Documentary shows Trump saluting North Korean general

[Norm dePlume]

Documentary shows Trump saluting North Korean general

North Korean state television aired a 42-minute documentary Thursday that offered a different view of Kim Jong Un's meeting with President Trump in Singapore.

Notably, the documentary appears to have captured several moments that international news organizations missed — including one awkward moment when Trump was saluted by a North Korean military leader. The U.S. president then salutes in return.

Seems like a pretty minor faux pas, but people get pretty shrill about military protocol sometimes. I wonder if the general will get disappeared for throwing the salute in the first place, or rewarded for luring Trump into a propaganda win?

There's a short video of the moment at WP, or can see the whole documentary here. Jump to 23:40 for the salute. I don't know what the narrator is saying, but her hysterically enthusiastic tone of voice is entertaining.

[Adam]

I don't really even know if this is a faux pas. I can't seem to find anything that specifies whether this is right or wrong. Officially, a salute is a gesture of mutual respect, but the President is not actually required to salute anyone (including those Marines standing by the helicopter), and no one not in uniform is required to salute at any time, according to US custom. In other countries, the customs vary wildly, with a lot of cases of civilians saluting their country's flag and the like. Technically, according to this, holding one's hand over the heart during the Pledge of Allegiance is a form of salute.

I can't seem to find anything about whether it is appropriate for a President to return a salute to a (presumably high-ranking in this case) foreign military officer. However, there is pretty clearly-established protocol for heavy-gun salutes for foreign heads of state and military officers (a one-star general receives an eleven-gun salute, for example), so I'm inclined to believe that it's not really entirely inappropriate to respond to a salute, though certainly it's not usual. It's also noted here that it's appropriate to salute officers of "friendly countries." The catch is that we don't have a firm definition of "friendly." Is that only the closest of allies (the Brits, for example), or does it mean all countries except those for whom an active state of war exists, or does it mean something in between? Technically we are still at war with NK, but we've been under a cease-fire for sixty-five years, so are they "friendly?"

Meh. I dunno.

[scott]

The return of a salute is an acknowledgement of the salute rendered. That's it.

It's an awkward issue because not saluting the NORK General would have left him hanging embarrassed which isn't exactly a good idea during a summit to negotiate peace between two hostile nations. But I'm not pleased seeing Trump salute anybody actually. To me it's worse than watching Clinton or Obama salute.