‘Selfie with President Xi’: Two months after ‘backdoor’ phone joke, South Korea’s Lee gets ‘shot of a lifetime’
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday snapped a selfie with Xi Jinping using a phone gifted to him by the Chinese premier. In a social media post on X, Lee posted the selfie of himself, Xi and their wives on social media platform X on Monday during a visit to Beijing.
“A selfie with President Xi Jinping and his wife, taken with the Xiaomi I received as a gift in Gyeongju. Thanks to them, I got the shot of a lifetime,” Lee said.“I will communicate more frequently and collaborate more closely going forward,” he added.South Korean President’s family also posted a short YouTube video where Xi was seen complimenting Lee’s photo skills. Earlier in November, Xi cracked a joke to Lee while gifting a Xiaomi handset to him on the sidelines of APEC summit in South Korea. The selfie sparked heavy interest online and was shared more than 3,400 times in the first few hours.One user quipped: “Sir, Do you know Nicolas Maduro used the same phone?”The South Korean leader, who took office in June following the impeachment and removal of his predecessor over a martial law declaration, has sought to improve ties with China after a years-long diplomatic deep freeze.
When Lee asked if the communication line on the device was secure, the Chinese leader urged him to “check if there is a backdoor” — referring to pre-installed software that could allow third-party monitoring.Later, South Korean President has said Xi was “unexpectedly quite good at making jokes”.The banter was a rare display of humour from the Chinese leader, who is not often seen making jokes, let alone about espionage.Meanwhile, Xi, in a ninety-minute summit, urged Lee to join Beijing in making the “right strategic choices” in a world that is “becoming more complex and turbulent”.Lee’s visit to China followed a US military operation in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York to face narco-trafficking charges — a raid condemned by Beijing and Pyongyang.
