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| Capella Hotel, on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, where U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are supposed to meet on June 12 / Yonhap |
By Choi Ha-young
North Korean state-run media outlets have kept mum for over 10 days about the planned summit between their leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump which is slated for June 12, possibly out of uncertainty about its denuclearization initiatives.
Pyongyang's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun briefly mentioned the summit on the front page of the paper, May 26. Afterward, however, the paper as well as state-run Korean Central News Agency stopped reporting on the summit, including North Korean envoy Kim Yong-chol's four-day Washington visit.
This is in contrast with Western media outlets that are closely chasing the progress of the preparations for the summit. The U.S. government also confirmed the summit schedule, saying the two leaders will meet at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore, at 9 a.m. local time.
Regarding this move, experts said the Kim regime is being cautious about announcing its denuclearization move.
"For decades, the regime had been all-out to become a nuclear state. Before promoting the planned summit with Trump, which is aimed at ditching its nuclear weapons, the regime should create an alternative ideology to back up denuclearization," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korean studies professor at Dongguk University in Seoul.
In April's plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, North Korea announced it will suspend all nuclear and missile tests, to shift focus to economic development. However, the regime has never laid out a scheme to spin its denuclearization.
"For the North, it is premature to make denuclearization public, before having concrete plans to ensure the Kim regime's long-term survival," Koh said. "The prospects after the summit are unclear."
Such a two-track media strategy ― keeping silent to its people while continuing diplomatic activities for the summit ― is possible because of its reclusive system.
"North Korea usually does not actively promote its leader's summit schedules, as it did before the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping," said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Kyungnam University.
"The media outlets will reveal the outcomes of the Kim-Trump summit after the event. Currently, there's nothing much to report to its citizens."
Meanwhile, the North seemingly dismantled its missile test stand at Iha-ri, North Pyongan Province, according to satellite image analysis by 38 North, Wednesday. The U.S.-based online outlet said the North began the dismantlement in early May and completed the process on May 19.
The facility was used to fix missiles, presumably during ejection tests of ballistic missiles. If the analysis is true, the dismantlement came ahead of the demolition of its only nuclear test site in Punggye-ri which was held May 24.
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