Trump hails good dialogue, Kim is confident, as Cohen testifies
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DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump met in Vietnam yesterday for a second summit that the United States hopes will result in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for promises of peace and development.
Trump tweeted after a dinner with Kim at Hanoi’s French-colonial-era Metropole hotel that they had “Great meetings” and a “Very good dialogue,” while the White House said the two planned to sign a “joint agreement” after further talks today.
Kim and Trump shook hands and smiled briefly in front of a row of their national flags at the Metropole before heading to dinner together.
Trump told reporters he thought the talks would be very successful, and when asked if he was “walking back” on denuclearization demands, said “no.”
At their historic first summit in Singapore in June, Trump and Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula but little progress has been made.
Kim said they had overcome obstacles to hold the second summit and praised Trump for his “courageous decision” to begin a dialogue.
“Now that we’re meeting here again like this, I’m confident that there will be an excellent outcome that everyone welcomes, and I’ll do my best to make it happen,” Kim said.
Trump and Kim held a 20-minute, one-on-one chat before sitting down to dinner with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump’s acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Kim’s top envoy Kim Yong Chol and DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho.
Today, the two leaders will hold a series of meetings at the Metropole, beginning with another one-on-one session lasting 45 minutes, the White House said.
It said they would hold a “joint agreement signing ceremony” at the end of their meetings, followed by a news conference by Trump at 3:50pm Hanoi time.
The White House gave no indication as to what the signing might involve, although the two sides have held discussions that have included the possibility of a political statement to declare the 1950-53 Korean War officially over.
In the run-up to this summit, Trump has indicated a flexible stance, saying he was in no rush to secure the DPRK’s denuclearization.
For Trump, a deal that eases the DPRK threat could hand him a big foreign-policy achievement in the midst of domestic troubles.
While he was in Hanoi, Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen delivered scathing testimony to a US congressional panel, including that “Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great.”
Cohen referred to a comment Trump made to him about avoiding the US military draft for the Vietnam War on medical grounds: “‘You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam,’” Cohen cited Trump as saying.
“I find it ironic, President Trump, that you are in Vietnam right now,” Cohen said.
Trump said on Twitter that Cohen was lying to reduce his prison time. Cohen pleaded guilty to financial crimes and lying to Congress last year and a judge sentenced him to three years in prison, a term he is due to start next Wednesday.
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