Summit Kim and Trump in Vietnam: an official visit for denuclearization

The North Korean leader arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday in an armored train for a new summit with the US president.

Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s top leader, arrived in Dong Dang in the Vietnamese province of Lang Son on Tuesday morning for an official visit to the country and his second summit with his American counterpart Donald Trump.

Kim’s special train arrived at the station at 8:13 am local time, where he was greeted by dignitaries and Vietnamese residents, according to the official Vietnamese news agency VNA.

The Vietnamese capital is in full preparations to welcome on Wednesday and Thursday this new meeting between the North Korean leader and the American president. Donald Trump hopes to achieve the denuclearization of Pyongyang, even if he says he is ready to take his time.

Dressed in his traditional Mao-style suit, Mr. Kim greeted the smiling crowd before rushing into a Mercedes Benz and leaving in convoy for Hanoi. He was greeted by crowd cheers held by security gates as armored vehicles patrolled the streets. After a few hours of rest, he went to the embassy of his country.

The US president, who takes a more conventional route to Hanoi with Air Force One, is expected to land in the Vietnamese capital on the evening of Tuesday.

Donald Trump was optimistic, ensuring on Twitter wait impatiently for « a very productive summit ».

Very few details filtered on the meeting. The two leaders will be dining together Wednesday evening with some of their advisors, Air Force One spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters in the White House.

A « global » agreement was signed at their first summit on 18 June in Singapore. This had resulted in improved bilateral ties. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he would like Monday « the success of the summit » in Hanoi, where security has been strengthened.

A road map for denuclearization, the lifting of sanctions against North Korea and the possible publication of a declaration ending the war will be the focal points of this second summit. Kim is expected to have a face-to-face meeting with Trump, according to local media reports.

Stephen Biegun, the US envoy for the North, recently acknowledged that Pyongyang and Washington had « not agreed on the meaning » of denuclearization. The United States has repeatedly called for Pyongyang to dispose of its nuclear arsenal in a comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible manner.

But for North Korea, denuclearization is broader. It wants the lifting of the international sanctions that strangle it and the end of what it perceives as the American threats, namely the military presence in South Korea and in the region in general.

Donald Trump repeats that he is in no hurry to convince the North to give up its nuclear arsenal, as long as it abstains, as it has done for more than a year, from firing missiles and nuclear tests.

« I do not want to rush anyone, » he said before leaving Washington, seeming to temper in advance the hopes raised by the Vietnamese summit. For months, the American president has been handling carrots and sticks with North Korea, showing off his economic potential while refusing to reduce sanctions.

« With a complete denuclearization, North Korea will quickly become an economic power. Without that, we just stay at the same point! President Kim will make a wise decision! « , He tweeted.

Pyongyang insists that he has already made gestures, freezing military trials and blowing up access to his nuclear test site. But at the same time, he points out that he has finished developing his arsenal and that he no longer needs such infrastructures.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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