North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Singapore ahead of one of the most unusual and highly anticipated summits in recent world history, a sit-down on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
Vivian Balakrishnan✔@VivianBala
Welcomed Chairman Kim Jong Un, who has just arrived in Singapore.
The jet carrying Mr Kim landed at the airport on Sunday afternoon (local time) amid huge security precautions on the city-state island.
Singapore quickly released a picture of Mr Kim and the foreign minister shaking hands.
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’s summit with Mr Trump has captured intense global attention after a turn to diplomacy in recent months replaced, for the time being, serious fears of war last year amid North Korean nuclear and missile tests.
The North, many experts believe, stands on the brink of being able to target the entire US mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles, and while there’s 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.
The North Korean autocrat’s every move will be followed by 3,000 journalists up until he shakes hands with Mr Trump.
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.
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.
Article spurced from abc.net.au
Photo Credit- Al Jazeera
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