On June 30th, 2019, Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to step foot in the isolated kingdom of North Korea, famously shaking hands with the notorious leader Kim Jong Un. This day marked the third ever meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, who had agreed to meet to discuss the foreign relations budding among the two nations. This meeting between the two world leaders came just several months after Kim Jong Un had sent his latest personal letter to President Trump, stressing the necessity of their periodic meetings to discuss “critical issues that require endless effort”. Although this may seem like a vain attempt to maintain vital diplomatic relations for Kim Jong Un, the excessively complimentary and flattering tone of the letter may suggest that something more than friendship occurred between the two world leaders.

To start off, the North Korean leader addresses the sitting US president as ‘your excellency’, a choice which seems both like a desperate attempt to gain political favor and a comical attempt to romanticize the American president. Kim Jong Un then goes on to detail their earlier summit meeting in a manner that evokes ideas of love and romance. In one instance, he writes, “I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency’s hand.” On the surface, this may seem like the North Korean leader is simply referring to the union of their hands as a symbolization of the olive branch that both world leaders had extended to each other. Out of context, however, it appears as though the line could have been taken from a young adult fiction novel.

Even further, Kim Jong Un extrapolates on the romantic undertones of the letter with the line: “the whole world will certainly once again come to see […] another historic meeting between myself and Your Excellency reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy film.” The North Korean leader’s direct parallel between his and President Trump’s relationship and a foolish and idealistic fiction genre underscores the unserious and potentially flirtatious nature of their relationship. Surmise to say, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un is certainly very fond of US President Donald Trump, if not just as colleagues or friends, then maybe as something more.