A person dressed as North Korea's Kim Jong Un crashed an election campaign event for Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday, dodging security to enter a manufacturing facility after the Australian leader had departed.
PM Morrison was visiting the electorate of Chisholm, held by local member Gladys Liu by a margin of less than 1 per cent. Australia is due to head to an election on May 21 and Morrison's center-right Liberal National Coalition is currently trailing opposition Labor Party in opinion polling.
Shortly after PM Morrison left, the impersonator turned up at the door and after speaking briefly to journalists, walked into the facility. He claimed he was Howard X, a Kim Jong Un lookalike, who has made headlines impersonating North Korea's Supreme Leader, including during the 2018 US-North Korea summit in Singapore.
During his appearance at the manufacturing facility, he said without explanation that a vote for the governing Liberal National Coalition would be a vote for the Chinese Communist Party.
When a member of the prime minister's media team told the impersonator to leave, he responded, "You don't tell a Supreme Leader what to do."
The actor didn't answer questions on whether he was part of a political party or movement, but Australian senate candidate and Chinese government critic Drew Pavlou said he had previously discussed Howard X's visit to Chisholm.
"This is actually one of the best things we've ever managed," Pavlou said on his Twitter account. "Love you, Howard, you beautiful genius."
The impersonator was later questioned by Australian police.
