Washington: Ahead of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Vietnam this week, an Australian man says he was taken from his hotel by Vietnamese police officers who said they were deporting him for visa reasons.
U.S. President Donald Trump impersonator Russell White, left, and Kim Jong-un impersonator Howard X pose for photos outside the Opera House in Hanoi, Vietnam.Credit:AP
In his time in the country, he had dressed in a Mao-style suit and thick glasses to impersonate the North Korean leader.
"The real reason is I was born with a face looking like Kim Jong-un; that's the real crime," the impersonator, known as Howard X, told Agence France-Presse on Monday as three officials took him from his hotel to Hanoi's airport.
Another man in Vietnam who impersonates Trump – Canadian-born Russell White – has been told he can stay in the country as long as he does not continue to impersonate the American leader.
The problem is that was Kim has "no sense of humour," complained Howard X, who left Vietnam on the same day Kim was expected to arrive by on a train.
President Donald Trump impersonator Russell White, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un impersonator Howard X pose for photos outside the Opera House in Hanoi.Credit:AP
"I was personally escorted from my hotel to the airport by the immigration department with 3 officials," the impersonator later wrote on Facebook.
"When arriving at the airport I was then escorted through immigration and security check through the VIP section with a soldiers and officials from the immigration. I almost feel like a real president!"
Howard X and White had been in Hanoi for several days, taking photos with curious onlookers and posing as the two world leaders ahead of talks on denuclearisation.
When appearing together, the two men would pretend to kiss. Last week, they held their own fake summit in which they said North Korea would hold back its nuclear ambitions.
During the past year, Howard X – whose real name is Lee Howard Ho Wun – has become a regular fixture at the sidelines of high-profile diplomatic events.
Based in Hong Kong, the Australian has told reporters he came to impersonate Kim because of a natural resemblance to the North Korean leader.
His appearances have not been trouble free, however.
Last February he attended the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, where he tried to talk to a number of North Korean cheerleaders who were supporting athletes from his country. After the North Koreans appeared to be angered by his presence, security had to intervene.
Deported: Howard X, an Australian impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, waves.Credit:AP
"They shouted something in Korean. I wasn't sure what it was," he told Yahoo News after the incident, "and then the police got involved and they dragged me away – they said for my own safety."
Last June, as Trump and Kim were preparing to meet in Singapore, Howard was detained by authorities at Singapore's international airport and told to keep his distance from Sentosa Island and the Shangri-La Hotel – both named "special event areas" ahead of the summit.
The second summit this week between Trump and Kim in Vietnam comes amid continuing scrutiny of the American leader's dealmaking abilities, as well as scepticism that North Korea actually intends to give up its nuclear weapons.
American officials have said they hope that Vietnam – a Communist nation and former enemy of the United States – may prove to be an appealing model for North Korea.
But activists have also noted that Vietnam remains an authoritarian nation, where human rights are often ignored and free speech suppressed.
"If Vietnam serves as any example for the path North Korea should head in, then we should be very concerned about the future state of human rights in the Korean Peninsula," Francisco Bencosme, Asia Pacific advocacy manager at Amnesty International, told WorldViews.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, tweeted on Monday that the treatment of Howard X shows "how repressive Vietnam is."
In a Facebook post late Friday, Howard X said he had been warned by Vietnamese official that he could face deportation.
"If the Vietnamese authorities are willing to give this kind of harassment over something as trivial as an impersonation to a high profile foreigner, imagine what all the Vietnamese artists, musicians, film producers and all the political activists have to endure for simply wanting to release a controversial film, songs or for simply speaking up about real injustices in this country," he wrote.
On Monday, following another visit from a Vietnamese official, he suggested the response to his act was a reminder of how sensitive regimes such as Kim's are. "It just proves that all dictatorships fears any forms of satire, even something as trivial as an impersonator," he wrote.
Washington Post
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