Kim’s cat-and-mouse journey to Singapore

No fewer than three aircraft made their way to the city from Pyongyang airport

North Korea’s capacity for distraction and sleight of hand was on show yesterday as leader Kim Jong-un flew to Singapore for his summit with Donald Trump.

No fewer than three aircraft made their way to Singapore from Pyongyang airport, a facility that frequently sees fewer than three international flights a day. One of them was the ageing Soviet-made Ilyushin-62 that is Kim’s personal jet — officially known as “Chammae-1”, or Goshawk-1. But while Singapore is well within its range, questions had been raised about its reliability and Kim, it turned out, was not on board. Instead, he flew on an Air China Boeing 747.

According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, it took off using flight number CA122, a standard designation for the airline’s route from Pyongyang to Beijing. In mid-air it changed its call sign to CA061 and headed south.

In Singapore its high-profile passenger was met by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who tweeted a picture of himself shaking hands with Kim. He was driven into the citystate in a convoy of more than 20 vehicles.

Who foots the bill?

Reporters and photographers packed the pavements outside the St Regis hotel where Kim was to stay. The modernist hotel is tucked between an ageing building dotted with carpet shops and a sleepy neighbourhood mall.

Rooms at the establishment start at S$320 (Dh880) a night. But the ostentatiously opulent 335-square metre Presidential Suite, where Kim was likely to stay, features a Marc Chagall artwork and a white baby grand piano. It does not give prices but the list price of a similar facility in New York is $35,000 a night.

Who will pick up the bill for the North Koreans’ stay has been the subject of much speculation. Pyongyang has a history of trying to have others pay for its travel — Seoul paid for its delegates to this year’s Winter Olympics in the South.