Singapore is picking up the tab of about S$20 million for the Trump-Kim summit.

This sum, according to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is a price Singapore is "willing to pay", and what Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan calls an "investment in world peace".

PM Lee has said in interviews that roughly half the figure goes to security detail for the event, but not much has been said about how the rest of the budget is being spent.

We snooped around to find out.

Here's what S$20 million pays for:

1) Security: ~S$10 million

Police arrange barricades ahead of the arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Changi Airport in Singapore https://t.co/TOuit7QCVr #TrumpKimSummit pic.twitter.com/btKny4bw9P

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) June 10, 2018

According to PM Lee, about half of the S$20 million is going into security.

An armored police vehicle patrols a road in Singapore https://t.co/TOuit7QCVr #TrumpKimSummit pic.twitter.com/GHch2UCwjW

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) June 10, 2018

This includes the military deployment (air, land, and sea), police cordons at event venues, and security deployment at road closures and patrolling of special event areas.

[related_story]

Republic of Singapore Air Force soldiers stand guard ahead of Trump's arrival at the Paya Lebar Air Base https://t.co/TOuit7QCVr #TrumpKimSummit pic.twitter.com/bIgLcQIXxe

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) June 10, 2018

#Warship spotted off the coast of #sentosa - guarding our seas ahead of the #TrumpKimSummit @ChannelNewsAsia pic.twitter.com/f2Z3nNniiv

— Deborah Wong (@DebWongCNA) June 10, 2018

Social media users also reported seeing sniffer dogs with police officers patrolling MRT stations within the Tanglin Enhanced Security Special Event Area, while others reported having to cross overhead bridges to pass through police checks instead of being able to cross roads as they usually would.

2. Hosting the international media: ~ S$5 million

Facilitating the 2,500-strong contingent of international media at the international media centre costs about S$5 million, according to The Straits Times, citing a Ministry of Communications and Information source.

The international media centre is housed at the F1 Pit Building. There, journalists from all over the world are provided the facilities to publish or broadcast their stories.

Local fare like Ya Kun kaya toast, Udders ice cream, Old Chang Kee finger food, laksa, and chicken rice (just to name a few) is provided free-of-charge at the international media centre.

3. Kim Jong-un's expenses while here: ???

And finally, we now know, thanks to an interview Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan did with the BBC, that part of our bill went to covering the hotel stay of North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un at the St Regis hotel's Presidential Suite.

Here's what Vivian said in the Monday, June 11 interview:

BBC: Did Singapore pay for the North Korean contingent’s hotel stay for Kim Jong-un?

Vivian Balakrishnan: It’s hospitality that we would have offered them, and as Chairman Kim said yesterday, he would have liked to have come to Singapore anyway, with or without the Summit. We would of course have offered hospitality. So, yes we do.

BBC: So you’re confirming that Singapore did pay that hotel bill?

Vivian Balakrishnan: Well, it’s hospitality that I would have provided for him anyway. And it’s all within the budget that the Prime Minister has specified, anyway. So that’s not a consideration at all.

We checked. The rate for a one-night stay at the St Regis's Presidential Suite, which is where Chairman Kim is staying, from Jun. 16 - 17, comes up to a cool S$12,020:

Kim is slated to be staying there for two nights.

Just in case you're interested, here are more pictures of the room, which is 335m² in size and sleeps... two guests:

Aside from that, we imagine money would also go to the cost of:

- using the Capella Hotel,

- Transporting, storing and hosting the food, weapons, other items, officials and other personnel accompanying Chairman Kim in his 30-vehicle motorcade:

And who knows what else we haven't thought of, really.

Is S$20 million a lot?

Now indeed, s$20 million might seem like a hefty, but in the larger scheme of things, one way to look at it is the fact that it is but 0.03 per cent of Singapore's 2017 Budget (or more specifically, Singapore's 2017 budget).

Our ability to foot this bill of hosting these two world leaders aside, here's a short justification by one Bjorn Lee:

In a nutshell:

• Footing the summit bill is Singapore's way of helping the United States avoid insulting North Korea (this according to a Washington Post analysis).
• Helping the United States gives Singapore leverage in the area of our Free Trade Agreement (FTA), especially since Trump just threw a big tantrum regarding free trade agreements at the G7 summit.
• Being a middleman for something this significant reminds our global superpowers (ahem the United States and China) of Singapore's presence on the world stage.
• Doing this proves Singapore's mettle on the world stage as a "friend to all, enemy to none”.

And arguably, as PM Lee says, S$20 million might indeed be a small price to pay, if we do get world peace.

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Top image via St Regis.