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President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea presented President Trump with a replica of a golden crown excavated from one of the ancient royal tombs in Gyeongju.Credit…Haiyun Jiang\/The New York Times<\/p><\/div>\n
By\u00a0<\/span>Yan Zhuang<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n President Trump has sometimes\u00a0likened himself to a king<\/a>. Now he has been given a crown.<\/p>\n Or at least a replica of one that researchers believe was worn by an ancient Korean ruler. Mr. Trump received the crown from President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea when they met on Wednesday in the city of Gyeongju.<\/p>\n During the ceremony at the Gyeongju National Museum, Mr. Trump shook hands with Mr. Lee and thanked him for the gift, saying it was \u201cvery special.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Lee also gave Mr. Trump the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, South Korea\u2019s highest decoration, in the form of a shiny, ornate necklace.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to wear it right now,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, demonstrators turned out in droves in cities and towns across the United States for\u00a0\u201cNo Kings\u201d rallies<\/a>, where protesters condemned Mr. Trump for acting, in their view, like a monarch. Though the president has previously embraced regal themes, he said in response to the protests that he was \u201cnot a king.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The roughly foot-tall replica crown given to Mr. Trump is a reproduction of one of South Korea\u2019s national treasures. It is a copy of one from the Silla Kingdom, a dynasty that gradually expanded over hundreds of years, starting in the first century B.C., and eventually conquered rival kingdoms to dominate the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n Gyeongju was the ancient Silla capital, and royal tombs buried under giant grass-covered earthen mounds are still scattered around the city of 240,000 people. That rich cultural heritage led South Korean officials to choose it as the venue for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this week, even though it\u00a0lacks the infrastructure<\/a>\u00a0to host a major international event.<\/p>\n The Silla dynasty was known as the \u201cGolden Kingdom\u201d for its use of gold. The headpiece Mr. Trump received is a replica of one of six gold crowns excavated from Gyeongju\u2019s royal tombs, alongside gilded jewelry, belts and other ornaments.<\/p>\n\n\n