Trump Kim summit: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore
Unprecedented security measures likely to surround Kim at summit.
Kim arrived in an Air China 747 that touched down at Changi Airport on Sunday, Singapore's Straits Times reported.
He was greeted by Singapore’s foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, who posted a picture on Twitter of him shaking hands with Kim and the message: “Welcomed Chairman Kim Jong Un, who has just arrived in Singapore”.
Welcomed Chairman Kim Jong Un, who has just arrived in Singapore. pic.twitter.com/ZLK4ouIejx— Vivian Balakrishnan (@VivianBala) June 10, 2018
Kim is due to meet Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the city-state later on Sunday, Singapore's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Kim’s journey from international pariah to being regarded as a responsible head of state has taken just a few months.
Kim is also one of the most ruthless leaders in the world. He has been accused of ordering the killing of his uncle, who was shot by a firing squad using anti-aircraft guns, and his half-brother, who could have been a challenger and was poisoned with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia.
At his behest, about 340 officers in Pyongyang whose loyalty was suspect have been purged or executed, according to South Korean intelligence.
Kim decided early on in his tenure that nuclear weapons were the only way to ensure security for his isolated nation and be taken seriously by the rest of the world. Despite North Korea being one of the world’s poorest countries, enormous resources were spent on the ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
In September, after North Korea conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test, Trump said in a tweet that Kim was “obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people”.
The two countries were on the brink of war last year, with their leaders trading insults and threats, until Kim made a dramatic offer in March to meet Trump and discuss nuclear disarmament, which the American president quickly accepted.
The Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, in 1953, and that agreement was signed by North Korea and China on one side, and the United States on behalf of the United Nations on the other.
Balakrishnan, the Singaporean foreign minister, said that during his meetings in Pyongyang and Washington he saw “sincerity” and a desire from both sides to make the summit a success.
“I see a desire, a willingness to escape the constraints that have applied for the last seven decades — so with goodwill and creativity, let's see what they come up with,” he told reporters after flying from Pyongyang to Beijing on Saturday.
Trump is scheduled to arrive at Singapore's Paya Lebar Airbase at 12:30 GMT on Sunday and will stay at the Shangri-La Hotel, according to the White House.
Officials onboard Air Force One include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
At stake at the summit are North Korea's nuclear weapons and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea spent decades developing nuclear weapons, culminating in the test of a thermonuclear device in 2017. It also successfully tested missiles that had enough range to reach the US mainland.
In a New Year's address, Kim said his country had completed development of its nuclear programme and would focus on economic development, suggesting a meeting with South Korea.
The Trump-Kim summit, which will be held at the Capella Hotel on Tuesday morning, will mark the first time a North Korean leader has met with a sitting US president.
The talks will focus on reaching an agreement on the denuclearisation of North Korea in exchange for the easing of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
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