A T-shirt bearing the face of one of the world’s most infamous dictators would normally be a tough sell, one would think.
Yet in summit-mad Hanoi, where streets are being spruced up and businesses from bars to barbers are cashing in on negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, anything sells.
“There’s no need to talk about Trump, as he’s already a great man. Everybody knows that,” T-shirt designer Truong Thanh Duc said. “But we should always encourage Kim Jong-un to give up his dictatorship for his people.”
“That’s why I put his image on the T-shirt,” he added.
Duc’s shirts have attracted a curious crowd in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, a bustling labyrinth of streets and market stalls popular with tourists.
He said he had sold more than 300 of his special edition shirts, the profits of which he said would go towards buying baguettes — which are popular in the former French colony — to distribute to poor people.
One of his shirts bears Kim’s face, enlarged across the length of it. Another shows Trump and Kim together above the word “PEACE.”
“I really admire these two leaders,” Duc said.
“One is the leader of the most technologically advanced country in the world and the other leader, although a bit extreme, has realized his people are too poor and he wants his nation to develop,” he added.
Across the Vietnamese capital, preparations are well under way. Parts of the city close to the expected venues have been tidied up or repainted.
One Hanoi barber is offering free Trump or Kim-style haircuts, and bars are selling drinks named “Peace Negroniations” and “Kim Jong Ale.”
Duc said he is hopeful that the summit can help promote reform.
“Kim Jong-un is a dictator, but now he has changed,” he said. “He has to give up that status to shake hands with the developed world.”
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