Singapore's foreign minister boosts North Korea ties

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea announced Friday that Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho "exchanged in-depth views" with his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan the previous day, less than a week before the Southeast Asian city-state hosts an unprecedented summit between the North's Chairman Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Balakrishnan was set to depart Pyongyang Friday, having talked to Ri about "further developing the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries with a long history and tradition in various fields and on the situation ahead of the DPRK-U.S. summit," according to the North's state-run KCNA news agency. North Korea refers to itself as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The report's description of "a warm and friendly atmosphere" between the two foreign ministers came as Singapore will welcome Trump and Kim for their June 12 meeting aimed at discussing the North's denuclearization.

But recent ties between Pyongyang and Singapore have not been so positive, as the latter suspended bilateral trade relations last year in line with global sanctions against North Korea because of its rogue development of nuclear weapons.

The two sides have a diplomatic relationship going back to 1975, however, and they are both parts of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Yet Balakrishnan's visit to Pyongyang is relatively unusual, given that the last visit by a Singaporean foreign minister to North Korea was a decade ago.

Pyongyang may be anticipating the renewal of trade with Singapore, as Chairman Kim is expected to try to escape the crushing economic impact of sanctions through a denuclearization agreement with Trump.

Due to the level of interest in the summit, security is having to be carefully coordinated between the U.S., North Korea and Singapore.

Balakrishnan's North Korea trip also followed a brief stay in Washington Tuesday.