Kim and Trump ‘to Discuss Permanent Peace-Keeping’ At Singapore Summit
United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have arrived in Singapore ahead of the most anticipated summit in recent world history.
The pair are due to meet face-toface today, with Mr Trump working to strike a deal that will lead to the denuclearisation of one of America’s most bitter foes.
In return for giving up his nuclear weapons, Mr Kim is seeking relief from crippling sanctions to ease the economic burden on his reclusive regime. If the summit goes ahead, it will be the first ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader.
Mr Kim arrived in Singapore on Sunday afternoon on a plane loaned by China amid huge security precautions on the city-state island. A large limousine with a North Korean flag could then be seen surrounded by other black vehicles with tinted windows as it sped through the city’s streets to the St Regis Hotel, where China’s President Xi Jinping once stayed. Mr Trump, who arrived a few hours later, is staying just 750 metres down the road at the Shangri-La Hotel.
Bodyguards in dark suits jogged alongside Mr Kim’s limousine, and grim-faced North Korean security guards warned hotel guests not to take pictures as the leader walked to his Mercedes Benz limousine. Mr Kim has only publicly left his country three times since taking power after his despot father’s death in late 2011 — twice traveling to China and once across his shared border with the South to the southern part of the Demilitarised Zone in recent summits with the leaders of China and South Korea respectively.
Shortly after his arrival, Mr Kim met Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the presidential palace.
“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,” Mr Kim told Mr Lee through an interpreter.
In his first public comments since arriving, Mr Kim said Singapore’s role would be recorded in history if the summit was a success. Mr Trump flew into Paya Lebar Air Base aboard Air Force One and was greeted by Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. Asked by a reporter how he felt about the summit, Mr Trump said: “Very good”. He then got into his waiting limousine.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said US and North Korean officials would be holding working-level talks today. She said the US delegation would be led by Sung Kim, a veteran diplomat who recently held talks with North Korean officials.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said today’s meeting appeared aimed at making 11th-hour progress ahead of the summit, since Sung Kim’s earlier talks did little to narrow a gap between the two sides on the definition of denuclearisation or win agreement on tangible commitments from Pyongyang toward dismantling its nuclear arsenal. The arrival of both leaders marks another significant step towards a summit that some thought impossible and almost did not happen.
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.