Trump and Kim first meeting venue is set in Singapore

by Charlotte Lee
White house press secretary Sarah Sanders announced on Twitter that President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be meeting for the first time on June 12 at the Capella Hotel in Sentosa, Singapore.
UPDATE: The venue for the Singapore summit between @POTUS and Leader Kim Jong Un will be the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island. We thank our great Singaporean hosts for their hospitality.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) 2018年6月5日
Trump originally called off the summit on May 24, based on Kim’s “tremendous anger and open hostility,” but just recently decided to call it back on earlier this week. US officials have had to rush to make the logistical arrangements necessary for the meeting.
The discussion agenda has yet to be fully hashed out— Trump describes the meeting as a “getting-to-know-you, plus.” However, US Senate democrats demanded that Trump push aggressively for denuclearization by dismantling “every single one of North Korea’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.”

North Korea has agreed to disarm multiple times, but has never followed through before. Even if North Korea accepts, denuclearization will be a lengthy process. The deal will likely be further complicated by the concessions that North Korea seeks in return for disarmament.

Trump expressed optimism regarding the relationship between the two leaders. “I think you’re going to have a very positive result in the end. We will see what we will see.”
An official meeting with the US president grants North Korea respect and acknowledgement that many nations dream of, especially since North Korea is still technically at war with South Korea and the United States.
According to a South Korean diplomatic source, as South Korean President Moon Jae-in will also be attending the summit, preparations have begun for the three leaders to declare an formal end to the 68 year long Korean War. Since his meeting with Kim Jong Un, President Moon has been “hoping to push for a declaration to end the war through a trilateral meeting should the North-U.S. summit become successful.” Trump agreed that ending the Korean War would be “very important”. This summit also holds heavy importance for Kim; the overseas trip to Singapore will be the farthest that he has traveled since coming into power in 2011.

The agenda of the summit remains unsettled. Nonetheless, seemingly negligible details that hold heavy political importance such as who walks in first and where to sit are being planned under careful consideration. Despite all the uncertainty, one thing is for sure: the Trump and Kim’s first ever meeting will be subject to critical media scrutiny.