N. Korea leaves out photos of inter-Korean summit from album of leader's diplomatic activities

SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday published a photo album showing leader Kim Jong-un's diplomatic activities but has left out photos of his summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in amid chilled inter-Korean relations.

The album, published by the North's Foreign Languages Publishing House, features 10 photos of Kim's summit talks with other leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and former U.S. President Donald Trump, from March 2018 to June 2019.

The North stressed the strong bilateral relations with China and Russia in the album, describing them as "deep-rooted" and "brotherly" friendship.

The photo album carried several photos of Kim and Trump at the Singapore summit in June 2018, saying that the leaders "wrote a new history in U.S.-North Korea relations."

It also published photos of the two leaders' historic meeting at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in 2019 when Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea.

However, the album did not include photos of Moon, who had joined the leaders briefly at the Demilitarized Zone. It also did not carry any photos from the three meetings Moon had with Kim in 2018.

Inter-Korean relations have stalled since the no-deal summit between Kim and Trump in 2019. The two sides were far apart over how far Pyongyang should denuclearize in order for Washington to offer concessions.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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