "to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea" (shown below).^[8]

On June 1st, Trump officially reinstated the summit to be held on June 12th. On June 12th, the two leaders met in Singapore for the summit, which was broadcast live internationally. During the meeting, both parties signed a joint communiqué, while Trump announced the United States would cease military exercises near the Korean peninsula and Kim declared the country would remain committed to removing its nuclear weapons.

Developments

Online Reaction

On Reddit

That day, various photoshopped images using pictures from the summit reached the front page of /r/dankmemes^[1]^[2]^[3] (shown below).

Meanwhile, Redditor ReggieStration submitted a photo of Kim and Trump with the caption "When you finally meet that person you've been talking shit to on Xbox live" to /r/funny,^[5] where it gathered more than 3,860 points (95% upvoted) and 45 comments (shown below).

Also on June 12th, an animated GIF of Trump and Kim shaking hands reached the front page of /r/gifs,^[6] gathering upwards of 74,600 points (86% upvoted) and 7,100 comments that day.

Dennis Rodman Interview

That day, former professional basketball player Dennis Rodman was interviewed on CNN about the summit, during which he was shown crying while wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat (shown below).

Donald Trump's Reaction

On June 12th, Trump tweeted a video featuring a montage of clips taken of the summit (shown below). Within six hours, the video accumulated upwards of 103,700 likes and 30,700 retweets.

"A Story of Opportunity" Trailer

That day, Trump announced to the press that he showed Kim a fake movie trailer during the meeting on an iPad, which depicted the two leaders as heroes saving the world. Within 24 hours, a YouTube upload of the trailer received more than one million views and 1,500 comments (shown below).

That day, a post about the trailer reached the front page of /r/politics.^[11] Meanwhile, several news sites published articles about the trailer, including BuzzFeed,^[12] The New York Times^[13] and The Washington Post.^[14]