GYEONGJU, South Korea — President Trump was given a massive gold crown Wednesday by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who proclaimed a new “golden age” of the nations’ alliance.
Trump, known for his love of the precious metal, which he has used extensively to redecorate the Oval Office, also received the Grand Order of Mugungwha, South Korea’s highest honor, featuring a large medal on a golden necklace.
“It’s as beautiful as it can possibly be…. I’d like to wear it right now,” Trump told his host, who told him the award recognized Trump’s efforts to improve relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
A Korean translator told Trump that the enormous pronged crown, meanwhile, was a replica of “the largest and most extravagant of the six existing crowns from the Silla period.”
The Silla kingdom, based in Gyeongju for about 1,000 years between 57 BC and 935 AD, at one point ruling most of Korea.
“It symbolizes the spirit of Silla, which brought peace to the Korean peninsula for the first time and there will be a new golden age of the Korean-US alliance,” Lee said.
Trump did not mention a desire to wear the crown — which he received less than two weeks after the massive “No Kings” protests by Democrats against his policies, which organizers said featured 7 million participants in major US cities on Oct. 18.
The president responded to those protests by posting a meme of himself wearing a crown and dumping feces on the protesters from a fighter jet.
At a subsequent bilateral meeting, Lee again expressed his gratitude for Trump’s outreach to Kim, whom the US president expressed a willingness to meet this week.
“Chairman Kim has not really accepted your good intention and your gesture. So this time it did not happen, but I believe that we have been planting good seeds for a better future,” Lee said.
Lee noted to Trump that “on the Korean peninsula, a war is going on, technically speaking” and said his nation would increase military spending.
The South Korean leader said he also wanted Trump to sign of no a plan to provide his country with nuclear fuel to allow for nuclear-powered submarines.
“I know that you are officially at war, but we will see what we can do to get that all straightened out,” Trump said.
