Trump arrives in Vietnam for second summit with Kim Jong Un
President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un arrived to red-carpet welcomes in Vietnam on Tuesday setting the scene for their second summit in less than a year to restart efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons.
Trump arrived at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi shortly before 9 p.m. local time on Air Force One after leaving Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday afternoon – a 20-hour trip that included two fueling stops in England and Qatar.
The president waved as he walked down the steps of the presidential aircraft and was greeted on the tarmac by US and Vietnamese officials before heading to his official limousine.
“Just arrived in Vietnam. Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi. Tremendous crowds, and so much love!” Trump tweeted shortly after his arrival.
Kim, who spent 65 hours traveling the 2,800 miles from Pyongyang to Hanoi in an armored train before switching to a car when he and his entourage reached Vietnam, was already in the city when Trump’s plane touched down.
Large crowds waving North Korean and Vietnamese flags greeted Kim as his train pulled into the Dong Dang railroad station on the border of China and Vietnam earlier Tuesday.
Kim, smiling and waving, greeted Vietnamese troops standing at attention.
Before arriving in Vietnam, a Japanese television network caught Kim puffing on a cigarette with a woman, who appeared to be his sister Kim Yo Yong, holding an ashtray at the ready while the train was stopped at a station in China.
Later the North Korean leader cruised around heavily secured Hanoi in an armored limousine along with a bevy of bodyguards and made a stop at the North Korean Embassy.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also in Hanoi after arriving earlier Tuesday in his own aircraft and met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh for talks.
“Great exchange with @FMPhamBinhMinh. Vietnam is an increasingly close friend and partner of the United States – we share a range of strategic interests and a common desire to promote peace, security, and a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Pompeo wrote in a tweet.
Trump has no other public events scheduled for the remainder of Tuesday.
Trump and Kim, who last met one-on-one last June in Singapore, are scheduled to have a conversation on Wednesday followed by a dinner accompanied by two guests and their interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
Trump will be joined by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Pompeo.
The two leaders will meet again on Thursday, but the location has yet to be officially announced.
Trump, who has touted his relationship with Kim following last year’s meeting, predicted that the summit will be “tremendous” and tweeted “Denuclearization?”
In Singapore, the two agreed to a sweeping series of declarations concerning North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
Despite the assurances, little headway has been made by North Korea to abandon the weapons, although Trump has pointed to the lack of missile launches or nuclear tests by the regime since the summit.
With Post Wires