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US-North Korea summit: Kim arrives in Vietnam

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un arrives at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Lang Son Province, Vietnam, on February 26, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been warmly received in Vietnam, where he has arrived for a second summit with US President Donald Trump.

Kim, who left a railway station in Pyongyang on Saturday, arrived at the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang on Tuesday, and is due in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi for the two-day summit.

While Trump is on his way, Kim has been received by Vietnamese officials in front of a guard of honor. North Korean and Vietnamese flags were also on display.

Kim is accompanied by senior officials and his sister, Kim Yo-jong, who has emerged as an important aide.

Meanwhile, security is tightened in Hanoi as the North Korean leader heads to the Vietnamese capital, where he will stay in Melia Hotel.

Kim and Trump, who is due to arrive in Hanoi on Tuesday evening, will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One, adding that the meeting would be followed by a dinner, at which the leaders will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters.

Another meeting will be held between Kim and Trump on Thursday, according to Sanders.

The Vietnam talks come eight months after Trump and Kim held their first summit in Singapore, in which they reached a vague denuclearization agreement.

Washington has said it will not lift sanctions unless a full denuclearization of North Korea is confirmed. Pyongyang says the agreement reached on denuclearization includes the entire Korean Peninsula and should entail the removal of the US nuclear umbrella over South Korea and the pullout of American forces from the region.

Trump stressed on Thursday that the issue of troop withdrawal from South Korea was not “on the table” in the Hanoi summit.

But Trump has also claimed that he and Kim “fell in love” after Kim wrote him “beautiful letters and has said their good chemistry can produce results.

Separately, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Both Kim and Trump are also scheduled to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders.

Most of Trump’s advisers have low expectations for the talks. And some in the US fear that Trump could be outsmarted by Kim.

North Korean state media have said that if Trump listened to skeptics at home, he could face a “shattered dream” and “miss the rare historic opportunity” to improve relations with North Korea.


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