Trump-Kim documentary on North Korean TV leaves out that whole part about negotiations abruptly ending

The 75-minute film didn't include the fact no deal was reached.

March 7, 2019, 6:23 AM

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean state television aired a documentary about Kim Jong Un's recent summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, but the film didn't mention how negotiations broke down and that nothing actually was decided.

The 75-minute film on Korean Central Television, a state-run channel focused on propping up the regime, aired six days after Kim met with Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, and portrayed the North Korean leader favorably, taking a stroll with the president inside their hotel's garden.

Instead of discussing how negotiations broke down, the film's narrator talked up the relationship between the two leaders, saying, "If the U.S. and North Korea are determined to solve problems, they can design a whole new future."

PHOTO: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un listens to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Feb. 27, 2019.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un listens to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Feb. 27, 2019.
AFP/Getty Images

Hwi-rak Park, a political science professor at Kookmin University, told ABC News the documentary "is propaganda," nothing more than an effort toward bolstering Kim's image "by not mentioning the collapse of the Hanoi summit."

Intellectuals in North Korea may have noticed," Park added, "but the general public does not require their leader to bring back a signed agreement after a trip abroad."

Trump expressing confidence in Kim may be the one "silver lining" from the summit for North Korea, said Cheong Seong-chang, vice president of research planning at the Seoul, Korea-based think tank Sejong Institute.

"The talks were carried out in a favorable manner," he added, "and Trump expressed his confidence in Kim."

PHOTO: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un speaks as President Donald Trump looks on during the extended bilateral meeting in the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28, 2019.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un speaks as President Donald Trump looks on during the extended bilateral meeting in the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28, 2019.
Leah Millis/Reuters

The narrator of the Korean Central Television film also expressed high expectations for another summit, emphasizing that Trump expressed an interest in meeting more often with Kim to keep improving the relationship between the two countries.

The film contained "only vague comments" about "easing tensions and making peace in the Korean peninsula," said Philo Kim, a professor at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. North Korea seems unable "to accept that there was no agreement made in Hanoi."

ABC News' Hansol Park and Sorah Choi contributed to this report.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un walk in the garden at the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28, 2019.
President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un walk in the garden at the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28, 2019.
Leah Millis/Reuters

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