Hosting a Trump Kim summit The Singapore experience Singapore News Al Jazeera
Singapore case offers key lessons for Hanoi in dealing with security issues, diplomatic protocol and huge media influx.
Singapore At first it was , then , and then in the end, had just two weeks to get everything ready for the much anticipated, between a sitting US president and North Korean leader.
That such a strategically complex and delicate event came off as seemingly flawless despite the short lead offers lessons to s Hanoi, the site of the second summit between and on February 27 28.
"Vietnam has a slightly easier job in that the US and North Korean governments have a template of sorts, a playbook, from the Singapore summit last June," Eugene Tan, associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, told Al Jazeera.
"Singapore certainly has been consulted by Vietnam, and Singapore will provide as much input as requested. Its more about ironing the kinks from the first summit and should be easier the second time around."
It certainly wasnt easy the first time.
The top organisational issue in the lead up to the Singapore summit on June 12, 2018 was security, starting with the physical protection of the two leaders and the safety of the locations of their respective hotels and meeting site. Once those spots were agreed upon by the US and North Korean advance teams, each side needed to separately approve every detail surrounding the high stakes talks.
Plans needed to be developed for crowd control and inevitable inconveniences to the public, including roadblocks, diversions, delays and security checks.
Airspace would have to be limited to make way for military air patrols, and commercial air travellers would have to expect delays on flights in and out of Singapore.
Water patrols would also have to be stepped up, particularly in the waters surrounding the tiny resort island of Sentosa where Trump and Kim were to meet.
Navy ships would have to be deployed in the waters surrounding the meeting location with helicopters circling above, while patrol vessels would have to escort passing ships.
In addition to the unpredictability of the first face to meeting among formerly sworn enemies, diplomatic challenges included the politically sensitive question of who would foot the bill for Kim and his delegation at one of Singapores priciest hotels and how Singaporean taxpayers would feel about that.
Next was the question of what to do with the media circus coming to town more than 2,500 journalists were accredited to cover the summit.
These challenges and others had to be settled quickly comparable summits can be scheduled six months to a year in advance, according to diplomats and protocol officers.
Diplomatic teams from both countries spent the days leading up to the Singapore summit crisscrossing Sentosaáisland to case out venues and hash out protocol down to the careful matters of honouring the notion of a meeting of equals, such as having separate doors through which Trump and Kim would enter into their first greeting.
Singapore meanwhile scrambled to find Korean speakers among its own police and civil defence officers to help communicate and translate with the North Korean entourage.
Police and security related personnel were told not to take time off around the time of the summit, and the nations armed forces were told to stand by, along with fighter jets and attack helicopters.
In addition to deploying some 5,000 police, civil defence, and other officers, Singapore additionally employed private security firms to support access control, crowd control, traffic management duties and other security measures.
Although Singapore, like Hanoi, keeps tight control over public demonstrations, officials had to be watchful for public spectacles.
In addition to reporters and TV camera crews wandering across the island, passersby and onlookers would naturally be expected to stop and watch the action such as Kims bodyguards in Western style suits jogging along his motorcade, a common sight when the security conscious North Korean leader ventures out in public.
Multiple security zones were set up.
The first was at the summit site itself, held where access could be controlled on Sentosa island at an old colonial era manor now called the Capella, a luxury five star hotel and resort.
The second zone was some eight kilometres away, in Singapores Tanglin area where the two leaders and their entourages were based. The luxury Shangri La Hotel was chosen for Trumps stay, while the equally high end St. Regis Hotel was selected for Kim the two hotels are roughly 800 metres apart.
Signs of high level security included heavily armed Gurkha guards and police out in full force, but optics were not limited to displays of military hardware. World War II cannon barrels, for example, were decorated with flowers and olive branches.
Meanwhile, Singapore solved the question of where the thousands of journalists in town would work they hastily assembled a media work station in a Formula One pit building in central Singapore, livestreaming summit events from 10km away on Sentosa.
A demonstration of Singapores soft power, the International Media Centre featured unusual amenities that ensured that journalists saw the best of the countrys legendary efficiency.
At the time of the summit, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he expected the country to spend some dollar 14.8m on hosting costs a figure later lowered to dollar 11.8m.
Some Singaporeans questioned the idea of paying for Kims presidential hotel suite, estimated at around dollar 7,400 per night. The total cost for putting up the North Korean leader and his entourage has not been made public; the US delegation paid its own way, as is the norm for bilateral events hosted by a third party.
Further criticism came after Kim, accompanied by two Singapore government ministers, took in the sights surrounding the glitzy Marina Bay Sands casino and resort, a request made by to Singapore just several hours before it happened.
Even with Singapores original estimate in host costs, marketing executives say the nation received at least 10 times that in positive media exposure.
Jason Tan, of the communications firm Zenith Singapore, saidá dollar 14.8m would have bought around 90 seconds of commercial airtime on the largest advertising event in the , the Super Bowl.
"With the summit, we received a week of global coverage, positive brand halo, and genuine interest in Singapore as a country," Tan told Al Jazeera.
Larger than positive media exposure was the boost to Singapores strategic importance on the world stage, said Vu Minh Khuong, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
"The host enhances its strategic position as the place of choice for highly important events and showcases to the world it is a meaningful player in making the world a better place," he told Al Jazeera.
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