[SUMMIT] Trump arrives in Singapore for historic summit with Kim

By Lim Chang-won Posted : June 11, 2018, 08:36 Updated : June 11, 2018, 08:36

[AP/Yonhap News Photo]


SINGAPORE -- U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Singapore for his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that would determine the destiny of the two Koreas in their push for rapprochement and an end to Cold War confrontation for more than six decades.

Trump arrived at Paya Lebar Air Base after attending the Group of Seven summit in Quebec, Canada. He is to meet Kim on Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island. The summit will be a "one-time shot" to do something good for North Koreans,  Trump said earlier, adding he would probably know "within the first minute" whether Kim is serious about his commitment to denuclearization.

Aboard a Chinese plane, the North Korean leader clad in a Mao-style suit arrived first in Singapore amid tight security, making his longest overseas flight since he took office in late 2011.

A motorcade carried Kim and his entourage to the St. Regis Hotel. For his first public event, he met with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien-loong. Apparently aware of global attention to the summit, Kim said that the entire world is watching his showdown with Trump.

Kim said that if the summit is successful, Singapore's efforts will be historically recognized, according to footage uploaded on the prime minister's Facebook.

Kim's trip to Singapore followed two rounds of inter-Korean summits that raised high expectations on a new era of peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia. He was accompanied by his sister, Kim Yo-jong, and Kim Yong-chol, a senior party official, who have played a key role in carrying the leader's message to the outside world during a flurry of diplomacy in April and May.

Kim Yong-chol, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, had visited the United States to deliver a personal letter from the reclusive leader to Trump. The North Korean delegation also included Ri Su-yong, a party official in charge of foreign affairs, and Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. Kim's itinerary has been kept under wraps.

 
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