Critics attack ‘hare-brained’ US propaganda film for Kim

A SLICK film shown to Kim Jong-un by Donald Trump has been criticised by diplomats.

The four-minute production, produced in the style of a Hollywood movie trailer, was played by the US president to the North Korean dictator on an ipad in Singapore.

It focused on “two men, two leaders, one destiny” and cast Kim as a potential “hero” who could save his country if he made the right choice to denuclearise.

Alexander Vershbow, a former US ambassador to South Korea, said he was “speechless” when he saw the film.

A former spokesman for the National Security Council called it “harebrained and amateur”.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told The New York Times: “I was gobsmacked by it.

“It seems unlikely that a man who ruthlessly ordered the murder of his half brother with a nerve agent is likely to be beguiled by a film trailer.”

Garrett Marquis, a White House spokesman, said it was produced to “help the president demonstrate the benefits of complete denuclearisation, and a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Korean peninsula”.

Late-night US comedians also ridiculed the film. However, some experts said the video had the potential to influence Kim. As an example they cited the fact he is a fan of the Rocky movies, and the footage included an image of Rocky star Sylvester Stallone in the Oval Office with Mr Trump.

Mark Mckinnon, who made political advertisements for President George W Bush’s campaigns, said it was a “pretty creative and clever move”.