North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with President Donald Trump, where both will try to reach agreement on how to implement North Korea’s denuclearization process, Reuters writes.
The two leaders will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.
Kim and Trump would meet again on Thursday, she said. Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
According to Reuters, there is likely to be pressure on both sides to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Domestic critics have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.
In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over. Traveling from the North Korean capital by train, Kim arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang after crossing over the border from China.
Vietnamese officials were on hand to receive him at the station with a red-carpet welcome, including a guard of honor and fluttering North Korean and Vietnamese flags.
Both Kim and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived in Hanoi, on Tuesday. He has been Trump’s top envoy in his efforts to improve ties with the reclusive North and has made several trips to Pyongyang to negotiate an ending of its nuclear program.
Pompeo was due to meet U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun in Hanoi later, Reuters adds.
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