N. Koreans hail Kim Jong

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korean citizens are hailing their leader Kim Jong-un for successfully holding the June 12 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.

This was the first dialogue between a North Korean leader and a sitting American president.

"Kim Jong-un is being increasingly praised for the North Korea-U.S. summit," a source said last week, pointing out Kim also held two summits with President Moon Jae-in and three with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year alone.

Another source said the Singapore summit has been the "talk of the town among officials in the Workers' Party, military and government, as well as students and employees at universities" and that they find reports and photos related to the summit interesting.

"Young people are brimming in anticipation of reunification," it said.

The third source claimed the readers of the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, "go over every detail of the summit and make predictions on what changes will happen to our country in the future."

The source added, "Some students even hope they will have the opportunity to enjoy culture and civilization like other countries in the 21st century."

North Koreans are especially satisfied by Kim standing next to Trump.

"It is interpreted as North Korea being equal to the U.S. on the international stage, despite apparent differences in terms of size of their land and economy," a source said. "Some students and youngsters even claim the North Korean flag at the summit venue looked even brighter next to the American flag. They have said the American flag evoked hatred when viewed separately but were surprised when they realized the flags of the two nations shared the same colors."

Meanwhile, some North Koreans are disgruntled by Kim's agreement on denuclearization with Moon and Trump.

They claim they are deceived by the regime promising to give up its nuclear program after pursuing it for years.