Trump, Kim arrive in Singapore for Tuesday’s summit
SINGAPORE — President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un converged on this island city-state Sunday ahead of one of the most unusual and highly anticipated summits in recent world history, a 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 photo-snapping onlookers. Trump traveled to Singapore from Canada, where he met with other world leaders whose countries make up the Group of Seven.
Hours earlier, a jet carrying Kim landed. After shaking hands with the Singapore foreign minister, Kim sped through the streets in a 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.
He and Trump are set to meet Tuesday morning in 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.
Kim smiled broadly Sunday evening as he met with Singapore
Prime Loong. ing between the ica, “The United and the Minister entire thanks historic (North States world to Korea) Lee of your summit is watch- Amer- Hsien and sincere to complete efforts the ... we preparations were able for told the Lee historic through summit,” an inter- Kim preter.
Trump is set to meet with Lee today.
Trump has said he hopes to make a legacy-defining deal for the North to give up its 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 that Kim will quickly give up those hard-won nukes, there’s also some hope that diplomacy can replace the animosity between the U.S. and the North.
U.S. and North Korean officials are set to meet this morning in Singapore to make final preparations for Tuesday’s meeting. White House press secretary Sarah Huck- abee Sanders said Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines who has taken the lead on policy negoti- ations with the North, will hold a “working group” with a North Korean delegation.
The North Korean auto- crat’s every move will be fol- lowed by 3,000 journalists 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 diplo- a macy slew of in North recent Korean months nuclear after and raised missile serious tests fears last of year war. Tuesday’s Part of the summit interest is sim- in ply because Kim has had limited appearances on the world stage. He has only pub- licly left his country three times since taking power after his father’s death in late 2011 — traveling twice to China and once across his 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 get-toknow-you session. Trump has also raised the possibil- ity 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 reliable security assurances and antee other say given for and are unchecked Kim seen this given how to benefits. to is as his build that hard highly the power. holding the his major it But has unlikely, weapons program many guar- been onto on to inspections Any allow North nuclear unfettered Korea’s of deal the willingness country’s will outside hinge warheads much of which and nuclear is likely fuel, kept in ground a vast facilities. complex Past of nuclear underdeals have crumbled over North Korea’s reluctance to open its doors to outsiders. Another possibility from the summit is a deal to end the Korean War, which North Korea has long demanded, presumably, in part, to get U.S. troops off the Korean Peninsula and, eventually, pave the way for a North Korean-led unified Korea. The fighting ended on July 27, 1953, but the war technically continues today because instead of a difficult-to-negotiate peace treaty, military officers for the U.S.-led United Nations, North Korea and China signed an armistice that halted the fighting. The North may see a treaty — and its presumed safety assurances from Washington — as its best way of preserving the Kim family dynasty. The ensuing recognition as a “normal country” could then allow sanctions relief, and later international aid. Just meeting with Trump will also give Kim a recognition North Korea has long sought, setting him up as global player and the leader of a country worthy of respect.