SINGAPORE – President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will come together from opposite ends of the world next week for their historic bilateral summit, but when they arrive here on Sunday, their accommodations will be less than a mile apart.
Two people familiar with the planning said the president and his entourage will stay at Singapore’s Shangri-La hotel, where Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attended a global security conference earlier this month and where locals have seen security activity increase in recent days. The vicinity was designated a “special event area” by the Singaporean government last Sunday.
Meanwhile, the North Korean delegation is expected to have secured rooms at the St. Regis, where local media spotted employees installing additional security cameras around the luxury hotel’s entrance earlier this week.
A spokesperson for the St. Regis declined to confirm whether the hotel would soon be hosting Kim and would not provide a reason for the beefed up security. The five-star resort is “just a 10 minute walk away” from the part of town where Trump’s hotel is located, a bellhop told the Washington Examiner.
White House officials announced last week that Trump and Kim will meet for the first time Tuesday morning at Singapore’s Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island. A section of the sprawling beachfront estate has been cordoned off from guests and visitors since Friday, allowing employees to make arrangements for the summit that could attract millions of viewers from across the globe.
“Capella Singapore is honored to be selected as the venue for this historic event,” said Joleena Seah, the hotel’s director of marketing. “Guest confidentiality and security remain as our top priority at all times.”
“We are unable to disclose details related to this event,” she added when asked what security protocols were in place.
According to NBC News, U.S. officials have been ordered to sweep the Capella Hotel for bugs and other intelligence-gathering devices that could be planted by the Chinese. Since March, Kim has met twice with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom Trump has accused of “influencing” the North Korean leader.
“China remains a particularly aggressive espionage actor and is using increasingly sophisticated technological platforms to carry out its objectives,” CIA spokesman Dean Boyd told NBC.
