Mike Pompeo reportedly plans to give Kim Jong-un a ‘Rocket Man’ CD at nuclear talks this week
South Korean newspaper says Donald Trump referred to his ‘rocket man’ nickname for Kim when they met in Singapore – but the North Korean leader said he had never heard of the song
When Mike Pompeo meets Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang this week, he will reportedly attempt to smooth a path towards denuclearisation with a gift that playfully references a low point in relations between the North Korean leader and Donald Trump: a CD of Elton John’s Rocket Man.
The US secretary of state, due to arrive in Pyongyang on Friday, will present Kim with the CD along with a letter from Trump, who memorably turned the song’s title into an epithet after the North stepped up its ballistic missile tests last year.
Quoting unnamed sources in Washington, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the gifts reflected Trump’s belief that Kim would follow through on commitments the leaders agreed at their summit in Singapore last month.
Several times last year, Trump referred to the dictator as “ little rocket man”, while Kim reciprocated by labelling the president a “mentally deranged dotard”.
Trump raised the rocket man reference during their meeting, the newspaper said. Kim said he had never heard the song, it added, prompting the president to ask Pompeo to take the CD with him to Pyongyang on what is his third trip to North Korea since April.
