WNAM REPORT: North Korea’s state media on Wednesday briefly carried reports on the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, marking its first news reports since he was elected last year.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main newspaper catering to domestic readers, and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, a state-run radio network, reported that Trump was sworn in as the U.S. president earlier this week.
“In the United States, Donald Trump has taken office as president. He was elected the 47th president of the U.S. in the election in November last year and the inauguration ceremony was proceeded on Jan. 20 in Washington,” the newspaper reported on its sixth page of the external news section.
It marked the first time North Korea’s state media have published news related to Trump since he won his second term last year.
In the past, North Korea reported the election of a U.S. president with a time lag. In November 2016, when Trump was first elected to the presidency, the North published reports of the outcome more than 10 days later.
North Korea also remained silent about two months after Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2020 and first reported on the news after he officially took office in January the following year.
On Trump’s first day in office Monday, he described North Korea as a “nuclear power” and expected North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be “happy” to see his return to the White House.
Experts said Trump may want to revive his summit diplomacy with Kim amid expectations he could seek a “small deal,” including a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear programs or a nuclear disarmament.
During his first term, Trump held in-person meetings three times with the North’s Kim, including their first summit in Singapore in 2018. But the Hanoi summit ended without a deal in February 2019.
