SINGAPORE
Today Online – June 7
The high-profile summit on June 12 between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore will have added significance to some 30,000 South Koreans living here.
It has been the subject of dinner-table conversations, and many in the community have tracked developments leading up to the summit closely and are holding out hopes that the talks could bring the possibility of reunification in the Korean Peninsula closer.
Hoping that South Korean President Moon Jae-in could yet make a surprise stop-over during the summit, some told TODAY they plan to catch a glimpse of the leaders when they are in town.
Mr Moon would help “balance out” the dynamics between Mr Trump and Mr Kim, who come across as “aggressive”, said Mr Pyun Jin-sun, 26, who is from Incheon.
If the meeting brings about greater co-operation between North Korea and the US and progress in North Korea’s denuclearization process, there would be “less instability in the world”, said Mr Pyun.
While some question if the talks would result in action, administrator Ryang Ho-Sung, 27, said this time round, North Korea seems to be “doing all it can to show the world that it is ready to join the international community”.
To Mr Ryang, Mr Kim’s recent meetings with Mr Moon, North Korea’s recent announcement that it would publicly destroy a nuclear test site and its invitation to journalists to attend are positive signs that signify more progress than Mr Kim’s predecessors achieved.
Most Koreans would be “very happy if the armistice can finally end”, he said, referring to the 1953 agreement that formally divided the Korean peninsula.
Ms Kim Su-jin, 28, who works at the Wang Dae Bak Korean BBQ Restaurant at Amoy Street, has been calling her father in Seoul every morning to discuss the juiciest tidbits on the summit that he has caught on the news. She and her colleagues have been swapping the latest updates and joke that Mr Kim could decide to have a meal at the restaurant.
Some Korean expatriates here are simply hoping to catch a glimpse of the leaders when they are in town.
If he had his way, restaurant owner Choi Bukil, 52, would carry a picket sign with messages of world peace on Sentosa, where the summit will be held. Given the security arrangements in place, he acknowledged it would be difficult to do so and said chances of seeing the leaders up close are slim.
Mr Choi, who is from Busan and has lived here for 18 years, said he felt emotional as he watched Mr Moon and Mr Kim meeting and embracing recently.
The Trump-Kim summit has been the hottest topic at the dinner table in the past week, with his children pressing him for more details on Korean history.
“I just hope that North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons and there will be a (stronger) focus on growing the economic opportunities instead,” said Mr Choi.
The Korean Association in Singapore said it will be holding a screening session of the proceedings on June 12.
For Singapore-born South Korean Joshua Sim, 20, it is Mr Trump who will add the element of unpredictability to the summit. “I think the South and the North are looking at the same direction with the same goal (towards reunification), but my only worry is that we all don’t know how Trump is going to (think or act),” he said.
