SINGAPORE – With President Trump and Kim Jong Un preparing to come together for a monumental summit next week, Christians here spent their Sunday praying that the upcoming meeting would contribute to lasting peace and stability throughout the Korean peninsula and rest of the world.
During an early morning service at St. Andrews Cathedral, an Anglican church just miles away from the venue for Tuesday’s bilateral discussion, visiting Rev. Alvin Toh urged the parish to pray that “good will and diplomacy prevail” as Trump and Kim come together to discuss denuclearization and a possible peace treaty to end the Korean War.
“Ask God to direct the course of the talks towards concrete outcomes for world peace,” Toh said, calling for prayers of “protection on security matters” and for those who have been involved in preparing the city for the two leaders ahead of their separate arrivals Sunday evening.
Toh’s request came a day after the Catholic Archbishop of Singapore William Goh urged his parishioners in a Facebook post to keep Trump and Kim in their prayers.
“May this be the start of a continuous effort to building strong relationships, freed from the burden of fear and the weight of suspicion. May nations learn to trust each other and work towards world peace for all human kind,” Goh wrote.
The calls for celestial support by local religious leaders come just 48 hours before Trump and Kim are slated to meet at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island.
Despite expressing cautious optimism prior to departing for Singapore on Saturday, Trump has repeatedly said he is willing to “walk away” from the summit if he is unconvinced of Kim’s commitment to the “complete, verifiable, and irreversible” dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program.
“This is unknown territory in the truest sense, but I feel really confident,” Trump told reporters before departing the G7 summit in Canada. “It’s never been done, it’s never been tested. So we are going in with a really positive spirit.”
The president is currently expected to meet one-on-one with Kim and their translators before opening the talks to high-level officials from both countries on Tuesday. Trump is being accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and several White House officials, while Kim is reportedly traveling with his younger sister Kim Yo-jong and North Korea’s vice chairman Kim Yong-chol.
