Singapore’s foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting Thursday, as preparations for a summit in the city-state between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un accelerate.
Singapore’s foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting Thursday, as preparations for a summit in the city-state between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un accelerate.
The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic June 12 meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa.
The summit is due to be held following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington — as well as South Korea — in a turn-around from a dramatic escalation of tensions last year, when the North ratcheted up its weapons programme.
Trump finally confirmed the summit last week following a visit from a top Pyongyang official in Washington, after having abruptly cancelled the meeting as US and North Korean officials traded verbal barbs.
He has said denuclearisation, and a formal end to the decades-old Korean war, will be on the table in Singapore.
Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit the North Korean capital at the invitation of the North’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, Singapore’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The minister, who will be accompanied by foreign ministry officials, will also meet the North’s ceremonial president Kim Yong Nam, the statement said.
