Singapore rolls out tough summit security

Singapore, June 9 

Singapore’s reputation for rigid law and order was seen as a major factor for being chosen to host Tuesday’s US-North Korea summit and the tiny city-state is determined not to disappoint.

Police, including elite units of Nepalese Gurkhas, will flood the streets and enforce a virtual lockdown of key sections of the city, blocking off roads to facilitate the historic face-to-face between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And in order to preempt any disruptive protests, a blanket ban has been imposed on bringing flares, banners or loudhailers any where near the key summit venues.

Concrete barricades will spring up at key sites and mechanical metal barriers that rise from the ground at the touch of a button are likely to appear on some roads.

The police deployment for the hotly anticipated meeting is expected to be the biggest since 2006 when some 23,000 officers were mobilised for an IMF-World Bank meeting in the city-state.

A Kim Jong Un lookalike who said he had been to Singapore beforewas grilled by immigration officials for two hours when he arrived Friday and warned not to visit sites linked to the meeting. 

Sites covered by these restrictions include Sentosa, the resort island where the leaders will meet. — AFP

‘It’s all systems go’

• A rare direct flight from Pyongyang landed in Singapore on Saturday.
• There was heightened security at the St Regis hotel in central Singapore, one of the hotels where the leaders were expected to stay.
• Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said as of now, it’s all systems go and both US and North Korea were satisfied.