North Koreans awoke on Tuesday to front-page images in state-run media depicting leader Kim Jong Un among Singapore’s high-rises, offering a glimpse of a potential future for their impoverished nation.
For analysts, the prominence given to the south-east Asian city state — including a single shot of the luxurious Marina Bay Sands hotel — sent a clear message from his summit with US President Donald Trump: to show North Koreans how the Mr Kim envisaged their country would develop.
“Kim wanted to deliver a hopeful message to North Koreans that their country can also develop like Singapore. And he may have wanted to benchmark Singapore as a model for North Korea’s tourism development,” said Koh Yoo-hwan, professor at Dongguk University.