School children waving North Korean flags and a guard of honour welcome the dictator whose schedule for the rest of the day is a secret. Trump, who arrives tonight, tweeted “Looking forward to a very productive Summit!"
Hanoi (AsiaNews) - After a 66-hour train journey and some 3,800 kilometres, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached the Vietnamese capital this morning for the much-awaited second summit with US President Donald J. Trump.
At 8.10 am this morning, Kim’s train stopped at the Dong Dang railway station, near the Sino-Vietnamese border. The first North Korean leader to visit Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il-sung in 1964, Kim was met with a red carpet, school children waving North Korean flags and a guard of honour in white uniforms.
The North Korean leader then climbed into a bullet-proof car and left for Hanoi where he arrived at his luxury hotel in the city centre after a drive of about two hours and 170 km.
Kim will meet Trump tomorrow and the following day, eight months after the first summit.
Kim's schedule for the rest of the day was kept secret. He may visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, as his advance team looked around it. There's also a possibility of him meeting with Vietnamese leaders, such as President and Communist Party chief Nguyễn Phú Trọng.
Trump is flying from Washington, DC and is due to land at Noi Bai International Airport in the Vietnamese capital Tuesday night. The US leader expressed optimism about his summit with Kim.
"Heading over to Vietnam for my meeting with Kim Jong Un. Looking forward to a very productive Summit!" he tweeted aboard Air Force One.
Before departing for Hanoi, he also said, "We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy."
The two leaders are scheduled to begin the summit with a one-on-one meeting followed by dinner with their advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is already in Hanoi,
Kim and Trump will hold talks the next day to build on the deal signed on 12 June 2018 in Singapore.
In their first historic meeting, the two agreed to work together for peace and "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula and change relations between Pyongyang and Washington.