Isolated Kim takes big gamble leaving home for Trump summit

[DonViejo]

By FOSTER KLUG
Today

SINGAPORE (AP) — Spare a moment, as you anticipate one of the most unusual summits in modern history, to consider North Korea’s leader as he left the all-encompassing bubble of his locked-down stronghold of Pyongyang on Sunday and stepped off a jet onto Singapore soil for his planned sit-down with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. There’s just no recent precedent for the gamble Kim Jong Un is taking.

As far as we know, his despot father only traveled out of the country by train, and rarely at that, because of fears of assassination. Kim, up until his recent high-profile summit with South Korea’s president on the southern side of their shared border, has usually hunkered down behind his vast propaganda and security services, or made short trips to autocrat-friendly China.

While Singapore has authoritarian leanings, it is still a thriving bastion of capitalism and wealth, and Kim will be performing his high-stakes diplomatic tight-rope walk in front of 3,000 international journalists, including a huge contingent from the ultra-aggressive South Korean press — sometimes referred to by Pyongyang as “reptile media” — two of whom were arrested by Singapore police investigating a report of trespassing at the residence of the North Korean ambassador.

While he famously attended school in Switzerland, traveling this far as supreme leader is an entirely different matter for someone used to being the most revered, most protected, most deferred to human in his country of 25 million. Kim is, essentially, upsetting two decades of carefully choreographed North Korean statecraft and stepping into the unknown.

There’s wild speculation about how Kim will perform on the world stage, although one question was answered Sunday: His grim-faced, well-muscled bodyguards marched alongside his armored limousine at one point in Singapore, just as they did when he met the South Korean leader in April. But amid the curiosity is an even more fundamental question: Why is he taking this risk at all?

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https://apnews.com/3f9b6f2ed6e54c859df43c43657ef629/Isolated-Kim-takes-big-gamble-leaving-home-for-Trump-summit

[quartz007]

1. Not much risk at all for Kim Jong Un

to visit Singapore. I spent a vacation there, and it is the safest big city on earth, after I have visited or lived in 36 different countries. There are no drug addicts in Singapore because they execute anyone convicted of dealing drugs. Street crime is almost non-existent because Singapore citizens are prosperous. Every 6th citizen in Singapore is a millionaire. 33% of work force is immigrants on 2 year work visa. The jobs in Singapore are so valuable to these people from nearby countries, that they do not dare to cause trouble, else get deported promptly and never allowed to hold another job in Singapore.

The only risk for Kim is a coup at home, but that is also slim since he is considered God in N Korea. I am certain all the military leaders in NoKo are hand picked by Kim, and will squash any trouble makers quickly and brutally.

[soryang]

2. There are risks

Back at home, enroute, and in Singapore.

He's taking those risks because of the sanctions and economic isolation of the country. Hill is wrong. So far Kim has gained zero.

The conclusion of the article is wrong too. There are analysts who think he is ready to denuclearize for a price. It should be expressed as no analyst expects the North to give up its nukes for nothing.

South Korean media reported that Kim's limo was delivered to Singapore by his cargo aircraft.