FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show Kim Jong Un Calling Joe Biden A ‘Weak President’ During A Speech?
A video shared on Facebook purportedly shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling President Joe Biden a “weak president” and saying he “still has a good relationship” with former President Donald Trump.
“Look what Rocket man say about Biden,” the Facebook user commented.
Verdict: False
The video shows Kim giving an October 2020 address. In the speech, he mentions neither Biden nor Trump, according to an English translation and media reports.
Fact Check:
The video, which includes a watermark for the TikTok handle @tabitharetals, shows Kim delivering a speech, with purported English-language subtitles superimposed at the bottom. The video was posted on TikTok by the user @tabitharetals March 7 and has also circulated on Twitter.
“Joe Biden is a weak President and an insult to North Korea,” the subtitles allege Kim said. “He is a thug letting protesters burn buildings down. Trump and I still have a good relationship. Biden is a coward. He is more worried about Coronavirus and makes America weak.”
The subtitles then go on to allege Kim said, “Biden is a real thug. You can’t even understand a word he says on TV. He is very mentally unstable.” (RELATED: Does This Photo Show Trump Speaking To The Military In January 2021?)
The speech Kim can be seen and heard delivering in the video took place before Biden was elected president, Check Your Fact found. Kim’s clothing and the background match those visible in a Reuters photo and video of an Oct. 10, 2020, speech Kim delivered in Pyongyang. The North Korea leader gave the speech at an Oct. 10 military parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party, according to Reuters.
The National Committee on North Korea, a U.S.-based non-governmental group that supports “principled engagement between the U.S. and North Korea,” posted an English translation of the Oct. 10 speech from the state-run Korean Central News Agency on its website. Neither Biden nor Trump’s names appear in that English translation of the speech.
Media outlets such as Reuters, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera and CNBC covered Kim’s speech at the time. Had Kim made the comments attributed to him in the subtitles, they almost certainly would have been reported in the stories, yet none of the outlets quoted Kim as saying the remarks about Biden and Trump. In fact, The Wall Street Journal noted Kim “didn’t mention President Trump or the U.S. nor did he issue any direct threats.”
During a news conference last week, Biden condemned the launching of two ballistic missiles by North Korea into the Sea of Japan, NBC News reported. He also said he was “prepared for some form of diplomacy” with North Korea, but noted “it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization,” according to a White House transcript of the press conference.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated Monday that Biden does not intend to meet with Kim as part of his diplomatic approach to North Korea, Reuters reported.