With anticipation building ahead of the historic first summit between President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, both leaders arrived in Singapore on Sunday.
Air Force One landed on Sunday evening, local time, in Singapore, having left early from the Group of Seven (G-7) summit of Western leaders in Quebec, Canada.
Trump left controversy in his wake after refusing to sign onto the joint memo allies typically sign at the G-7 meeting and sending fiery tweets attacking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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Trump’s planned meeting with Kim has also not been without controversy. Trump canceled the meeting about three weeks before its scheduled date, but negotiations continued, culminating in the visit of North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, who hand-delivered a personal letter from the North Korean leader to Trump at the White House on June 1. There, Trump announced the summit was back on for June 12.
Kim Yong Chol accompanied North Korea’s leader to Singapore on Sunday.
Despite the rocky road to the summit, all signs currently point toward a meeting taking place as planned on Tuesday.
Kim Jong Un, who has rarely left his country during his time as leader, arrived first in Singapore and was greeted by Singapore’s foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, before making his way by motorcade to the St. Regis Hotel.
The Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island will host the actual summit. Sentosa is a resort island connected to the city of Singapore by road and monorail.
Trump arrived along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been a key player in negotiations with North Korea and already met with Kim in April.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert tweeted that the advance team is on the ground already, checking out the summit location at the Capella. The planning around this summit has been intense.
But Trump has signaled a more casual approach to the event. Asked last week about how he’s preparing for the event, Trump said it’s more “about attitude.”
And the president told reporters at the G-7 summit that “within the first minute [of the meeting], I’ll know” if Kim is serious about negotiations. The U.S. wants North Korea to commit to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.
”I think I’ll know very quickly whether something good is going to happen,” Trump said, citing “my feel” for the situation.