US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un on Wednesday kicked off their second summit in Vietnam with optimism about eight months after their historic meeting in Singapore. The White House said the two leaders would attend the "signing ceremony of a joint agreement" at the end of their summit tomorrow.
Trump expected a "very successful" summit, hoping that the bilateral meeting, which will focus on the issue of denuclearization of North Korea, "is similar or even better than the previous one."
"It is an honor to be with Kim and it is an honor to be together in Vietnam." "It's great to be with you," he told his Korean counterpart.
"Your country has enormous economic potential, incredible and unlimited," Trump said during a brief press conference at the start of the summit of the two leaders.
Dressed in traditional clothes, Kim told Tramp, after a long struggle, that he would do his best to make a "welcome this time".
"It is a courageous decision on your part to start a dialogue between the two countries," Kim Trump said. He also praised the fact that the two leaders met again, this time in Hanoi, saying "hard work was necessary and patience was needed."
| Dinner at the Central Hanoi Hotel after their direct meeting (Anatolia) |
Dinner and Promises
At the end of their direct meeting on Wednesday, the two leaders participated in a small dinner at a luxury hotel in downtown Hanoi.
The White House said the two leaders would hold a meeting on Thursday for 45 minutes, followed by extensive talks involving their aides. He said the two presidents would attend the "signing ceremony of a joint agreement" at the end of their summit in Vietnam tomorrow.
Hours before the meeting, the US president once again promised his "friend Kim Jong-un" to achieve remarkable economic growth if North Korea accepted to abandon its nuclear arsenal.
The US president stressed the model of Vietnam, the communist state that adopted capitalism, and turned the page of confrontation with the United States.
North Korea can do the same thing very quickly if it decides to disarm, "Trump said in a tweet on Twitter.
The summit is the second meeting between Trump and Kim eight months after their first historic summit in Singapore last June.
Trump, who wants success as the other presidents fail, is under pressure to clarify the contents of the first summit statement, which remains ambiguous on the subject of "denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula."
Neither the US president nor the Korean leader gave any clear indication of what could be announced on the second and final day of the summit on Thursday in the Vietnamese capital.
Trump critics fear he will make a lot of concessions to give the impression of "success" and divert attention from what is happening in Washington, where his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified before a congressional committee.