‘HISTORIC’ MEETING AWAITS TRUMP
‘Entire world is watching’ talks with Kim
SINGAPORE • U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jongun converged on this island city-state Sunday ahead of one of the most unusual and highly anticipated summits in recent world history, a Tuesday sit-down meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
Trump descended from Air Force One into the steamy Singapore night, greeting officials and declaring he felt “very good” before he was whisked away to his hotel, driving along a route lined with police and photosnapping onlookers. Trump travelled to Singapore from Canada, where he attended a meeting of the Group of Seven.
Hours earlier, a jet carrying Kim landed. After shaking hands with the Singapore foreign minister, Kim sped through the city’s streets in a massive limousine, two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood, surrounded by other black vehicles with tinted windows and bound for the luxurious and closely guarded St. Regis Hotel.
Kim smiled broadly Sunday evening as he met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
“The entire world is watching the historic summit between (North Korea) and the United States of America and thanks to your sincere efforts ... we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit,” Kim told Lee through an interpreter.
Trump is set to meet with Lee on Monday.
Trump has said he hopes to win a legacy-making deal with the North to give up their nuclear weapons, though he has recently sought to manage expectations, saying that it may take more than one meeting.
The North, many experts believe, stands on the brink of being able to target the entire U.S. mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles and while there’s deep skepticism Kim will quickly give up those hard-won nukes, there’s also some hope diplomacy can replace the animosity between the U.S. and the North.
This will be the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president. The North has faced crippling diplomatic and economic sanctions as it has advanced development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The North Korean autocrat’s every move will be followed by 3,000 journalists who have converged on Singapore and by gawkers around the world up until he shakes hands with Trump on Tuesday. It’s a reflection of the intense global curiosity over Kim’s sudden turn to diplomacy in recent months after a slew of North Korean nuclear and missile tests last year raised serious fears of war.
Part of the interest in Tuesday’s summit is simply because Kim has had such limited appearances on the world stage. He has only publicly left his country three times since taking power after his father’s death in late 2011 — twice travelling to China and once across the shared border with the South to the southern part of the Demilitarized Zone in recent summits with the leaders of China and South Korea respectively.
But it’s Kim’s pursuit of nuclear weapons that gives his meeting with Trump such high stakes. The meeting was initially meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, but the talks have been portrayed by Trump in recent days more as a getto-know-you session. Trump has also raised the possibility of further summits and an agreement ending the Korean War by replacing the armistice signed in 1953 with a peace treaty. China and South Korea would have to sign off on any legal treaty.
It’s unclear what Trump and Kim might decide Tuesday.
Pyongyang has said it is willing to deal away its entire nuclear arsenal if the United States provides it with a reliable security assurance and other benefits. But many say this is highly unlikely given how hard it has been for Kim to build his program and the weapons are seen as the major guarantee to holding onto his unchecked power.
Any nuclear deal will hinge on North Korea’s willingness to allow unfettered outside inspections of the country’s warheads and nuclear fuel, much of which is likely kept in a vast complex of underground facilities.
Past nuclear deals have crumbled over North Korea’s reluctance to open its doors to outsiders.