The Sentosa Island

The Sentosa Island, where the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place, is one of the most famous tourism sites in Singapore. Many tourists opt to visit the island if they have a half-day layover in Singapore. The Singaporean government designated the island of Sentosa as a special event area from June 10 to 14. On the Booking.com website, the Capella Hotel, the meeting venue, appeared fully booked until June 15. Basic rooms on weekdays started at around 400 dollars from June 16.

The Capella Resort is built on a high ground with surrounding rainforest, making it hard to see from outside. This is why the hotel is considered optimal for security services. The two leaders will start the meeting at 9 a.m. local time on June 12 (10 a.m. on June 12 in Korea time). The Palawan Beach is a five-minute distance by foot from the hotel. Eyes are on whether the two leaders will have a frank conversation walking alongside the beautiful beach if the meeting goes well.

The Sentosa Island is a home to the second Universal Studio in Asia following Osaka, Japan. Kim Jong un reportedly went to Disneyland Tokyo when he was seven and visited Disneyland Paris when he was attending a middle school in Switzerland. He would want to visit the Disneyland on the island. The HSBC Women’s World Championship, which has been won many times by Korean golfers, takes place annually at Sentosa Golf Club near the Capella Hotel. President Trump, who is known to be a golf maniac, would want to play some golf at the club.

Yalta, a port city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula, became famous as a place where world leaders discussed postwar reorganization after the end of World War ll. Malta, a small island country in the Mediterranean Sea, is a place where the heads of the United States and the Soviet Union declared an end to the Cold War in 1989. Sentosa Island was a pirates’ haunt but was renamed as Sentosa, meaning “peace and tranquility” after it was developed as a tourism site in the 1970s. Whether the island will become the venue befitting its name will be determined by the success of the summit.


pisong@donga.com