Previously, New York Times reported that Singapore was on a shortlist of possible locations for a historic first meeting between United States President Donald Trump and North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un.

The meeting is scheduled for May or June.

Progress has apparently been made.

According to The Korea Times, another South Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo citing "government sources", reported on April 25 that the shortlist for the summit had been narrowed down.

According to the source, it's a straight fight between Singapore and Mongolia as the final destination.

Narrowing the list

A meeting in either North Korea or the US itself, as well as Seoul or the "truce village" of Panmunjom, was ruled out due to optics and the fact that they are already being publicised for the meeting between Kim and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in.

European countries like Switzerland and Sweden were supposedly considered at first, but they've been ruled out too due to technical concerns.

Despite Kim's preference for trains -- he traveled to China by train to meet with President Xi Jinping in March 2018 -- he does have a private jet, code-named Chammae-1.

However, the jet was built in the 1970s and can only fly non-stop for 5,000 kilometres, which wouldn't be enough to reach either Zurich (8,500 km) or Stockholm (7,200 km) from Pyongyang.

Distance factor

If distance was the only factor, then Mongolia would win.

Its capital city of Ulaanbaatar is just 1,807km from Pyongyang, compared to Singapore which is 4,750km away.

However, according to the source, Singapore has other advantages that makes it suitable for hosting the summit.

It is also "politically neutral" and there are both North Korean and US embassies within our territory.

It said that Singapore is the "most likely location" for these reasons.

The source added that the decision could be made "as early as this week", but North Korea could request for the announcement to be delayed until the date of the meeting and its agenda were finalised between the two camps.

Maybe not Singapore

However, there could be a third option, as Thailand has apparently come forward.

The Japan Times reported that on April 24, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said that Thailand would be able to "help" with such a meeting.

But he added that nothing had been discussed yet.

Thailand previously hosted a meeting between representatives of the US and North Korea in 2000.

At an ASEAN regional forum meeting, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said that Singapore has not "received a request" to host the meeting yet.

He was speaking in an interview with the BBC World Service during the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

But if Singapore is chosen, the eyes of the world will be on us for the duration of this "yuuge" summit.

Top image from Ryan Pierse/Getty Images