FACT CHECK: Trump didn’t invite Kim Jong Un to visit Philippines and meet Duterte

Claim: During their summit on June 12 in Singapore, US President Donald Trump invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to visit the Philippines and meet with President Rodrigo Duterte.

On June 12, blog philippineinsidernews.blogspot.com ran the headline, “Trump Invites North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un to Visit Philippines and Meet With Duterte.”

The blog post, contributed by a certain “Orlando Gagui,” attributes the claim to a “Filipino aide” of US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim. According to the aide who “requested anonymity”, Trump told Kim  a “few details” about his November 2017 visit to the Philippines during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, then invited Kim to visit Philippines and meet with Duterte.

The post was shared in 9 Facebook groups and 3 pages which all accounted for a total of 1,000,798 followers and 3,662 interactions as of June 16.

The blog weblogph.tk also published the claim in an undated June post.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: No official news reports support the claims that Kim was invited by Trump to meet with Duterte, and that Ambassador Sung Kim has a “Filipino aide” accompanying him in Singapore.

The Trump-Kim summit revolved around the denuclearization of North Korea. There are no news reports saying that the Philippines or Duterte was discussed during the meeting.

The blog has many characteristics of a “fake news” website: lack of a company profile, editorial board, contact details, single author to majority of the articles, and dedicated to a certain topic.

Meanwhile, weblogph.tk previously published misleading claims about the Philippines and Metro Manila’s crime rate, and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s supposed resignation. Rappler has fact-checked both claims.

There are blog posts that have alarming claims coming from an anonymous, or sometimes, fabricated source. Make sure to check similar reports from credible news organizations. (READ: 10 tips on how to spot fake news from Facebook) – Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com

If you suspect a Facebook page, group, account, a website, or an article is spreading false information, let Rappler know by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.