South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took a selfie with Xi Jinping using a smartphone given by the Chinese leader, who joked during their last meeting that the device might have spying capabilities.
On Monday, Lee posted a selfie on social media platform X of himself, Xi Jinping and their wives during a visit to Beijing.
“The selfie with President Xi Jinping and his wife was taken with the Xiaomi phone I received as a gift in Gyeongju,” Lee wrote.
“Thanks to them, I got the opportunity of a lifetime,” he said.
“I will communicate more frequently and work more closely going forward.”
In this selfie, all four first families are smiling.
Lee Myung-bak’s office also posted a brief video of the scene on YouTube, with Xi praising the South Korean leader’s photography skills.
Xiaomi phones made headlines last November when Xi Jinping made a joke to Lee Myung-bak during the APEC summit in South Korea.
When Lee Myung-bak asked whether the communication lines on the device were secure, the Chinese leader urged him to “check for backdoors” – referring to pre-installed software that could allow third-party surveillance.
The banter was a rare display of humor from China’s leader, who doesn’t often joke, let alone talk about espionage.
South Korea’s president said Xi Jinping was “unexpectedly very good at making jokes.”
At Monday’s ninety-minute summit, Xi urged Lee to work with Beijing to make “correct strategic choices” in a world that is “becoming more complex and volatile”.
Li’s visit to China follows a U.S. military operation in Caracas that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to New York to face drug trafficking charges, an attack condemned by Beijing and Pyongyang.
Lee’s selfie post sparked huge interest online, being retweeted more than 3,400 times in its first few hours.
One user quipped: “Sir, did you know that Nicolás Maduro uses the same phone?”
The South Korean leader, who took office in June after his predecessor was impeached and ousted from office for declaring martial law, has sought to improve relations with China after years of a diplomatic deep freeze.
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