Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan took to Facebook last night to share a selfie taken of himself, Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un and Singapore’s Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Ong Ye Kung.
He captioned his picture saying “#Jalanjalan #guesswhere?”.
However, many netizens felt that it was a completely different side of Kim Jong-un that was being shown.
Founder of The Online Citizen (TOC) Andrew Loh also shared the selfie and his sentiments, “I don’t begrudge the $20m but when I see selfies like these, I shudder a little. Why? Because this fella is a murderer and a dictator who comes from a line of brutal dictators and murderers. And also, I compare how you treat your own critics so harshly, destroying their lives, their reputation, hauling up a person who even holds a one-man peaceful protest.”
He continued, “Yes host the summit. It is an important thing. But please don’t go and prostitute our country in such manner. Spending $20m is enough. You don’t have to also grovel at their feet. Have some dignity. Pretend, if you do not have any. So what’s the selfie suppose to tell us? We are chums with someone who would in normal civilised circumstances be behind bars, if not hanged under Singapore law? Get a grip.”
The original photograph was also edited by artist Sonny Liew, where the image of Kim Jong-un was edited and changed to a picture of Pol Pot, the former Prime Minister of Cambodia.
He also captioned his post saying, “Hot Tub Time Machine. Or possibly Hot Pot with Pol Pot.
#Jalanjalan #guesswhere #guesshowmanypurged”.
[poll id=”9″]
obbana@theindependent.sg