Trump gifted golden crown by South Korea after ‘No Kings’ protests

South Korea welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump today with a replica gold crown and awarded him the country’s highest decoration.

Trump landed in South Korea on the final leg of a trip through Asia that also saw stops in Malaysia and Japan, but was gifted the ‘Grand Order of Mugunghwa’by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Lee’s office said the title was in recognition of Trump’s role as a ‘peacemaker’ on the Korean peninsula.

‘I’d like to wear it right now,’ Trump said when presented with the glittering award.

Trump was also gifted a replica of the golden Cheonmachong crown. The delicate original, which was found in a tomb in Gyeongju, features towering gold prongs and dangling leaf shapes.

The replica crown came after organisers who oppose Trump’s immigration, education and security policies hosted 2,700 events across all 50 states as part of the ‘No Kings’ protests.

This is the third mass mobilisation since Trump’s return to the White House, with a No Kings rally seizing the US in June.

People had their reasons to be there. Signs and chants described their growing anger over immigration raids, the deployment of federal troops and the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, and many other issues.

But while South Korea was wooing their US counterparts, North Korea bragged about conducting successful cruise missile tests, in the latest display of its growing military capabilities.

The US president has repeatedly expressed a desire to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his trip, but acknowledged difficulties in arranging a meeting.

‘I know Kim Jong Un very well. We get along very well,’ Trump said at the beginning of his meeting with President Lee.

‘We really weren’t able to work out timing.’

Speaking with reporters earlier aboard Air Force One en route from Japan to South Korea, he appeared to downplay the significance of the latest North Korean missile tests.

‘He’s been launching missiles for decades, right?’ he asked.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and the US were analysing the weapons and maintaining a combined defence readiness capable of a ‘dominant response’ against any North Korean provocation.

Pyongyang’s latest launches followed short-range ballistic missile tests last week, which it said involved a new hypersonic system designed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent.

North Korea has not made a direct response to Trump’s overture as it has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with the US fell apart in 2019 due to disputes over American-led sanctions.

Many experts say North Korea is not likely to return to talks with Trump any time soon unless it is assured it would get big US concessions like extensive relief of sanctions, but others say Pyongyang would find it difficult to ignore the US leader’s repeated attempts because it could become less of a foreign policy priority for Mr Trump.

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