Kim Jong-un, North Koreans called ‘masters at managing the media’

There are 3,000 credentialed journalists currently in Singapore to cover the historic and unprecedented meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Broadcast coverage of the event has been non-stop for the last 24 hours.

With his previous reality TV experience and constant media appearances as president, Mr. Trump often has been cited for his ability to manage the close scrutiny of the press and still retain fairly positive favorability ratings.

How about the other side?

“The North Koreans — and specifically Kim Jong-un — are becoming masters at managing the media, and I suspect will do just fine with all of the intense coverage,” Harry J. Kazianis, director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest  and executive editor of The National Interest Magazine, said in a statement to The Washington Times.

“In fact, I would suspect they love it. For if they are able to get the ultimate prize — a picture with President Trump and Kim shaking hands — they will have completed an image makeover they have been working towards since January,” Mr. Kazianis said. “For North Korea, the media is a great way to showcase their nation as not the pariah state or rogue nation they are, but a potential partner that seeks detente — and that would be very dangerous.”