President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un shared a warm handshake on Wednesday as they met for their second summit in Vietnam.
Trump met the dictator at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi at about 6:30 p.m. local time.
“Here we are today and I hope that we can provide an outcome that is welcomed by everyone. And I’m sure that we can do this,” Kim told Trump through a translator.
Trump reciprocated his counterpart’s optimistic message, saying it was an “honor” to meet with Kim for a second time.
“It’s great to be with you, we had a very successful first summit,” Trump said. “Some people wanted to see it go quicker, but I was very happy with how we are doing.”
He added, “I think that your country has tremendous economic potential, unbelievable, unlimited. I believe you will have a great future … I look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen.”
Kim responded with a smile.
Ignoring questions from reporters about his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony later Wednesday to Congress, Trump then went into a closed-door meeting with Kim just before 6:40 p.m. local time.
Trump and Kim will have dinner together at the hotel after the meeting.
About two hours prior, Trump criticized reports about the summit, saying he and Kim would work toward agreeing to end North Korea’s nuclear program.
“All false reporting (guessing) on my intentions with respect to North Korea. Kim Jong Un and I will try very hard to work something out on Denuclearization & then making North Korea an Economic Powerhouse,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“I believe that China, Russia, Japan & South Korea will be very helpful!” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump met with Vietnamese leaders and touted the business relationship between the U.S. and the country.
Trump said the Vietnamese economy was “thriving” in part because of its relationship with the U.S. — and used it as an example of what is possible for North Korea if they agree to denuclearize.
“We [Trump and Kim] both felt very good about having this very important summit in Vietnam because you really are a good example of what can happen,” Trump said after meeting with the Vietnamese president.
Trump and Kim met for the first time last June in Singapore.
-Agencies
