A Hong Kong-based man who impersonates North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Friday that immigration authorities at the Singapore airport detained him for two hours.
“They searched my bags and then told me that this is a very sensitive time to be in Singapore and that I should stay away from the Sentosa Island as well as the Shangri-La hotel in the town,” the man named Howard X said in a Facebook post.
However, Howard was not deported and said that he, along with another person acting as US President Donald Trump, would hold a presentation on Saturday and Sunday in Singapore, reports Efe news.
The two places — the Sentosa Island and Shangri-La hotel — have been designated as “special events zone” with the aim of beefing up security ahead of a summit meeting between Trump and Kim on June 12.
The historic summit is set to take place at the Capella hotel on Sentosa Island.
The Singapore authorities have announced additional security measures in the areas where the meetings are scheduled to be held, as well as a ban on displaying posters bigger than one metre or carrying megaphones.
The meeting between Trump and Kim will mark the first between the sitting leaders of the two countries after almost 70 years of hostility that began with the Korean War (1950-53), and 25 years of failed negotiations and tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme.