[REUTERS / Yonhap Photo]
SEOUL -- With the world awaiting a historic summit between U.S. and North Korean leaders, a version of the North's reclusive leader Kim Jong-un who turned up early in Singapore has been thrown into the spotlight.
The Australian-Chinese man, who goes by the name of Howard X, was seen posing as Kim and walking along the streets of central Singapore on Sunday.
Kim's doppelganger was definitely a head turner. The man had been making rounds near the Marina Bay Sands hotel, a potential venue for the summit, and the Esplanade. Armed with a box of chicken rice and Singapore's famous Durian, he began posing for pictures as a crowd gathered in front of him, bewildered by his entertaining act.
"That guy looks a lot like me, and I thought, wow, I need to do something with this and make some money," Howard said, adding the purpose of his trip is to wish for a successful summit and for Kim and Trump to negotiate an end to the North's nuclear program.
[REUTERS / Yonhap Photo]
"It looked like the real Kim Jong-un, but later I realized it's not the real one," Sagar Admuthe from Mumbai, India, said after taking several selfies with Howard.
Howard was already well known for his appearance at this year's Winter Olympics in South Korea that baffled North Korean cheerleaders who initially thought that their leader has walked into a hockey stadium.
His associate Dennis Alan, who is known to impersonate Trump, was not able to join Howard this week, but they assured fans that the dynamic duo would return back to Singapore just before the summit.
The fate of the meeting between Kim and Trump is still uncertain because of Trump's unexpected withdrawal, but U.S. and North Korean officials are locked in negotiations in the truce village of Panmunjom to try and reinstate it. Nonetheless, the White House will send a team to Singapore to prepare for the summit.
"Hey Donald, I'm already in Singapore, waiting for you to run up," Howard X said.
This story was contributed by Jazin Wee, an editorial assistant, and edited by Lim Chang-won.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
