The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) released a new limited edition coin to commemorate the upcoming historic meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
The commemorative coin features both leaders face to face with the flag of their respective countries in the background, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.
Kim Jong Un is denoted as “supreme leader” – a controversial title for the dictator that is mainly used by citizens of North Korea and not by the U.S. The words “peace talks” are also featured on the coin.
The reverse showcases the White House, Air Force One, the Presidential Seal and the words “Visit of the President.”
Photos of the coin were posted to Twitter by NBC News corespondent Peter Alexander who noted that just 250 coins would be minted.
Less than a month to Trump-Kim summit, White House Communications Agency (WHCA) releases its “trip coin.”
This is #74 of 250 made. pic.twitter.com/UTEJg1GyWv— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 21, 2018
So-called “trip coins” are regularly released by the White House and commemorate historic heads of state visits and other important political meetings.
The souvenir coins have been around since 2003 and are made by a third-party coin manufacturer, according to White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah.
“Since 2003, White House Communications Agency (WHCA) members have ordered a limited number of commercially designed and manufactured souvenir travel coins for purchase. These coins are designed, manufactured and made by an American coin manufacturer. These coins are only ordered after a trip has been publicly announced. The White House did not have any input into the design and manufacture of the coin,” Shah said, according to a tweet from CNN’s Jim Acosta.
A North Korea summit coin update… WH says it “did not have any input into the design” of the coin and offers pic of other coins in the past pic.twitter.com/6hctaWkaGs
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 21, 2018
President Trump is slated to meet Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 in a long-awaited historic summit intended on bringing peace and denuclearization to the Korean Peninsula.
However, recent comments by both North Korea and the White House have bought about some uncertainty as to whether or not the meeting would take place in June.
Following recent joint military drills between South Korea and the U.S., North Korea threatened to call off the meeting with the United States on June 12 in Singapore.
On Tuesday, President Trump also claimed that the meeting may not work out for the scheduled date.
“There’s a very substantial chance that it won’t work out,” Trump told reporters before a meeting in the Oval Office with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to the New York Times. “It may not work out for June 12.”
“We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting.”
“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later,” he added. “Maybe it will happen at a different time. We will see. We are talking.”
