The second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will most likely take place in Vietnam at the end of this month, said a source familiar with the planning.
According to a senior administration official and another source, the two leaders plan to meet in the Vietnamese coastal city of Da Nang, but the plan is yet to be finalized.
The second summit was announced by the White House on January 18 after discussions with North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Yong Chol. It was then reported that the meeting would take place somewhere in Asia. Now, it is widely believed the location is Vietnam.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is allegedly very supportive of the planned summit although sources say there are no plans for now for President Trump to meet with his Chinese counterpart around the summit.
CNN writes that the State Department’s top envoy on North Korea said Thursday the U.S. does not plan to invade the Asian country but is rather willing to formally put an end to the Korean War.
“President Trump is ready to end this war. It is over. It is done. We are not going to invade North Korea. We are not seeking to topple the North Korean regime,” said Steve Biegun in a speech at Stanford.
He also dismissed the possibility of the United States agreeing to withdraw troops from South Korea as a concession to Kim, which many feared might happen.
During their first summit in Singapore in June of last year, the two leaders agreed to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but little progress has been seen since then.
On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said during a Senate hearing that the hermit regime is “unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons.” CIA Director Gina Haspel echoed his comments, stressing that Pyongyang “is committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that would pose a direct threat to the United States.”
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