N. Korea silent on Trump's presidential victory
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sentosa Island in Singapore, June 12, 2018. AP-Yonhap
North Korea's state media on Thursday remained silent about former U.S. President Donald Trump's election victory to secure a second presidential term.
The Republican flag-bearer won Tuesday's presidential election, becoming the second U.S. president ever to serve two nonconsecutive terms, after winning major battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
Major North Korean news outlets, such as the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Rodong Sinmun daily newspaper and the Korean Central Television had not reported on Trump's election victory as of 7 a.m. Thursday.
North Korea previously covered U.S. presidential election results indirectly, typically sometime after the outcome is announced.
For both of Barack Obama's presidential victories, the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper targeting the domestic audience, published the results four days after the official announcement.
When Trump first won the presidency in 2016, North Korea indirectly reported the result 11 days after Election Day through a Rodong Sinmun commentary that criticized then South Korean President Park Geun-hye's congratulatory message to Trump.
When Joe Biden won the presidency in 2000, North Korea remained silent for over two months, only indirectly mentioning it through the propaganda outlet DPRK Today after his official inauguration.
Analysts speculate North Korea may go out of its way this time to send a personal letter or congratulatory message directly to Trump, given that the two leaders exchanged messages in the past.
In any case, North Korea may choose not to raise public expectations for improved relations with the U.S.
Following Trump's nomination acceptance speech in July, in which he highlighted his friendship with the North Korean leader, the KCNA reported North Korea does not care about who wins, saying, "Even if any administration takes office in the U.S., the political climate ... does not change."
Trump and Kim held summit talks in Singapore in 2018 and Vietnam in 2019. The Hanoi summit ended without a deal due to a failure to narrow differences over the scope of the North's denuclearization and sanctions relief by Washington. (Yonhap)