US tries to find discreet way to pay Kim Jong-un’s hotel during Trump summit ... and it’s US$6,000 per night
The prideful but cash-poor pariah state requires that a foreign country foot the bill at its preferred lodging and The Fullerton presidential suite costs more than US$6,000 per night
At an island resort off the coast of Singapore, US event planners are working day and night with their North Korean counterparts to set up a summit designed to bring an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
But a particularly awkward logistical issue remains unresolved, according to two people familiar with the talks. Who’s going to pay for Kim Jong-un’s hotel stay?
The prideful but cash-poor pariah state requires that a foreign country foot the bill at its preferred lodging: The Fullerton, a magnificent neoclassical hotel near the mouth of the Singapore River where just one presidential suite costs more than US$6,000 per night.
The mundane but diplomatically fraught billing issue is just one of numerous logistical concerns being hammered out between two teams led by White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and Kim’s de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang-son, as they strive toward a June 12 meeting.
After weeks of uncertainty, President Donald Trump called off the summit last week, blaming “open hostility” from North Korea. But a flurry of diplomacy across two continents got the meeting back on track, and Trump announced Friday that he would attend as initially planned.
