Singapore well prepared for Trump-Kim Summit with tight security measures

Despite the fact that the confirmation of the meeting between leaders of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) came on a short notice, experts believe Singapore is well prepared for the historic event given the city-state's rich experience in security measures.

The White House has announced that U.S. President Donald Trump and top leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un will meet at the Capella Hotel in Sentosa, a resort island off Singapore's southern coast, on June 12.

With Singapore's good track record in hosting major events, observers are confident that the country is able to put up good security measures for this historic meeting, even within a short period of time.

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"We already have existing security infrastructure, which is good to go, meaning that whatever preparation that we are experiencing right now is going to be very little, I would say, because all the security resources, security personnel, the basic blueprints for all the different locations across Singapore are already there. All we have to do is just activate those resources," said Graham Ong-Webb, a research fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.

In addition to the infrastructure, security experts believe Singapore is also keeping close tabs on the latest security developments.

"Not to mention the close relationship that Singapore security agencies have with security agencies in the region - we work closely with the U.S. we also work closely with all the security agencies from around the country, around the region, and we are aware of all the latest intelligence required where security is concerned," said Lim How Kiat, general manager of Singapore office of the Ademco Security Group.

In preparation for the summit, Singapore police have tightened security measures to various areas where summit activities would be held. These include having enhanced powers to search people and vehicles.

Singapore airspace will also be restricted from June 10 to 14. During this period, flight delays might be expected.

Although preparation is the key to success, it’s only the beginning of the process.

"Regardless of your maximum amount of resources you put into doing good security, there will also be some residue risks, we don't know what these are. Nevertheless, I am sure that the security panels have put a whole range of contingencies in place for whatever may happen, whether it's about undesirable weather, heavy rainstorm that affects visibility that affects the movement of people, you know, wet weather can change all sorts of things. We can't foresee these things, but what we can do is to preempt the possibilities by putting all the resources in the area so that they are good to go and can be deployed in a short moment notice if they need to be," he said.

With all these security measures in place, Singapore is doing its best to make sure that its guests have a peace of mind, to focus on making the world a more secure place.