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President Trump has sent a letter to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un cancelling the June 12th meeting in Singapore. John Fritze reports.
USA TODAY
The coin commemorating the now-canceled meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is on sale — and with it, crashed a White House gift shop’s website on Thursday.
The commemorative coin — which features the names and silhouettes of Trump and Kim, the names of their respective countries and the phrase “Peace Talks” — was first revealed Monday.
Four days later, the meeting was canceled. But don’t fear, if you still want your own copy, a White House gift shop is still selling the coins — and it’s now at a lower price.Â
The coins, originally marked at $24.95, were lowered to $19.95 as the “deal of the day” on the website. Shortly after Trump announced the Singapore meeting had been called off, the gift shop website crashed and links brought customers to a “service unavailable” or “server too busy” page.Â
The site detailed that the coin would be “made whether or not the summit occurs as scheduled” because the theme was “coming close to peace” and the communication between countries.Â
More: White House says it isn’t responsible for commemorative North Korea summit coin
Those who purchased a coin before the meeting was canceled on Thursday can request a refund, the gift shop posted on its website, but added “most supporters have said they want this heirloom of political history regardless of outcome.”Â
The White House has said it had nothing to do with the coin. Its design and creation fell squarely on the White House Communications Agency, the military unit that provides global communications support to the president and his staff.
The White House Historical Association’s official gift shop in the White House is not selling the coins.Â
Earlier this week, the White House had 250 of the original coins minted ahead of the planned summit. The coins now on sale aren’t identical to the originals but replicas that come in a black velvet case.
The internet almost instantly poked fun at the coin and some criticized Kim being titled “Supreme Leader,” a title not typically acknowledged by the United States.
According to the White House, the coins, the agency’s take on the challenge coin tradition, have been created since 2003, and they commemorate trips the president takes overseas.Â
A woman dressed in a traditional gown pays her respects at statues of late North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Unaware of reports his eldest son – and current leader Kim Jong UnÂ’s half-brother – was killed just days ago in what appears to have been a carefully planned assassination, North Koreans marked the birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il on Thursday as they do every year.Â
Azalea, whose Korean name is “Dalle”, a 19-year-old female chimpanzee, smokes a cigarette at the Central Zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea Oct. 19, 2016. According to officials at the newly renovated zoo, which has become a favorite leisure spot in the North Korean capital since it was re-opened in July, the chimpanzee smokes about a pack a day. They insist, however, that she does not inhale.Â
A picture released by the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling North Korean Workers Party, on Sept. 8, 2015, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center front, and Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, second from right, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and first vice-president of the Council of State, watching an art performance by the Moranbong Band and the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sept. 7, 2015. Bermudez led a Cuban delegation to North Korea to mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between North Korea and Cuba. Â
Men and women pump their fists in the air and chant “defend!” as they carry propaganda slogans calling for reunification of their country during the “Pyongyang Mass Rally on the Day of the Struggle Against the U.S.,” attended by approximately 100,000 North Koreans to mark the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War at the Kim Il Sung stadium, Thursday, June 25, 2015, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The month of June in North Korea is known as the “Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month” and it’s a time for North Koreans to swarm to war museums, mobilize for gatherings denouncing the evils of the United States and join in a general, nationwide whipping up of the anti-American sentiment.Â
North Koreans gather in front of a portrait of their late leader Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, paying respects to their late leader Kim Jong Il, to mark the third anniversary of his death, Wednesday Dec. 17 at Pyong Chon District in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea marked the end of a three-year mourning period for the late leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to put a more personal stamp on the way the country is run. Â
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