Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived for his meeting with officials in North Korea bearing a special gift for Kim Jong-un — a CD that included Elton John’s song “Rocket Man,” according to reports Friday.
The music offering came at the behest of President Trump, who frequently mocked Kim last year by dubbing him “Little Rocket Man” after North Korea was slapped with sanctions for detonating nuclear devices.
“The ‘Rocket Man’ CD was the subject of discussion during Trump’s lunch with Kim,” a diplomatic source told the South-Korean Chosun Ilbo news outlet, referring to an exchange between the two leaders during their historic June summit in Singapore.
“Kim mentioned that Trump referred to him as ‘Rocket Man’ when tensions ran high last year,” the source said. “Trump then asked Kim if he knew the song and Kim said ‘no.’ ”
Included with the CD (inset) of John’s 1972 hit single was a note written and signed by Trump, the outlet said.
News of the gift caught the attention of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine — who ran against Trump in 2016 as Hillary Clinton’s running mate.
“And Kim Jong Un sends back a copy of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot,’ ” the Democrat wrote in a snarky retweet of the Chosun Ilbo article.
Pompeo said of his three-hour meeting in Pyongyang that he hoped to “fill in” details of the country’s promise to denuclearize the peninsula.
Officials were also expected to hash out the return of the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War.
Pompeo met with Kim Yong-chol — who was key in arranging the Singapore summit — but it was unclear if Pompeo would meet with Kim Jong-un, who signed a declaration in Singapore promising a “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” but has yet to detail those plans.
Pompeo neither confirmed nor denied the quirky Trump gift to Kim Jong-un when asked about it by reporters who accompanied him to North Korea, according to NBC News.