Today: Thursday, 22 August 2019 year

Trump, Kim start Vietnam summit with dinner

Trump, Kim start Vietnam summit with dinner

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have met in Hanoi, Vietnam for their second summit. The US President described the most-anticipated international meeting as one with the awesome potential. As the BBC reported, the leaders prefered to start the summit with dinner.

Mr Trump and Mr Kim have started their high-profile second summit in Vietnam’s capital with dinner at the five-star Metropole hotel.

The US leader expressed the hope that a meeting would be «very successful» but denied he was «walking back» on denuclearisation. Mr Trump said the meeting has awesome potential and he looked forward to helping Mr Kim achieve a tremendous economic future for North Korea.

In his turn, Mr Kim said he was confident there would be an «excellent outcome that everyone welcomes». «I’ll do my best to make it happen,» NK leader told reporters before the men sat down to eat at the five-star Metropole hotel.

Mr Trump showed his diplomacy and tweeted in praise of the host country, writing: «Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize.»

Hanoi summit: the expectations are great

The Singapore summit last June showed that the US and North Korea are able to discuss a wide spectre of issues, from denuclearization to trade. That meeting produced a vaguely worded agreement, with both leaders agreeing to «work towards denuclearisation» — though it was never made clear what this would entail.

Little diplomatic progress was made following the summit. During Hanoi round, leaders of the US and North Korea will be very conscious of the need to answer their critics with signs of concrete progress.