MILITARY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday [6-14-18] President Donald Trump was using ‘common courtesy’ when he returned a military salute from a North Korean general during Tuesday’s [6-12-18]summit in Singapore. ‘It’s a common courtesy when a military official from another government salutes, that you return that,’ Sanders told CNN’s Jim Acosta during Thursday’s White House press briefing. For US military officers, returning a salute from a military officer of a friendly foreign nation is common practice and considered a display of military professionalism. However, there is no rule that a US president is obliged to return a salute, which is considered a sign of mutual respect. North Korean state media recently aired footage of Trump returning a salute to a North Korean military general during this week’s summit in Singapore — an extraordinary display of respect from a US president to a top officer of a hostile regime. After Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walked down a colonnade to shake hands, the pair entered into a room filled with various members of Kim’s delegation, the video from North Korean broadcaster KCTV news shows.”
-Maegan Vazquez, “Sarah Sanders calls Trump’s salute to North Korean general ‘common courtesy’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 14, 2018 4:06 pm