Singapore battens down for summit

Singapore: For a couple of world leaders looking to get away to work on their relationship, Singapore has some obvious advantages.

On the law and order front, bullhorns, banners, drones and spray paint have all been banned around the resort island where President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, are expected to hold their historic summit meeting on Tuesday.

And street demonstrations of any sort, even solitary ones, require a police permit that would be hard to come by given the circumstances.

Singapore's strict security was a selling point in deciding the summit's location, and it has already come into play.

The Singaporean police announced on Friday that two South Korean journalists who were trespassing in the North Korean ambassador's residence had been arrested. And a Kim Jong-un impersonator from Hong Kong posted on social media that he was questioned for a few hours upon arriving in Singapore.

The country's history as a trading centre and neutral diplomatic player also makes it one of the few places in the world with relatively cordial ties to both North Korea and the US.

The American Chamber of Commerce of Singapore, for example, has more than 5,000 members representing more than 750 companies. Direct investment by American companies exceeds $259 billion.

Singapore also has ties with North Korea that date back to 1975, when the two countries established diplomatic relations. North Korea maintained low-level business operations here until November, when Singapore had to suspend trade under toughened UN sanctions.

"In a six-hour flight radius from Pyongyang, there are few cities that can offer the same level of familiarity," said Geoffrey See, founder of the Choson Exchange, a group that teaches western business methods to North Koreans.

New York Times News Service