WH Calls Kim Jong-Un ‘Supreme Leader’ On Peace Summit Challenge Coin

A man walks past a television news screen showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and US President Donald Trump (L) at a railway station in Seoul on May 16, 2018. - North Korea threatened on May 16, to cancel the... A man walks past a television news screen showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and US President Donald Trump (L) at a railway station in Seoul on May 16, 2018. - North Korea threatened on May 16, to cancel the forthcoming summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump if Washington seeks to push Pyongyang into unilaterally giving up its nuclear arsenal. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP) (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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The White House refers to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “Supreme Leader” on a challenge coin made for the upcoming peace talks between President Donald Trump and Kim, several reports revealed Monday

Reports differed on the source of the coin: CNN’s Jim Acosta said it was produced by the White House Military Office. NBC’s Peter Alexander said it was from the White House Communications Agency. Both are part of the larger West Wing bureaucracy.

Though “Supreme Leader” is an official title used for Kim (one of several), it’s slightly jarring to see it in White House lettering.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to Kim as “chairman” during his trip to meet with the North Korean leader earlier this month. (Pompeo initially, and incorrectly, referred to the leader as “Chairman Un.”)

A quick search of the Obama White House’s archives found several uses of the term — by the former President, then-Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, and then-press secretaries Josh Earnest and Robert Gibbs. But they were all referring to the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

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