Sir Keir Starmer mistakenly claimed the UK had secured a trade deal with North Korea during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. The Labour leader was listing agreements his government had reached with various countries when he included North Korea alongside India and the United States.
Responding to Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, Starmer said: “There are trade deals with the EU, but also with India, North Korea and the United States, and I remind them of the value of those deals.” Shortly after, he was handed a note and corrected himself.
Starmer told MPs: “I’ve just been handed a note saying that I inadvertently said we did a trade deal with North Korea instead of South Korea. It was a slip of the tongue, but a pretty unfortunate one.” The gaffe drew attention to the stark diplomatic differences between the two Koreas.
