INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Presidents aren't required to return salutes to military personnel, even American soldiers.North Korean state television aired a 42-minute
long documentary on Thursday that offered a different view of Kim Jong Un's meeting with President Donald Trump in Singapore.The televised
account of this week's summit had an epic air, using triumphant music to underscore its gravitas - perhaps a fitting stylistic touch for the
first-ever meeting of sitting leaders of the United States and North Korea, despite recent tensions.The KCTV documentary also showed events
largely from Kim's perspective, from his departure from Pyongyang aboard an Air China plane on Sunday, to his arrival in Singapore, where he
was greeted by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his being whisked through the city past large crowds of onlookers
In a voice-over, North Korea's famous newsreader Ri Chun-Hee said that the size of the crowd was "unprecedented" for Singapore.Kim is shown
relaxing in a luxurious suite at the St
Regis Singapore, the five-star hotel where he stayed
He later goes to visit Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong
Footage is also shown of an evening sightseeing trip around the city with Balakrishnan that took place on Monday.Trump does not appear in
the documentary until almost halfway through, when he is shown entering the Capella Singapore hotel on the resort island of Sentosa for
Most of the footage of the summit itself is similar to that which was captured by international news agencies.However, KCTV did capture one
moment (which takes place at 22:35 in the video) that was largely missed by American audiences
When meeting No Kwang Chol, North Korea's minister for the People's Armed Forces and a top military leader, Trump initially tries to shake
No pulls his hand back and then salutes the president
Trump then responds with his own salute in return, before the two men shake hands as Kim smiles in the background.Presidents aren't required
to return salutes to military personnel, even American soldiers
(Ronald Reagan supposedly started the tradition of the president regularly returning the salute to members of the American military.) And it
is highly out of ordinary for a president to return the salute of a foreign military member.The rest of the documentary shows how the rest
of the meeting unfolded, before finishing with Kim flying back to Pyongyang where he is greeted by a large, cheering crowd.Though it is
shown from the North Korean perspective, the documentary largely shows Trump in a flattering light - at one point Ri describes the president
and Kim as "two supreme leaders" of their countries
As is Korean custom with elders, Kim is shown making deferential gestures toward Trump, who is more than twice the age of the North Korean
leader.Notably, like a recent KCTV documentary that showed Kim's visit to Dalian, China, for his second meeting with Kim Jong Un, North
Korean state media didn't shy away from showing how much more developed foreign cities were than Pyongyang
There were multiple shots of Singapore's gleaning skyline in the documentary; Kim was shown visiting tourist wonders like the Gardens by the
Bay.However, North Korean state media has generally taken a different stance on the outcome of the summit than the Trump administration -
with newspapers portraying denuclearization as a "step by step" process and suggesting that the president had agreed to halt U.S.-South
Korea joint military exercises under pressure from Kim.With its focus on Kim, the KCTV documentary seems to show North Koreans that their
leader is star of the show.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a
