South Korean leader Lee snaps Xi selfie with Chinese ‘backdoor’ phone

BEIJING – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung snapped a selfie with President Xi Jinping using a smartphone gifted to him by the Chinese leader, who had joked at their last meeting that the device might be capable of spying.

Mr Lee posted a selfie of himself, Mr Xi and their wives on social media platform X on Jan 5 during a visit to Beijing.

“A selfie with President Xi Jinping and his wife, taken with the Xiaomi I received as a gift in Gyeongju,” Mr Lee wrote.

“Thanks to them, I got the shot of a lifetime,” he said.

“I will communicate more frequently and collaborate more closely going forward.”

In the selfie, the presidential families are seen smiling.

Mr Lee’s office also posted a short YouTube video of the scene, with Mr Xi complimenting the South Korean leader’s photo skills.

The Xiaomi handset

made headlines in November

when Mr Xi cracked a joke to Mr Lee on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.

When Mr Lee asked if the communication line on the device was secure, the Chinese leader urged him to “check if there is a backdoor” – referring to pre-installed software that could allow third-party monitoring.

The banter was a rare display of humour from the Chinese leader, who is not often seen making jokes, let alone about espionage.

The South Korean President has said Mr Xi is “unexpectedly quite good at making jokes”.

During their

90-minute summit on Jan 5

, Mr Xi urged Mr Lee to join Beijing in making the “right strategic choices” in a world that is “becoming more complex and turbulent”.

Mr Lee’s visit to China followed a US military operation in Caracas that

captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

and took him to New York to face narco-trafficking charges – a raid condemned by Beijing and Pyongyang.

Mr Lee’s selfie post sparked heavy interest online and was shared more than 3,400 times in the first few hours.

One user quipped: “Sir, do you know Nicolas Maduro used the same phone?”

The South Korean leader, who took office in June 2025 following the impeachment and removal of his predecessor over a martial law declaration, has sought to improve ties with China after a years-long diplomatic deep freeze.

On Jan 6, he met in Beijing with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, charged with economic policy, hailing improving ties as the “irreversible trend of the times”.

The South Korean leader then headed to China’s economic powerhouse city of Shanghai. AFP