As a planned peace summit between the United States and North Korea appears to be in peril, a department of the Trump administration reportedly issued a collectable coin commemorating the yet-to-happen meeting.
According to the New York Times, the coins were commissioned by the White House Communications — a subset of the Department of Defense that handles military communications for the White House. The coin depicts silhouettes of President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
The White House denied having any input into the design or manufacture of the coin on Monday, adding that the coins are only ordered "after a trip has been publicly announced."
Critics called the release of the coins "gross," others added that referring to Kim Jong Un as North Korea's "Supreme Leader" felt inappropriate given the country's human rights abuses.
Congratulations tin-pot dictators everywhere: not only will the United States fruitlessly negotiate with you, we will also emblazon your image in a coin and call you the "Supreme Leader" pic.twitter.com/czorOPYTzp
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) May 21, 2018
Trump announced earlier this month that he would meet the North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12 for peace talks. However, in recent days North Korea has threatened to cancel the peace talks over planned military exercises between the US and South Korea and has said it will not surrender its nuclear weapons.
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.