You may have seen images of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un posing for selfies in Singapore – but he’s not already tipped up ahead of US President Donald Trump for a crucial peace summit.
Smiling Kim is Australian impersonator Howard X, because he is scared North Korea’s feared security forces might bump him off for making a laughing stock of their boss.
Howard X also appeared as Kim at the Winter Olympics at Gangneung, South Korea, earlier this year.
“I think the two leaders will sit down and they’re going to have a great time, because really they have the same personality. They are going to be best friends right after this meeting,” said Howard X.
The summit is programmed for June 12.
Will they, won’t they meet?
But despite footage of Kim jumping across the North/South Korea border hand in hand with his opposite number President Moon Jae-in, the road to Singapore is littered with back-biting insults, threats and bluffs.
Both sides are trying to gain an upper hand at the talks with their antics.
Although Trump has called off the talks after some grandstanding by Kim Jong-Un, Washington has still despatched a pre-summit team to Singapore to clear the way ‘just in case’ the historic day goes ahead.
Kim has reportedly sent his spy chief Kim Yong Chol to New York to repair the broken relationship.
The summit is a starting point to rehabilitate North Korea back into the world economy.
Chinese sanctions
Kim Jong-Un has indicated he is ready to give up his nation’s nuclear program in return for economic help from South Korea, China and the USA after more than 50 years of hostility between the countries since the end of the Korean War.
In that time, lifestyle and economic standards have remained much the same in North Korea, while with US backing, South Korea has gone on to become one of the richest nations in the world.
Tough sanctions imposed by China to persuade the country to forego nuclear armaments have forced Kim to reassess his position – along with at least two recent summonses to China for dressing downs from President Xi Jinping.