Trump-Kim summit 2019: From Singapore to Canada, fans of North Korea praise its ‘juche’ ideology and supreme leader

The Korean Friendship Association (KFA) is a global network of fervent North Korea supporters who hold activities to put a positive spin on Kim Jong-un’s government

They’re led by a Spaniard who regularly dons the North Korean military uniform and maintains he is a “special delegate” of Pyongyang’s committee for cultural relations

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A poster featuring the upcoming second summit between the US and North Korea is seen at a restaurant in Hanoi. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:31am, 24 Feb 2019Updated: 7:21pm, 25 Feb 2019

When Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un hold their second summit in Hanoi in the coming days, 26-year-old Airul Qaiz will be watching more closely than most Singaporeans.

Airul leads the 50-member strong Singapore branch of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA), an international network of fervent North Korea supporters who claim they have direct links to Pyongyang.

Led by Alejandro Cao de Benós, a Spain-based sympathiser of the government, the KFA says it has members in 120 countries, though its official website lists branches in only about three dozen, including the United States, Germany and Thailand.

The branches organise demonstrations, film screenings and seminars to discuss Pyongyang’s socialist ideology of self-reliance, known as “juche”.

Airul says he hopes the February 27-28 meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will deliver long-standing goals of Pyongyang such as reunification with the South and an official end to the Korean war.

While the second Trump-Kim summit was expected to secure more concrete commitments from Pyongyang on denuclearisation, of late, Trump has shifted away from demanding immediate action to considering a peace treaty together with the North’s agreement to destroy some of its nuclear facilities.