A picture of former U.S. President Donald Trump appeared in a North Korean propaganda video that suggested the United States is orchestrating plots against Pyongyang, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.
Residents said they were confused as to why the video used Trump’s image this way. In the past, his image had been used positively to tout the successes of Kim Jong Un, who became the first North Korean leader to meet with a sitting U.S. president when the two countries held summits in 2018 and 2019.
The video, shown during mandatory weekly lectures, likened Trump and other influential Americans to wolves.
“The US imperialists and other hierarchical enemies are trying to recreate the bloodshed of the past on this land,” an audio recording of video obtained by RFA Korean said, referring to the carnage of the 1950-53 Korean War. “The only thing that has changed is that the various methods of how they kill and the weapons of murder they used that day are now covered in a sweet and fragrant outer shell, including movies, printed propaganda, superstitions, and drugs.”
Trump’s appearance in the video shocked a resident from the northeastern province of North Hamgyong.
“These days, the party’s regular lectures are held by watching recorded videos,” he said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “This week’s lecture was conducted as a recorded lecture with the message that dreaming about American imperialism leads to self-destruction and death.”
The title of the lecture was “Guide to the anti-DPRK plot,” according to the resident. The video contained a photo of Trump holding hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during one of the bilateral summits.
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Trump has alluded to his dealings with Kim during his presidency, saying that the two leaders “fell in love,” but after the summits in Singapore, Hanoi, and a third meeting at the DMZ in 2019 which included then South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Pyongyang and Washington still failed to hammer out any agreements on denuclearization or a lifting of sanctions.
“The point of this lecture from the beginning to the end was to never to be caught up in the enemy’s persistent anti-DPRK conspiracy strategy,” he said. “The authorities requested that we raise awareness of impure recordings, anti-socialism publications, drugs, religion, and superstitions that the enemy are spreading to destroy our republic from within.”
The message falls in line with North Korea’s policy to more aggressively root out capitalist influences since passing the Rejection of Reactionary Thought and Culture Law in 2020.
Under this law, people have been sent to lengthy prison sentences for watching South Korean TV shows and movies, for dressing a certain way, or for acts as arbitrary as " dancing like a capitalist."
According to the resident, other residents were confused that the video strongly condemned the Kim-Trump summits.
“They’re out here saying ‘Wasn’t it a great thing that Kim Jong Un and the U.S. president met and joined hands?’” he said. “But now the authorities are saying that former President Trump is headlining an anti-DPRK strategy.”
The use of Trump in anti-U.S. propaganda seemed puzzling for residents in the northwestern province of North Pyongan, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“At the time of the summit in Singapore, The Marshall’s meeting with the president of the United States, a very strong nation, was touted as his great achievement,” she said. “Now the party is criticizing former U.S. President Trump through the recorded lecture with the message that we should fight back against anti-DPRK plots.”
The North Pyongan resident said the lecture was intended to instill hatred and hostility toward Washington, but most people aren’t buying it.
“Most residents do not even listen to the authorities’ propaganda that the United States has launched an anti-DPRK plot to destroy our republic from within.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong