Thread: Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un arrive now less than 1km apart ahead of historic Singapo

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un arrive now less than 1km apart ahead of historic Singapore summit

Updated 24 minutes ago

United States 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 tomorrow, 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 yesterday 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.

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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.

Mr Trump is set to meet Mr Lee today.

The on-again, off-again summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the US President appears to be back on track — at least for now.

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.

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.

North Korea has long demanded and end to the Korean War, 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.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-1...summit/9855574

Oh my goodness, this is so exciting. My Uncle Wayne served 4 years in WWII and was then called to Korea during the Korean War, and I wish so much that he was still alive to see an end to the Korean War. It will be a wonderful thing if Trump and Kim Jong Un can reach a Peace and Denuclearization Agreement.