Trump will be accompanied by a staffer carrying his button in the form of the nuclear football containing equipment used to authorise a strike
Donald Trump will have access to his nuclear ‘button’ nearby when he meets North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un tomorrow.
The world leaders are due to meet in Singapore tomorrow for a summit that could change the nuclear destiny of the entire world.
Trump is expected to be alone in a room with the North Korean dictator, aside from translators, for up to two hours when they meet from 2am UK time on Tuesday.
While Trump will have his ‘link’ close to him at all times, less is known about how Kim maintains control of his nuclear arsenal when he travels.
Donald Trump will have access to his ‘nuclear button’ at all times during summit with Kim Jong Un (Image: AFP)
Kim began the year by declaring to the world that “a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office,” which was widely interpreted as an allusion to his personal control over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
Trump fired back in a tweet, saying I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
When the two meet for the high-stakes nuclear negotiations, Trump will be accompanied, as always, by a staffer carrying his button in the form of the nuclear football containing equipment used to authorise a strike.
North Korea is one of the most insular states in the world and command and control of its nuclear facilities is kept within a tight, impenetrable circle.
Additionally, Kim – who came to power in 2011 has only just begun making trips outside North Korea. The world leaders are meeting at 2am tomorrow morning UK time for a monumental summit about nuclear weapons
He has been to Beijing twice and has briefly crossed the frontier at the Demilitarised Zone with South Korea to meet its president.
Singapore will be the furthest he is known to have traveled since taking over.
But analysts who closely watch North Korea believe it is unlikely Kim would have come to Singapore without being confident of the arsenal’s security and the ability to order its use.
We don’t know how developed North Korea’s secure communications capabilities are, so whether Kim Jong-Un will be within easy reach of his National Command Authority during his stay in Singapore is an open question, said Andrew O’Neil, a North Korea nuclear policy expert at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.
That said, given that most assume…North Korea’s nuclear command, control, communications and intelligence is configured to promote a high degree of centralisation in Kim’s decision-making, it beggars belief that Kim would not be within secure reach to authorise a possible launch if required, O’Neil added.
Kim likely delegated authority to watch over the arsenal to one of a number of trusted North Korean officials who stayed in Pyongyang.
It’s likely that Kim Jong Un gave control over the arsenal to one of a number of trusted North Korean officials
What the Trump-Kim summit means for the world
What do the two sides want?
Trump wants North Korea to ditch its nuclear weapons, which Kim threatened to use in strikes on the US mainland. North Korea wants its own security guaranteed and sanctions lifted.
Why does North Korea worry about its security?
The 1950s conflict between North Korea and the US-backed South ended without a peace treaty, so America and North Korea are technically still at war. Kim, sees the US, with its 30,000 troops in South Korea, as a threat, and the US campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya reinforced his view that nuclear weapons are necessary to deter a US intervention.
What might be the result of talks?
In exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees, North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons.
Is accepting North Korea as a nuclear-armed state an option?
Some analysts have suggested it is the best way to ease tensions, but doing so could lead South Korea, Japan and even Taiwan to seek their own nuclear arms.
Is “denuclearisation” actually feasible?
North Korea has talked about denuclearisation for years, but it has not stopped them beefing up their nuclear arsenal and conducting missile tests.
What will happen if the summit fails?
South Korea is expected to renew diplomatic efforts to restore stability and avoid military conflict.
The are believed to include Choe Ryong Hae, one of several senior leaders who saw Kim off at the airport as he departed for Singapore, said Michael Madden, a leadership expert with the 38 North website, which monitors North Korea.
Kim can authorise or approve a missile strike while he is away, Madden said.
There’s a protocol for launches.
Trusted officials would maintain control of fixed telecommunications hotlines in the country, and there is likely a code system to activate the systems involved in launching North Korea’s ballistic missiles.
There are only certain designated facilities where these communications can be activated, Madden said.
Many questions remain unanswered, however, including whether the North Koreans have robust enough communication systems to make sure no one panics and launches an attack, said Vipin Narang, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program.
It’s believed Trump and Kim Jong Un will meet for up to two hours and won’t have any advisors present
Kim Jong Un departs for meeting with Singapore PM with jogging bodyguards
Its command and control structure while Kim is travelling is unlikely to be robust enough for him to be able to reliably issue or stop launch sequences, he said.
He said that was because North Korea was likely to have configured its nuclear forces to permit rapid authorisation to launch in order to offset the risk of a first strike from the United States.
Trump and Kim Jong-Un arrived in Singapore over the weekend ahead of their meeting.
The summit’s venue is the Capella hotel on Sentosa, a resort island off Singapore’s port with luxury hotels, a Universal Studios theme park and man-made beaches.
Trump and Kim are staying in separate hotels in the famous Orchard Road area of Singapore, dotted with high-rise luxury apartment blocks, offices and glittering shopping malls.
The US is seeking the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
But North Korea has previously rejected the idea of unilateral disarmament.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets Singapore’s PM ahead of historic summit with Donald Trump
Trump warned last week the meeting may not give a clear outcome.
And many experts on North Korea, one of the most insular and unpredictable countries in the world, remain sceptical Kim will ever completely abandon nuclear weapons.
They believe Kim’s latest engagement is aimed at getting the United States to ease the crippling sanctions that have squeezed the poor country.