Donald Trump arrives in Singapore ahead of summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un
Updated
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have touched down in Singapore ahead of the most anticipated summit in recent world history.
Key points:
- Kim Jong-un met Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the presidential palace
- Mr Kim will stay at the St Regis Hotel, where China's President Xi Jinping once stayed
- Pope Francis said he hoped the forthcoming summit would lead to peace for Korea
The pair are due to meet face-to-face on Tuesday morning (local time), with Mr Trump working to strike a deal that will lead to the denuclearisation of one of America's bitterest 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 window as it sped through the city's streets to the St Regis Hotel, where China's President Xi Jinping once stayed.
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.
Just a few hours after Mr Kim's arrival, 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.
Mr Trump is set to meet with the Prime Minister on Monday.
The arrival of both leaders marks another significant step towards a summit that some thought impossible and almost did not happen.
Last month Mr Trump cancelled the meeting, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility", but later announced it was back on after receiving a "very nice letter" from Mr Kim, delivered to the White House by a senior envoy from North Korea.
The North, many experts believe, stands on the brink of being able to target the entire US mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles.
While there is deep scepticism that Mr Kim will quickly give up those hard-won nukes, there is also some hope that diplomacy can replace the animosity between the US and the North.
Pope Francis said in his regular Sunday address that he hoped the summit would lead to peace for Korea.
"I want, once more, to offer the beloved people of Korea an especial thought of friendship and prayer that the talks, which will take place in the coming days in Singapore, can contribute to the development of a positive path that guarantees a peaceful future for the Korean peninsula and for the whole world," the Pope said.
Meeting could lead to agreement to end Korean War
Despite the high stakes of a meeting meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, the talks have been portrayed by Mr Trump in recent days more as a get-to-know-you session.
He 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.
There is a flurry of speculation about what results might come from the summit.
The initial goal was the "complete denuclearisation" of the North.
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, if not all analysts, say that this is highly unlikely, given how hard it has been for Mr Kim to build his program and that the weapons are seen as the major guarantee to his unchecked power.
Any nuclear deal will hinge on North Korea's willingness to allow unfettered outside inspections of the country's warheads and radioactive materials, 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.
Another possibility from the summit is a deal to end the Korean War, which North Korea has long demanded, presumably, in part, to get US 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 US-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 and investment.
Mr Kim may also be interested in getting aid and eventual investment to stabilise and then rebuild a crumbling economy.
Just meeting with Mr Trump will also give Mr Kim recognition as the leader of a "normal" country and as an equal of the US leader.
AP/Reuters
Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, singapore, united-states, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of
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