Singapore: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un landed in Singapore on Sunday ahead of a summit with US President Donald Trump that could end a nuclear stand-off between the old foes and transform his secretive, impoverished country.
Kim Jong Un has arrived in Singapore for his summit with President Trump pic.twitter.com/42qGZ3PyDy
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 10, 2018
When Trump and Kim meet on the resort island of Sentosa on Tuesday they will be making history even before they start.
I am on my way to Singapore where we have a chance to achieve a truly wonderful result for North Korea and the World. It will certainly be an exciting day and I know that Kim Jong-un will work very hard to do something that has rarely been done before...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
Enemies since the 1950-53 Korean War, the leaders of North Korea and the United States have never met previously — or even spoken on the phone.
Kim arrived at Singapore's Changi Airport after his longest trip overseas as head of state wearing his trademark dark Maoist suit and distinctive high cut hairstyle.
He was greeted by Singapore's foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, who posted a picture on Twitter of him shaking hands with Kim and the message: "Welcomed Chairman Kim Jong Un, who has just arrived in Singapore".
#TrumpKimSummit: Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan welcomes North Korea's #KimJongUn to Singapore (Photo: Facebook / Vivian Balakrishnan) https://t.co/dw8NVVcNEs pic.twitter.com/8W0tvdVbdW
— Channel NewsAsia (@ChannelNewsAsia) June 10, 2018
Believed to be 34, portly and baby-faced, Kim is one of the youngest heads of state in the world and looks an unlikely candidate to be making history of the kind that has eluded his father and grandfather, both past leaders of North Korea.
But since taking power in 2011 on his father's death, the youthful Kim has displayed a mixture of ruthlessness, pragmatism and statecraft to get this prize — to sit across the table with the leader of the United States and be treated as an equal.
China are crucial in bringing Kim to the negotiating table and even provided the plane for him to get to Singapore pic.twitter.com/Av7SLxkXjn
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 10, 2018
The two countries were on the brink of war last year, with their leaders trading insults and threats, until Kim made a dramatic offer in March to meet Trump and discuss nuclear disarmament, which the American president quickly accepted.
Kim's journey from international pariah to being regarded as a responsible head of state has taken just a few months.
After inheriting a nuclear programme that was fitful and making little progress, Kim poured socialist North Korea's limited money into developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of hitting the United States.
North Korea announced it had achieved that capability late last year. Although unproved, the claim carried enough credence for Washington to take Kim more seriously.
On Thursday, Trump dangled the prospect of normalised relations with the United States, and even a White House visit for Kim if he ditched his nuclear arsenal.
For Kim, nearly 40 years Trump's junior and representing the third generation of North Korea's ruling dynasty, the summit affords both him and his long-isolated country the international legitimacy his father and grandfather could only dream of.
Trump said he and Kim could even sign an agreement to end the Korean War, which was concluded only with a truce, not a peace treaty.