A motorcade probably carrying the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is moving across Singapore for the landmark June 12, 2018 meeting with the US president Donald Trump. Kim met the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, earlier on Sunday.
The Guardian quoted Kim telling Lee through an interpreter: “The entire world is watching the historic summit between [North Korea] and the United States of America, and thanks to your sincere efforts ...
we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit.” Donald Trump is also expected to meet Lee on Monday.
Singapore is Jong-un's third country he has visited since 2011
Singapore is only the third country Kim has visited since he became the leader of North Korea in 2011.
Earlier, a Reuters report said that the leader of the reclusive nation would fly into Singapore Changi Airport on Sunday. A cargo plane which had accompanied the North Korean leader to China had left Pyongyang probably en-route to Singapore on Sunday.
Kim Jong-un arrived via China
Kim usually flies on his Ilyushin-62M jet, and the most recent was his trip to Dalian in China in May.
The North Korean leader has undertaken only one journey overseas by air, and the IL-76 plane usually accompanies him. This time too, the IL 76 plane left Pyongyang and stopped briefly at Guangzhou in southern China before going most probably to Singapore. The plane is reported to be loaded with personal food of the North Korean leader as well as a fleet of luxury cars which will form a part of the motorcade ofJongm Jng-un.
The IL-76 is a huge transport plane and can fly 3000 kilometers fully loaded without refueling, or it can fly 4700 kilometers with a reduced load. The flight accompanying the Korean leader will probably land at a friendly location on the way to Singapore, which is 4,700 km from Pyongyang's Sunan Airport, or fly with a reduced load.
Pyongyang airport hardly sees a couple of International flights daily and therefore when no less than three aircraft made their way to Singapore it's notable. One of them is the Ilyushin-62 which is the North Korean leader’s jet and jokingly called Air Force-un. Since the plane is very old and its safety could not be guaranteed, Kim took an Air China Boeing 747 instead.
It carried the flight number CA122, which is the route designated for the planes following the Pyongyang to Beijing route. However, en-route in midair, it changed its callsign to CA061 and headed south.
The US wants North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons in an irreversible manner that can be verified internationally.