REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
TV news reports about US President Donald Trump is projected at a media center for the summit between the US and North Korea in Singapore on June 10, 2018.
- The historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to take place in Singapore on Tuesday.
- Public approval in South Korea toward Trump and Kim is higher than it has ever been, but a majority of Koreans doubt North Korea's intentions, according to a recent poll.
- Business Insider spoke to many South Koreans in Seoul this weekend, who said they are hopeful the summit will help the peace process, but many doubt Trump and Kim's intentions.
As the world gears up for historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Koreans are looking on with a mixture of hope and skepticism.
The summit, due to take place Tuesday at the Capella Hotel in Singapore, could mark a historic turning point for both US-North Korea relations and inter-Korea relations.
While the US will push for comprehensive denuclearization of North Korea, South Korea will hope to build on the Panmunjom Declaration that President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un signed in April, which called for the Koreas to pursue a "permanent and solid peace regime."
Of course, after nearly 70 years of war, it is perhaps unsurprising that South Koreans are cautious. According to a Gallup Korea poll from early June, 49% of South Koreans believe North Korea will work toward peace on the Korean peninsula or denuclearize, a decrease from 58% in early May.
Business Insider spoke to numerous South Koreans at a peace rally on Saturday organized by Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea (SPARK) and on the streets of Seoul near City Hall on Sunday.
The South Koreans we spoke to expressed a mixture of skepticism toward the summit, hopefulness toward the prospect of lasting peace, and wariness of Trump's intentions, who many thought was simply after a "grand event to boost his image."
Here's what they said: