Kim Jong Un needs someone to pick up his hotel tab at the summit with Trump


President Trump says his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 is back on — for real, because "we're getting along" and the meeting will be "very successful" — which means it's time to figure out Kim's housing arrangement.
Thanks to North Korea's self-isolation and a broad array of international sanctions, the Kim regime is not exactly flush with cash. For the young dictator to stay during the summit in the presidential suite at his hotel of choice, a historic five-star property called The Fullerton, Kim will need about $6,000 nightly. Add in the cost of housing the rest of his team, and there is no way Kim can pick up the tab.
"North Korea can build nukes and ICBMs," explains Sung-Yoon Lee, a Tufts University expert on Korea, "but claim they are too poor to pay for foreign travel costs."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The question of who will pay instead is diplomatically tricky. While the "United States is open to covering the costs," The Washington Post reports, sources say "Pyongyang may view a U.S. payment as insulting." American organizers are instead planning to ask Singapore, already playing host, to cover the Kim delegation's costs.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media