Trump/Kim coin sparks backlash
Some say “challenge coin” minted by a military outfit attached to the White House ahead of the planned summit, showing the faces of both leaders, is inappropriate.
WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the White House on Tuesday to remove an image of Kim Jong Un from a coin meant to commemorate the planned summit next month between the North Korean dictator and President Donald Trump.
Schumer’s call, made via Twitter, came a day after media reports surfaced about the design of the “challenge coin,” which features likenesses of both Trump and Kim, who is described on the coin as his nation’s “Supreme Leader.”
Such coins are typically minted in advance of presidential trips abroad, and Schumer said in his tweet that issuing one to mark the planned meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore on June 12 was “certainly appropriate.”
But, Schumer said, “Kim Jong Un’s face has no place on this coin.”
“He is a brutal dictator and something like the Peace House would be much more appropriate,” Schumer said, referring to a venue in the demilitarized zone near the border of South Korea and North Korea that has been used for previous peace talks.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said Monday that the White House had no input into the design or manufacture of the coin, which was issued by the White House Communications Agency, a military command responsible for the president’s global communications needs.