Trump, Kim meet for start of second denuclearization summit
Washington Times – HANOI, Vietnam — President Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un Wednesday at the start of their second denuclearization summit, proclaiming that their “great relationship” will lead to fruitful negotiations.
“I think it’ll be very successful,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “The biggest progress is our relationship is really a good one.”
He told Mr. Kim that North Korea has “tremendous economic potential” from eased economic sanctions if he agrees to abandon its weapons program.
Mr. Kim thanked the president for his “courageous decision” to negotiate with him personally, and said there have been “some misunderstandings” in the 261 days since their last meeting.
“There have been all these eyes from the world who are misunderstanding the situation,” Mr. Kim said, referring to “hostility” lingering from the Korean War. “However, we have been able to overcome all the obstacles, and here we are today after 261 days.”
Amid high intrigue, the two leaders arrived at dusk at the Metropole hotel in Hanoi in separate motorcades, and shook hands in front of a bank of U.S. and North Korean flags. They chatted briefly and smiled for news cameras.
“I thought the first summit was a great success, and I think this one hopefully will be equal or greater than the first,” Mr. Trump told his counterpart, whom he called a “great leader.”
Mr. Kim replied, “We have been able to overcome all the obstacles, and here we are today.”
Then, with no aides and only interpreters present, they huddled in a conference room in their first face-to-face meeting since their breakthrough summit in Singapore eight months ago.
They later ate dinner together, joined by two key advisers from each side. Outside the hotel, hundreds of spectators and journalists thronged the security perimeter to get glimpses of the leaders and their entourages.
Mr. Kim said that since their initial meeting last summer, he had been through a time in which “I agonized… and have more patience than at any time.”
“I am confident that such a great outcome will come out this time which can be welcomed by everyone, and I will do my best to this end,” he said.
The White House billed the meeting as mainly a casual event; the tougher talks will come on Thursday. Mr. Trump earlier in the day called Mr. Kim “my friend” on Twitter, after having taunted him as “Little Rocket Man” in 2017 when the North Korean was launching test missiles and threatening to attack the U.S.
Even as Mr. Trump was negotiating over one of the world’s most urgent security threats, the president also was paying attention to developments back in Washington, where former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was testifying to a House committee that he committed crimes at the behest of Mr. Trump. He called the president a “con man” and a “cheater.”
The president fired back on Twitter hours before his meeting with Mr. Kim, calling Cohen a liar.
“Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately),” Mr. Trump tweeted. “He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time.”
As the president and Mr. Kim headed into the crucial part of the summit, Democrats in Washington expressed fears that Mr. Trump will ease sanctions or give other concessions to Mr. Kim without getting anything concrete in return.
“The fact that Trump wants a deal so bad and is such a terrible negotiator should scare us all heading into the summit with Kim,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The president said ahead of the meeting that his critics and the media were in the dark, criticizing “false reporting (guessing) on my intentions.”
“Kim Jong Un and I will try very hard to work something out on Denuclearization & then making North Korea an Economic Powerhouse,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “I believe that China, Russia, Japan & South Korea will be very helpful!”
Sources close to the negotiations have told The Washington Times that a success would come if any joint statement from the summit includes an indication that North Korea will allow international inspectors into the country to examine nuclear sites.
If the joint statement does not include that wording, the next best thing would be for Mr. Kim to say “inspectors” during a likely post-summit press conference on Thursday, they believe.
Some U.S. reporters covering the event as part of Mr. Trump’s media pool were excluded from the meeting with Mr. Kim, apparently over annoyance with reporters’ shouted questions. Only one newspaper reporter was allowed to cover the leaders’ final comments of the evening, while TV, radio and wire-service reporters were barred.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited the “sensitive nature of the meetings.”
“We are continuing to negotiate aspects of this historic summit and will always work to make sure the U.S. media has as much access as possible,” she said.
Outside the meeting site, there was an atmosphere of fascination and excitement among the crowd who had waited for the two leaders.
“The two most-talked-about men in the world are coming,” said Davin Reid, a 29-year-old Canadian who was among thousands packing around an intersection near the hotel’s entrance.
“I want to see Kim Jong-un,” said Mr. Reid’s girlfriend, Kailyn Leckie, 23. “He’s just a fascinating human.”
“We’re not fans,” Mr. Reid added quickly. “It’s just a morbid curiosity. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Source: US Government Class
