President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be held next month in Singapore, a potentially ideal place for the unprecedented meeting.
“We hope this meeting will advance prospects for peace in the Korean Peninsula,” Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday, following the announcement, which came just hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned from his second trip to North Korea with three American prisoners in tow. (RELATED: Watch President Trump Welcome Home Three Prisoners Held Hostage In North Korea)
Singapore, a tiny Southeast Asian city-state, was selected over other potential locations, such as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), to host what might be one of the most important diplomatic events in many years. There are several possible explanations for this decision.
For starters, Singapore maintains diplomatic ties with both the U.S. and North Korea and is fairly neutral. While Singapore has close ties to the U.S., the country has maintained diplomatic relations with North Korea, which has an operational embassy in the central business district, since 1975. Singapore did not cut bilateral trade ties with Pyongyang until last year, when the U.S. began seriously implementing its “maximum pressure” strategy.
But it is also suitable for several other reasons, most notably that it lacks some of the disadvantages that ruled out certain other locations.
Holding the meeting in the U.S. or North Korea gives one side an unfair home court advantage, letting China or South Korea host the summit allows for potential interference by other interested parties, possible sites in Europe are too far away (Kim Jong Un’s ability to travel is severely hindered by the limited transportation options at his disposal), and the highly-fortified border between North and South Korea would be overly reminiscent of April’s inter-Korean summit.
Singapore also has experience playing host to major geopolitical summits. In 2015, the country hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s landmark meeting with Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou.
Kim, who rules over a country which stands accused of committing most of the known crimes against humanity, may also feel a bit more comfortable in Singapore as it is not a signatory state to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as Ankit Panda, senior editor at The Diplomat, noted on Twitter Thursday. Furthermore, the North Korean dictator does not have to worry about being embarrassed by protesters, as protests are only permitted at a specially-designated point in Singapore. Protests also require police permits.
The country, a modern state generally considered one of the safest countries in Asia, also maintains tight security for high-profile visitors.
“Singapore is an ideal site for the summit because Singapore historically has been an honest broker between East and West,” David Adelman, the former U.S. ambassador to Singapore, told The Associated Press. “Singapore has been a great friend to the U.S. but also Singapore has carefully worked to be a friend to all, which has earned it trust in capitals around the world.”
Trump is expected to meet Kim on June 12. (RELATED: Trump Announces Date And Place Of His Summit With Kim Jong Un)
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