샹그릴라 호텔, 회담장 유력
Other than the time and date, what about the exact venue for the historic event?
There hasn't been any official announcement yet.
But as our Park Ji-won reports, one site has recently emerged as the most prominent candidate.
Singapore's Shangri-La Hotel is highly expected to be the venue for next Tuesday's historic North Korea-U.S. summit.
Speculation is being driven by the Singaporean government's decision to declare the area around the five-star hotel as a "special event area" from June 10th to the 14th.
With the designation,... people and vehicles entering the zone will be subject to strict security checks and police inspections,... and certain restricted items will not be allowed into the zone.
Since opening its doors in 1971,... the Shangri-La Hotel has been the go-to venue in Asia for a series of diverse international events.
In 2015, the hotel hosted the landmark summit between China's President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's then-president Ma Ying-jeou,... the first-ever meeting between the two countries since the 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution.
The hotel has also played host to the "Shangri-La Dialogue," Asia's biggest meeting of defense ministers, military officials and security experts,... every year,... since 2002.
This year's forum ended its three-day run on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, South Korea's Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among those in attendance.
Experts in Singapore explain that the five-star hotel's experience of hosting such major events and its location make it a suitable place for the summit talks.
"It's actually located off the commercial, the main commercial belt in Singapore, the Orchard Road belt in a residential area. But it's not actually very far away. So it's very easy to get to, but when you host a major event there, it does not require the authorities to go through very significant logistical challenge to close some of the roads, or to impose stricter security measures in that area. So it's quite convenient in that sense. Another reason is because the hotel sits on a higher ground, so it's much easier for any security forces to observe and take a note of potential activities which could threaten any major events or even some of the guests there."
Other luxury hotel locations like Capella on Sentosa Island,... and the Fullerton Hotel in the Marina Bay area are also considered strong candidates for providing rooms for the North Korean and U.S. delegations,... but nothing has been confirmed yet.
The venue for the media center has also been confirmed; thousands of journalists will work from the F1 Pit Building in downtown Singapore to cover the historic summit.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
