According to the South Korean Foreign affairs Ministers, Singapore and Vietnam are likely to be shortlisted as the location for the next summit between these two infamous leaders.
On 8 Jan, CNN reported that White House scouting teams have been sent to Bangkok, Hanoi and Hawaii to inspect whether those locations are suitable for the second summit. Presumably, they already know that Singapore is a viable location having been selected as the site for the first summit last year.
A South Korean ministry official said, “(The venues you should pay attention to) are those mentioned by media including Vietnam, Singapore, and Hawaii.”
Another official added that Hawaii could be an ‘unrealistic’ location as there’s no North Korean embassy there. So the shortlist might be shorter. Vietnam and Singapore both have North Korean embassies that can run a team to prepare for the summit.
The media have been buzzing about the would-be location of this highly anticipated second summit, especially after South Korean President Moon-Jae said that the summit will likely happen soon.
Trump has also said on Sunday that the US is already ‘negotiating a location’ for the summit which he expects will take place early this year.
Last year, Singapore played host to the first Trump-Kim summit in June which caused a media frenzy. The historic summit even became the inspiration for Singapore’s Miss Universe national costume featuring a handshake between the two leaders. It is said that Singapore spent S$16.3 million to carry out the summit.
Trump had also commented that the second summit will be held ‘within plane distance’. Presumably, this is in reference to Kim Jung Un’s plane, the Chammae-1, which is capable of flying a distance of 7,000km. Singapore and Vietnam are within flying distance of Chammae-1.
Another possible location is Panmunjom, a truce village in the Demilitarised Zone that divides North and South Korean. It’s the where the South Korean government hope the meeting would take place as that’s where Kim and President Moon held their first summit in April 2018.
However, an official from the South Korean government said that the probability of Panmunjom being the summit location for Trump-Kim 2.0 ‘seems to be slim’.
