HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchanged greetings as they kicked off their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The two leaders exchanged handshakes, laughs and some small talk at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, where they’re scheduled to meet for 20 minutes before sitting down for what the White House has described as a “social dinner.”
Trump told reporters of the meeting: “We look forward to it, we both do.”
Asked whether he might formally end the Korean War, he responded: “We’ll see.”
Trump earlier made the case that North Korea could thrive economically like Vietnam if the North ends its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Trump said: “We’ll see what happens, but he wants to do something great.”
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6:20 p.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived at a hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, ahead of his planned dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kim is set to have what U.S. officials call a “social dinner” with Trump at Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel on Wednesday.
The two leaders are to meet again on Thursday for a formal meeting on Kim’s advancing nuclear program.
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6:15 p.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi for his second face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet for 20 minutes before sitting down for what the White House has described as a “social dinner” together.
They’ll sit down again for formal meetings Thursday.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said earlier that Trump would be joined at the Vietnam dinner by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pahm-PAY’-oh) and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
Kim will be joined by Kim Yong Chol, his chief interlocutor with the U.S., and North Korea’s minister of foreign affairs Ri Yong Ho.
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5 p.m.
Less than two hours before he is set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, U.S. President Donald Trump is complaining about news coverage of their second summit.
In a Wednesday tweet, Trump is criticizing “false reporting (guessing)” about his intentions with respect to North Korea but isn’t citing any.
He adds: “Kim Jong Un and I will try very hard to work something out on Denuclearization & then making North Korea an Economic Powerhouse.”
Trump in recent days has signaled there is some flexibility on his previous demands that North Korea denuclearize before it sees some relief from crushing U.S. and international sanctions.
Trump and Kim are set to meet for what the White House is calling a “social dinner” on Wednesday and have formal meetings on Thursday.
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3:35 p.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet for what the White House is calling a “social dinner,” as they begin their second summit in Vietnam.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says each of the leaders will be joined Wednesday by two of his senior-most aides, as well as interpreters.
Trump is to be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pahm-PAY’-oh) and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Kim will bring Kim Yong Chol, his chief interlocutor with the U.S., and North Korea’s minister of foreign affairs Ri Yong Ho.
They will be dining at Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel, which also will host their formal meetings Thursday.
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3:25 p.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump is continuing to take political shots on foreign soil even as he prepares for a high-stakes meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump is tweeting during downtime at his hotel in Hanoi that he has now “spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal.”
Trump was referring to Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who served in the Marine Corps Reserves during the Vietnam War and apologized in 2010 for saying he had served in Vietnam.
Trump adds that Blumenthal’s “war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud.”
Blumenthal is a Trump critic and has brushed off Trump’s attacks in the past, tweeting in 2017 that Trump’s “bullying hasn’t worked.”
Trump also is tweeting that he talked about the incident in his meetings with Vietnam’s leaders Wednesday. That would be a highly unusual topic of conversation for an American president on the world stage.
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3:05 p.m.
South Korea’s presidential office is apparently lowering the bar for success on the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.
A spokesman of South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday that any progress in Hanoi would be a positive development and downplayed concerns that Trump would fail to get a deal from Kim that meaningfully restricts the North’s nuclear weapons capabilities.
Spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom says it would be unfair to rate the summit as a failure if it comes short of “big deals,” saying “small deals” can be keys that open up bigger agreements later. The spokesman says, “A thousand-mile journey begins with the first step.”
Moon has tried to maintain an impression that things are moving toward the North’s denuclearization in the face of growing skepticism. He is trying to keep Washington hard-liners at bay and create more space for inter-Korean engagement.
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1:45 p.m.
North Korean officials have toured Vietnam’s scenic Halong Bay and a nearby industrial site while leader Kim Jong Un spent his second morning in Hanoi inside a hotel preparing for his meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump.
