Singapore footing the hotel bill for North Korean contingent at summit: Vivian Balakrishnan

Singapore is footing the hotel bill for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his contingent, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Monday (June 11).

"We would, of course, have offered hospitality," Dr Balakrishnan added, when asked if Singapore paid for the North Korean contingent's hotel stay at The St Regis Singapore.

He added that the expenditure forms part of the $20 million that Singapore is spending on the summit in all.

Located just off Singapore's diplomatic district and a stone's throw away from the Orchard Road shopping belt, the modernist St Regis is tucked between an ageing building dotted with carpet shops and a sleepy high-end neighbourhood mall.

On the 20th floor, the ostentatiously opulent 335-square metre Presidential Suite, where Kim was believed likely to stay, features a Marc Chagall artwork and a white baby grand piano.

Its rooms are "lined with gold, and accented with precious metals like brass, onyx and silver", the hotel says on its website.

It does not give prices but the list price of a similar facility in New York is $35,000 a night.

Read the full story here.

Also read: Who's getting this? North Korea's summit bill