The US Has Made a Commemorative Peace Talks Coin Ahead of the TrumpKim Summit
A commemorative coin featuring President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been minted to mark a U.S.-North Korea summit next month, even as the meeting itself has been thrown into question. The coin, which was struck by the White House Communications Agency WHCA, bears Trump and Kim's profiles and opposing U.S. and North Korean flags under the heading "Peace Talks," Agence France-Presse reports. The coin also describes Kim Jong Un as "Supreme Leader." The opposite face depicts Air Force One flying over the White House and the presidential seal with the title "Visit of the President.", , The WHCA has minted dozens of souvenir coins as gifts to visiting foreign dignitaries and military veterans, and are for sale in the White House gift shop. Deputy White House spokesperson Raj Shah said in a statement that the administration "did not have any input into the design and manufacture of the coin," according to AFP. But this coin's release awkwardly followed North Korea's threat last week to cancel the historic talks, scheduled for July 12 in Singapore, saying that the country had no interest in "one-sided" negotiations to force Pyongyang to relinquish its nuclear weapons. Trump sought to defuse those tensions last week, promising that Kim would remain in power should the talks go ahead.