President Trump meets with Kim Jong Un

Ahead of President Trump addressing the press after his meetings with North Korean leader Kim ended without agreement, a South Korean government official told CNN “we’re as perplexed as the world now.”

“The whole world was waiting for an agreement and so were we,” the official added.

The South Korean stock market fell on the news of the summit’s early end, closing down 1.8%.

President Trump will hold a news conference soon after his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were cut short.

The White House said Trump and Kim could not reach an agreement during their extensive talks Thursday.

“No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Follow us here for the latest or watch the conference live in the video player at the top of the page.

Former State Department spokesman and CNN analyst John Kirby said the “talks had to have broken down at some point,” adding it was likely “to do with the very large gap of expectations on both sides.”

“On one hand, that’s disappointing obviously because it would behoove everybody to move forward with some sort of framework for negotiations,” he said. “That said, I’m not inclined to fault the President for being willing to walk away – there is some strength in that.” 

He added that “many people were expecting him to just give away the farm going into this summit. That he didn’t do that and was willing to walk away shows how big the gap was, but it also tells you he was not willing to deal for the sake of dealing, and that’s encouraging.”

The White House says no joint agreement was reached between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their closely watched second summit.

“No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in a statement.

Sanders added: “President Donald J. Trump of the United States and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had very good and constructive meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28, 2019.”

Watch more:

After their planned working lunch was called off, amid speculation a signing ceremony may not be taking place today either, the motorcades for both President Trump and North Korean leader Kim are now en route back to their hotels.

South Korean stocks continued to fall after the apparent change in summit schedule between the two leaders.

A planned working lunch between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim appears to have been canceled, as potentially has a joint signing ceremony.

After preliminary negotiations between Trump and Kim went over time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters waiting to cover the lunch that it had been called off.

Negotiations would be wrapping up in the next 30 minutes, she said, after which Trump will return to his hotel for a press conference at 2 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET).

She declined to comment when asked several times about the signing ceremony, which was originally scheduled for 2 p.m.

South Korea’s stock market dipped suddenly after the news of potential difficulties at the summit, but it quickly recovered some of its losses.

Nguyen Thi Lien says Trump and Kim are welcome in her shop.

Nguyen Thi Lien owns the famous noodle restaurant where former US President Barack Obama and CNN’s Anthony Bourdain enjoyed a meal in 2016.

She said she’s not very political but would be very happy to host President Trump and Kim Jong Un for a meal if they chose to stop by.

In fact, she said they could eat there for free.

Bourdain and Obama in Hanoi in 2016.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim will be sitting down shortly for a working lunch at the Metropole Hotel’s Le Club restaurant.

Here’s what they’ll be eating:

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim went back and forth Thursday over the prospect of opening a US office in Pyongyang after the issue was raised by a journalist.

Initially, Kim seemed to reject the question, proposing to Trump that the media be excused from the room.

But Trump seemed to urge him to answer, saying it was a good question.

“I would like to hear that answer,” Trump said.

Kim responded through his interpreter, saying it would be something that was “welcomeable.”

Trump expressed a similar sentiment: “I actually think it’s a good idea.”

Kim went on to say it would be better for Trump and him to discuss it together in private.

Watch the exchange:

During a brief press conference ahead of his meeting with President Trump, a journalist asked North Korea’s Kim Jong Un if he was willing to fully dismantle his nuclear arsenal.

“If I’m not willing to do that, I wouldn’t be here right now,” Kim responded through an interpreter.

A CNN translator said Kim’s original phrase could also be interpreted as “I wouldn’t have come here, if I didn’t have the will.”

After Kim’s reply, Trump responded, “That’s a good answer. Wow. That might be the best answer you’ve ever heard.”

Kim has repeatedly said at summits in South Korea and Singapore that he is willing to give up his nuclear arsenal but experts say there has so far been little evidence of progress in this regard.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have briefly taken questions before sitting down for another round of talks.

A reporter asked Kim if he would be “discussing human rights with President Trump?”

While Kim’s interpreter appeared to be translating the question, Trump said: “We’re discussing everything.”

“We’re having very, very productive discussions,” Trump added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have answered his first ever question from an international journalist today.

At the end of his first sit-town with Trump, the Washington Post’s David Nakamura yelled out if Kim was confident about striking a deal with the US leader.

“It’s too early to tell. But I wouldn’t say I’m pessimistic,” Kim responded through a translator, after a pause. He then added he expected “good results.”

Ruling an authoritarian regime in North Korea, Kim rarely if ever has to face questioning from the press. Even then, it is only state media. Previous attempts by foreign reporters to question him have been greeted with silence.

North Korea is ranked 180 out of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index.

Amid the pomp and ceremony of President Trump’s second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, former NBA star Dennis Rodman has taken to Twitter to offer his help.

The US basketball player was a repeated guest of Kim’s during the Obama administration, and has offered himself as a go-between for North Korea and the US before.

He issued a statement “from the desk of Dennis K. Rodman” Thursday in which he described himself as Trump’s “Ambassador of Goodwill to North Korea.”

He touted his “continued friendship” with Kim. But during Rodman’s last visit to North Korea, Kim didn’t even meet with the former basketball player.

Read his letter below:

The Hotel Metropole is the stuff legends are made of.

Since opening in 1901, Charlie Chaplin has honeymooned there and it was in this opulent hotel that Graham Greene worked on his classic novel “The Quiet American.”

Other glitzy patrons of the five-star hotel, built in the French colonial style, have included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and former US President Bill Clinton.

The hotel even has an underground bunker that protected guests, including actress Jane Fonda, from air raids during the war. After being sealed for decades, it was opened to guests in 2012.

A plaque in the hotel lists all the illustrious figures that have visited. Will the names of Trump and Kim be added to that list?

Newspapers on display in a Hanoi hotel on Thursday morning.

The White House Correspondents’ Association issued harsh criticism of the Trump team’s decision to block some press access to the President’s dinner with Kim Jong Un Wednesday.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders said the decision had been made due to “the sensitive nature of the meetings.”

But there has been some speculation the White House wanted to limit questions on former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony back in the US.

No further announcements have been made yet today on whether press access to the important meeting will be changed.

Kim and Trump go for a brief outdoor stroll at the beginning of their second day of meetings in Hanoi.

Trump and Kim were due to have a friendly chat beside the pool at the Hotel Metropole but plans appear to have changed.

According to reporters on the ground, the meeting has had to be moved inside due to the hot and humid weather in Hanoi today.

According to Vietnam’s weather agency, it is currently 73F (23C) in the capital with a grueling humidity of 93%. Both leaders are wearing full suits.

Just one of the many dangers of holding international summits in the tropics…

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are heading into their first rounds of denuclearization talks.

Sitting with President Trump, Kim told reporters many people had been “skeptical” about the two leaders meeting.

“I’m sure all of them will be watching the moment we are sitting together, side-by-side, as if they are watching a fantasy movie,” he said.

Both leaders are expected to hold meetings throughout the morning local time, before sitting down for a working lunch.

Sitting beside North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Trump said he wasn’t in a rush to clinch a deal with Pyongyang.

“I’ve been saying very much from the beginning that speed is not that important to me,” Trump said. “Speed is not important to me. What is important is that we do the right deal.”

Trump said that while the two sides were going to have “fantastic success,” he couldn’t speak to what the results of Thursday’s summit might be.

“I’m sure over the years we’ll be together a lot,” Trump said.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have met for the second day at the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi.

Trump, speaking to reporters, said North Korea could be an “economic powerhouse” and that he was looking forward to helping make it happen.

“I think it’s going to be something very special,” he said, as he sat next to Kim.

Through a translator, Kim said the whole world was looking at the meeting right now, adding he looked forward to a “wonderful dialogue.”

As President Trump awoke in Hanoi on Thursday morning, the Wednesday evening US prime-time newscasts continued to pick through the unsparing allegations his longtime former attorney and adviser Michael Cohen had leveled against Trump during his testimony before the House Oversight Committee.

During his seven hours of testimony, Cohen accused Trump of being a “racist,” a “conman” and a “cheat.” He claimed that Trump was aware during the 2016 campaign of his longtime political adviser Roger Stone’s communications with WikilLeaks about the release of hacked Democratic emails. And once again – this time before the cameras – he implicated Trump in federal crimes.

During his full day of meetings with Kim, Trump is looking to refocus attention on his high-stakes diplomatic gambit with North Korea, even though it’s Cohen’s testimony that will surely be a focus of questioning during a news conference later on Thursday.

Kim's motorcade heads to the summit location through the streets of Hanoi.

President Trump and his team have arrived at the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi to begin the day of talks with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Kim is still en route to the summit location.

As the two motorcades passed through the streets of Hanoi, locals snapped photos and waved flags from the sidewalks.

President Donald Trump has left the JW Marriott hotel in Hanoi and is on his way to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Thursday’s events are expected to be held entirely at the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi.

The two men will spend most of the day in negotiations before a signing ceremony at about 2 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET).

Police officers line up outside the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi where Kim and Trump will meet again on Thursday.

North Korea experts say whatever Kim Jong Un and President Trump agree to at their signing ceremony Thursday afternoon, no one should expect any major concessions.

Among the likely outcomes are a mutual exchange of liaison officers for the first time and the announcement of a peace agreement signifying the official end of the Korean War.

“(It) sets into place the idea that this is a new era that we’re entering into,” says John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at Harvard Kennedy School.

US negotiators already appear to have dropped earlier requests for a full accounting of North Korea’s nuclear program as part of a second summit agreement.

Park said the Thursday agreement might be “incremental” but both sides were focusing on producing “tangible outcomes.”

President Trump and Kim Jong Un will sign a joint agreement on Thursday, according to the White House, and the President’s daily schedule lists a signing ceremony after a day of meetings with Kim.

They’ve been working on an agreement: US officials had been working to draft an agreement with their North Korean counterparts ahead of Trump’s arrival but it’s not yet known what is contained in the document.

Teams from both countries had arrived earlier in Hanoi to negotiate an agreement for the two leaders to sign at the conclusion of their summit.

But it remained unclear what steps Kim was willing to take toward eliminating his nuclear arsenal or what concessions the US might offer in exchange.

South Korean watch a screen reporting the Trump and Kim summit.

North Korean state media KCNA has published its first take on the dinner between leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump.

According to state media, Kim told Trump the two leaders had overcome “mistrust, misunderstanding, hostility and old practices.”

“He added that this period required lots of deep thinking, effort and patience than ever before,” KCNA said.

Trump and Kim meet in Hanoi on Wednesday night.

In just a few hours, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will begin a full day of talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

Both leaders shared a private dinner last night with just a few members of staff present. Neither was giving anything away about a possible deal.

“We’re going to have a very busy day tomorrow,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday night.

A signing ceremony is scheduled for just after 2 p.m. local time. But what the two leaders will be agreeing to is anybody’s guess.

“My expectations is still that no matter what happens Trump is going to come out and say it was a tremendous victory,” says Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

President Trump has departed dinner with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at the Metropole Hotel. Trump left the hotel 1 hour and 42 minutes after the dinner began. 

The two will meet Thursday for extended bilateral meetings before Trump departs in the evening for Washington.

We also expect a Trump press conference, per Trump this evening. We are waiting on the official schedule with timing. 

President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un have been meeting today. Reporters got a chance to ask the President questions as they walked into a meeting room.

Asked whether he’d walked back his vow to insist upon the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Trump said he had not.

“No,” he said. 

Questioned later whether he planned to declare an end to the Korean War, he said: “We’ll see.”

Kim and Trump pose before their meeting during the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on Wednesday.

A second sit-down with President Trump gives legitimacy to Kim, CNN’s Will Ripley explained.

Ripley — who has visited North Korea 19 times — explained the summit is “a chance for the world to see [Kim] in a different setting than the propaganda we normally see.”

He added that Kim’s ultimate goal here is likely to get the world comfortable with him and with the idea of him being in possession of a nuclear arsenal.

Here’s how Ripley put it:

The Unicorn Pub in Hanoi’s Hoàn Kiem district has added a special drink to its menu during the Trump Kim summit.

The “Rock it, man” is made with classic American and Korean spirits, bourbon and soju, as well as Fireball whiskey, pineapple juice, vanilla, bitters and pepper-infused vodka.

A Hanoi bar has made a special cocktail in honor of the historic summit: The "Rock it, man"

Trump and Kim are joined by a small group including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at Wednesday night's dinner.

The White House says fewer reporters will cover the Trump-Kim dinner citing the “sensitive nature of the meetings.”

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said:

Pool reporter Vivian Salana offered an explanation of the White House decision.

“Originally Sarah Sanders informed us that no print reporters would be allowed in due to sensitivities over shouted questions in previous sprays. But when our photo colleagues joined us in protest, they decided to allow one print reporter in.”

Trump jokes with photographers as Kim looks on at the start of a dinner on Wednesday.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un appeared relaxed and friendly as they began a social dinner in Hanoi on Wednesday.

“Nothing like having a nice private dinner,” Trump joked as a limited pool of reporters took photos.

Seated at a round table with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump asked photographers to make him and Kim “look good” in their photos.

“We’re going to have a very busy day tomorrow,” Trump said, adding later: “Our relationship is a very special relationship.”

Watch the moment here:

Trump shakes hands with Kim in Hanoi on Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his second sit-down with Donald Trump is thanks to a “courageous political decision” by the US President.

Addressing reporters beside Trump on Wednesday in Hanoi, Kim said that there had been “a lot of thinking, effort and patience” between now and last June, when he met the US leader in Singapore.

Kim said the “outside world” has “misunderstood” the US-North Korean relationship in the period after the Singapore summit. He said he is hoping the Hanoi summit delivers “an outcome welcome by everyone.”

Kim said the pair shared a “very interesting conversation” for 30 minutes upon meeting Wednesday.

President Trump promised North Korea a “tremendous future for your country” in his first talks with leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

“I think your country has tremendous economic potential,” Trump said.

“I think you will have a tremendous future for your country, you’re a great leader,” Trump told Kim. “We will help it to happen.”

Watch the moment here:

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim have met for the second time.

The two leaders clasped hands and posed in front of flags smiling as members of the international press took photos. Trump said he looked forward to a “very successful” summit.

Kim said “we have been able to overcome all the obstacles and here we are today.”

In response, Trump said “it’s an honor to be with Chairman Kim, it’s an honor to be together in Vietnam.”

“It’s great to be with you, we had a very successful first summit,” he added. “Some people wanted to see it go quicker, but I was very happy with how we are doing.”

Trump said the two leaders’ relationship is “really a good one.”

Neither man responded to shouted questions from the press, most of which were targeted at Trump, one reporter audibly asking about recent revelations by the President’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Watch the greeting:

President Trump has arrived at the Metropole Hotel, where he will shortly be meeting North Korean leader Kim.

Onlookers lined the motorcade route from the hotel where Trump is staying while in Hanoi, waving and holding up their phones. The route took the US President past the North Korean embassy.

Kim’s motorcade is also en route to the hotel.

According to a schedule released by the White House, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim will be arriving at the Metropole Hotel shortly, where they will be meet in person for the second time ahead of a private dinner tonight.

Nearby the hotel, which has been largely cordoned off to the public amid heavy security, the famous Lotus Water Puppet Theater has erected portraits of the two leaders, one showing Trump waving in front of the US and Vietnamese flags.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is due to meet President Trump on Wednesday evening to begin their second summit.

The outcome is highly unpredictable but experts said there are many ways Kim could declare the summit a victory.

“Kim Jong Un has several paths to a win in Hanoi – and unfortunately Trump seems determined to make it happen,” said Adam Mount, Senior Fellow and Director, Defense Posture Project, Federation of American Scientists.

“Kim gains a modest win by just showing up and repeating his performance at Singapore – being seen to engage the United States as a nuclear power, gaining new opportunities for diplomacy and trade and raising the chance of sanctions relief from Beijing and Seoul.”

Kim and Trump shake hands during their first summit in Singapore.

A lot of what President Trump and North Korean leader Kim discuss at their second summit in Hanoi will be kept private, but can we learn anything from their body language?

Translation and interpretation expert Julie Giguere thinks so, she says their behavior at the previous meeting in Singapore showed evidence of their different cultural backgrounds and gave insight into their feelings.

“When moving from initial meeting to the summit setting, Trump invited Kim to walk ahead of him. This could be interpreted as a desire to calm the situation and the President also used his hand to guide the younger man, which can be seen as an indication of a desire to assert dominance,” Giguere said in an email.

“While the two leaders spoke last time, Kim spent most of the time looking down and listening while Trump spoke in a largely conciliatory manner. Trump’s more aggressive body language and Kim patting Trump on the shoulder, both of which were interpreted as a desire to assert control, belied the apparent passivity on both sides.” 

She added it was important for observers to take into account differences in American and North Korean etiquette.

“The bow plays an important role in Korean greetings and etiquette in general. This is one of the ways in which Trump could show a small amount of recognizable politeness and respect to the North Korean leader without being too friendly, especially given they have met before,” Giguere said.

“Giving a straight ‘no’ is simply not done in North Korean business etiquette. You might suggest a ‘maybe,’ but you would never just say ‘no.’ It’s an easy way to be very rude and this is something on which the President should certainly have been advised.”

President Trump has tweeted again from Hanoi, where he is due to be meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a couple hours, saying the pair will “try very hard to work something out” with regard to denuclearization.

He added that he believes “China, Russia, Japan & South Korea will be very helpful!”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to his meeting with President Trump by train, passing through China on the way to Vietnam.

There’s one person in his retinue whose presence suggests he may be planning to stop in China on the way back home: Kim Song Nam.

Kim Song Nam is known as a longtime adviser to the Kim family on China matters, and has acted as the North Korean leader’s Chinese interpreter in the past. While he also holds the position of deputy minister of international affairs, his presence would seem to add weight to reports in the South Korean media speculating that Kim Jong Un would stop in Beijing to brief Chinese President Xi Jinping on his latest meeting with Trump.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife seen during a visit to Beijing in January.

People were lined up outside the Vietnam Stamps Company from 6 a.m. this morning, three and a half hours before the shop opened, to get their hands on 500 limited-edition coins commemorating the second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim.

Each of the coins cost 500,000 Vietnamese dong each (about $22) and sold out in three hours. On the front, it features the flags of the US and North Korea, embossed in silver, along with a dove and the slogan “World peace.”

Do Huu Tuyen told CNN he got there at 9 a.m. and waited about three hours to get his coin, one of the last sold. Do, an agriculture student, said he was fascinated by the Hanoi summit and he wanted a keepsake to mark the occasion.

A commemorative coin issued by the White House Communications Agency ahead of Trump’s last meeting with Kim in Singapore was a big success, attracting over a thousand orders in the first day.

That coin, in silver, white, red and blue, sparked some controversy for referring to Kim as North Korea’s “Supreme Leader,” a title not usually used by the US.

Truong Thanh Duc normally sells about 30 shirts a day out of his shop in Hanoi’s old quarter, where he’s worked the last 20 years.

This week he’s selling 500 a day, almost all of which are emblazoned with President Trump and North Korean leader Kim’s faces. The shop has sold a total of about 3,000 so far. 

According to Truong, the only time he’s ever sold more shirts was when the under-23 Vietnamese football team made the semifinals last year.

Truong says he supports Hanoi hosting the summit irrespective of his business. 

“This is an event to promote peace,” he said. He hopes Kim Jong Un will choose a path of peace and reform like Vietnam did.

According to White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, President Trump’s dinner with North Korean leader Kim will be a relatively small affair, especially compared to the packed tables seen today during Trump’s working lunch with Vietnamese leaders.

According to Sanders, the participants at the dinner, which will take place at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, are as follows:

United States

North Korea

President Trump used his first tweet since meeting with Vietnamese leaders Wednesday to take a shot at Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who he called a “fraud.”

Two things Trump didn’t mention: a quickly escalating crisis in Kashmir, and new allegations against him made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen.

A source close to the planning of Wednesday’s dinner between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim said that as of a few hours ago, chefs were still struggling to get a menu approved by both the US and North Korea.

The source said officials from both sides – but especially the White House – kept adjusting the menu to make it “super simple,” with the source adding it seemed like the US side wanted to avoid any opulence.

The Metropole Hotel in Hanoi.

The source told CNN that almost all the meeting, dining and lounge spaces have been booked out at the Metropole hotel with the exception of two. The courtyard which houses the pool and bar area is also off limits.

After a working lunch meeting with Vietnamese leaders, President Trump has returned to his Hanoi hotel, where – according to his schedule – he will remain for several hours ahead of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Wednesday evening local time.

The Vietnamese capital is famous for its sidewalks packed with plastic stools and motorbikes, part of a bustling street commerce carried out at all times of the day.

But it seems this is a side of Hanoi the authorities don’t particularly want the world to see this week. One local street vendor told CNN the police went around to local shops and told them to keep the sidewalks clear during the summit between US President Trump and North Korean leader Kim.

President Trump’s presence in Vietnam has been seized upon by Hanoi as a means to boost its relationship with Washington.

Trump and Vietnamese leaders have lavished praise upon each other, while key businesses from both countries have also signed memorandums of understanding worth in theory billions of dollars.

In a tweet Wednesday, Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs boasted of the country’s “comprehensive partnership” with the US.

An example of cha ca, a traditional Vietnamese dish served to President Trump during a working lunch in Hanoi.

President Trump and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen are currently sharing a working lunch in the country’s Presidential Palace in Hanoi.

Here’s what they’re eating:

First course: Fresh shredded green mango salad with scallops, mint leaves and cashew nuts served in a sweet vinaigrette dressing.

Second course: Deep fried Hanoi-style spring rolls with shrimp, pork, vermicelli and vegetables served with a side of sweet and sour fish sauce and red chillies.

Third course: King crab meat and spinach in a light seafood-based broth.

Fourth course: Grilled cod fish “cha ca”; roasted Wagyu beef medallions with foie gras and a semi-sweet fermented black rice sauce; sautéed “su su” vegetables with garlic (crispy green chayote stems and leaves); steamed sticky glutinous rice with shrimp wrapped in a lotus leaf.

Dessert: A traditional Vietnamese dessert consisting of lotus seeds, longans, and white wood-ear mushrooms served warm and in a light sugary syrup.

After a draining two-and-a-half day train journey across China, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un checked in to the Melia Hotel in Hanoi Tuesday.

There had been wide speculation about where Kim would stay, given his security requirements.

The 21-story property, with 306 rooms and suites, is located in the historic heart of Hanoi and is just walking distance from the presumed summit sites – Government Guest House and the Sofitel Legend Metropole.

Even better, it’s less than one mile away from the North Korea Embassy.

Inside the Melia's spacious Presidential Suite at the top of the hotel.

Sitting down for bilateral talks, President Trump and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc were full of praise for each others’ achievements in the past year.

Nguyen spoke warmly of the US and its economic success under Trump. “Congratulations on your economic performance Mr President,” Nguyen said.

In turn, President Trump credited Nguyen for the “tremendous progress” Vietnam had made since the US leader’s last trip in 2017.

He also said he appreciated potential Vietnamese purchases of US military equipment, which he said was “the best military equipment in the world by far.”

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and US President Donald Trump wave flags ahead of a bilateral meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Speaking ahead of a bilateral meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump, Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong said his country has “made every effort” to ensure “the best conditions for the success of this very special meeting.”

Vietnam has rolled out the red carpet for the two leaders and their entourages, as well as a huge international press and diplomatic corp who have travelled to Hanoi to watch the second US-North Korea summit.

In an exclusive interview with CNN Tuesday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said his country will “spare no effort” to host a successful summit, pointing to Hanoi and Washington’s own history of rapprochement.

“We deeply appreciate the meaning of peace and reconciliation. Contributing towards peace is a responsibility of each nation in this day and age,” PM Nguyen said.

President Trump has now joined Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi’s Presidential Palace.

The two leaders walked past a line of young children waving US and Vietnamese flags.

Half way down the line, Trump stopped and greeted the children with a smile, before taking two of their flags and waving them for the cameras with Nguyen.

A raft of US and Vietnamese businesses have signed deals while President Trump and President Nguyen look on.

Several of the deals were done by aviation companies. Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways agreed to buy ten 787 Dreamliners from US manufacturer Boeing, and Vietnam Airlines and Sabre signed a memorandum of understanding on providing technology solutions.

It isn’t clear whether these are new deals or previously negotiated agreements.

But the mass signing is another example of the US narrative to North Korea ahead of the Trump Kim meeting later this evening: if you agree to peace with the US, economic prosperity will follow.

President Trump pointed to Vietnam as a “good example of what could happen” if North Korea denuclearizes and achieves peace with the United States.

During a bilateral meeting, Trump thanked Vietnam’s President and General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong for agreeing to host the second US-North Korea summit.

“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.

The president also talked up the economies of the United States and Vietnam and said he was “very proud” of what Vietnam had accomplished economically.

Trump also said the US and Vietnam would be signing trade agreements later on Tuesday.

Watch President Trump’s remarks:

The US leader has been greeted at Vietnam’s Presidential Palace by President Nguyen Phu Trong, his first official engagement of his Hanoi trip.

Trump is now expected to meet and have lunch with the country’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Watch President Trump’s remarks:

President Trump’s motorcade has left the JW Marriott in Hanoi to head to Vietnam’s Presidential Palace.

Trump is due to first hold a bilateral meeting with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, followed by a lunch with the Vietnam’s top leaders.

It is the US leader’s first official event of the Hanoi visit. He isn’t due to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un until later this evening, local time.

South Korean marines taking part in Operation Foal Eagle with US forces in April 2017.

Everything is in place to go ahead with two large joint military exercises between US and South Korea, which are usually held in the spring, Pentagon officials told CNN.

There’s just one problem – President Trump postponed all joint exercises in October 2018 in an apparent concession to Kim Jong Un.

Now US military leaders are closely watching the Hanoi summit for any decisions impacting US military readiness in Asia.

President Donald Trump has sent a message to Kim Jong Un in an early morning tweet, saying North Korea could be like Vietnam – if it denuclearizes.

“Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost no other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

The US leader also criticized Democrat politicians who have pushed for him to announce a peace agreement with North Korea. “Why didn’t they do ‘it’ during eight years of the Obama administration?” he tweeted

US Capitol building in Washington D.C.

Ahead of Wednesday’s second meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, 19 US Democratic members of Congress have called for an official end to the Korean War.

The group introduced a resolution to the US Congress calling on the Trump administration to provide a “clear roadmap to achieve a final peace settlement,” according to a statement issued by congressman Ro Khanna Wednesday.

The statement said former US President and Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter was also backing the resolution.

Both North and South Korea have been pushing for a peace agreement since their summit in April 2018.

President Trump arriving in Hanoi on Tuesday night.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to meet for the first time in Vietnam for dinner on Wednesday night, local time.

But the US leader will first sit down with his hosts earlier in the day for lunch, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with President Nguyen before lunch, and then meet with the prime minister afterwards.

Trang Tien Street in Hanoi taken in 1976.

Just over 50 years ago, US B-52 bombers were pummeling Hanoi at the height of the Vietnam War.

Now the Vietnamese capital is playing host to a US President as he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the hope of ending a separate war.

The city’s reinvention since the end of the war is part of the reason it was selected for the important summit with Kim.

Washington is sending a message to North Korea – a former US enemy can become a strong friend and a vibrant economy if it’s willing to cooperate.

Trang Tien Street in Hanoi taken in 2019.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said his country wanted to make sure US and North Korean leaders had a productive summit.

Nguyen said he hopes North Korea will see Vietnam as an example of the benefits of peace, reconciliation and market liberalization.

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The night before his historic summit with President Trump last June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took a surprise stroll in downtown Singapore to see the sights of the wealthy capitalist city.

The inference seemed clear. If cash-strapped Pyongyang chooses to engage the world – and ditch its nuclear weapons – this could be its future.

Trump and Kim will this month have an even more symbolic backdrop for their next meeting: Vietnam, a country which transformed itself from bitter US enemy to peaceful partner in less than 50 years.

Experts believe the Trump administration plans to sell North Korea on a model such as communist Vietnam, highlighting its relationship with Washington as well as its economic boom since adopting market reforms. And all the North Koreans have to do, Washington is expected to say, is give up their nukes.

Yet analysts are wary such a sales pitch will produce any tangible outcome. North Korea knows how capitalism and market economies work: it’s just chosen not to embrace them.

When President Trump meets with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is expected to dish dirt in a congressional hearing Wednesday on Trump’s turbulent personal and business affairs.

If Cohen’s testimony reveals any new or damning information, it will likely complicate and detract from Trump’s efforts to orchestrate an international peace pageant in Hanoi, and could also inflict serious political damage on the President even as he is out of the country.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution to overturn Trump’s emergency declaration to build a wall on the US southern border. The move will impose new pressure on Senate Republicans and could eventually draw a presidential veto.

And hovering over everything will be the expectation that once the President is back home, special counsel Robert Mueller will soon file a report that could have grave implications for the Trump presidency.

Amid the political chaos, there is extreme pressure on Trump to produce something tangible from the summit after Kim agreed at the first to “work toward complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula but has so far failed to follow through.

Kim Jong Un will stay Vietnam through Saturday following the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, according to state media agency KCNA.

Kim will visit Vietnam on March 1 and 2 after his meeting with President Trump, according to KCNA.

Trump is expected to depart on Thursday following the summit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to the North Korean embassy in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Kim Jong Un debriefed with North Korean officials in Hanoi ahead of the second summit with President Trump, KCNA reported Tuesday.

According to KCNA, Kim received a detailed report on the contact between the US and North Korean working delegations after arriving at Melia hotel in Hanoi.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un visited the North Korean embassy in Hanoi Tuesday after arriving in Vietnam ahead of his second summit with President Trump, according to state media agency KCNA.

Kim spoke to personnel, telling them “the embassy should further consolidate the deep-rooted friendly and cooperative relations between the two parties and countries… as required by the times by doing good work with Vietnam,” KCNA reported.

President Trump is hoping to advance four priorities in this summit meeting, all based on the joint declaration he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore:

It is not yet clear what kind of agreement Trump and Kim will reach during their talks. Representatives from Washington and Pyongyang traveled to Hanoi this week to hammer out the details of a joint declaration to be signed during the summit.

Potential outcomes could include North Korea allowing inspectors into nuclear sites or even a decision to close the their nuclear research center. At a minimum, US officials hope for a more defined road map for denuclearization.

In exchange, Trump could offer to begin moving toward formal diplomatic relations or agree to end the Korean War, an attractive prospect for a President intent on winning a Nobel Peace Prize.

The summit presents a “great possibility that the United States and North Korea may reach an agreement on the declaration of war’s end,” said a South Korean administration spokesperson on Monday.

Since the Singapore summit last summer, President Trump has lauded the budding chemistry he enjoys with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, maintained through effusive letters of praise.

“We both want to do something. We both are going to do something. And we have developed a very special bond,” Trump said at the conclusion of the landmark Singapore summit, adding that Kim was “a very talented man.”

In return, South Korean officials said after the summit that Kim had “unwavering trust for President Trump.”

Trump’s friendliness with Kim has attracted fierce criticism within the US for normalizing a regime routinely called out for its human rights abuses, that over years has built an image of fearsome renegade regime, throwing around threats of nuclear war.

The first summit has also been criticized for failing to hold North Korea to firm guarantees. Concerns have been raised since over Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearization and Washington’s own willingness to take the steps needed for a peace treaty to be signed.

Arguably no group is more surprised by the rapidly changing image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un than the 30,000 people who successfully escaped his country for a new life in the south.

As Kim prepares for his second summit with Trump, these defectors provide a unique insight into life in Pyongyang.

What do they think of Kim’s standing in the world? Has their view of him been affected by recent events? And will he agree to denuclearization for the sake of economic benefits?

Read their take on the summit here

President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un are due to meet at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel on Thursday.

CNN reporters noticed security activity at the Metropole Hotel Tuesday afternoon, with Vietnamese military officials carrying out security sweeps.

Two uniformed Vietnamese soldiers with the armed forces’ Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal appeared to be sweeping for mines or unexploded ordnance in the hotel’s courtyard.

One of the soldiers swept a grassy portion of the courtyard with a metal detector, and the other stabbed the ground with a spike:

President Trump landed in Vietnam moments ago, and was greeted by several officials including…

President Trump was treated to a grand welcome in Hanoi ahead of talks with Kim Jong Un.  

Uniformed soldiers lined a red carpet at the foot of the stairs from Air Force One to greet Trump as he descended. The President waved as he arrived and was presented a bouquet of flowers. 

He was greeted by several Vietnamese officials before walking down the carpet to his vehicle. 

President Trump has arrived in Vietnam ahead of his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

Air Force One landed at Hanoi airport just before 9 a.m. ET (that’s 9 p.m. local) after a nearly day-long journey from Washington, DC. Kim arrived in the Vietnamese capital earlier Tuesday. 

Trump is expected to participate in a formal arrival ceremony at the airport before traveling to his hotel. However, he’s not expected to see Kim until Wednesday evening, when they’ll meet for a small dinner. 

He’ll meet with Vietnamese officials earlier in the day Wednesday. 

Watch the moment here:

President Donald Trump’s second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be more intensive than the inaugural round last year in Singapore, administration officials said on Thursday.

The Singapore summit had drawn a vague promise from Kim to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, but the agreement they signed had no concrete deadlines or steps laid out. A common definition of “denuclearization” doesn’t even exist yet, officials say.

Denuclearization talks have stalled, and in December, state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published a commentary saying North Korea will not relinquish its nuclear weapons until the US eliminates its own “nuclear threat.”

Since the Singapore summit, Trump has repeatedly claimed that success is evident because Pyongyang has stopped testing ballistic missiles or nuclear bombs (for now). But US intelligence agencies say publicly there’s no sign Kim is preparing to relinquish his arsenal.

Privately, Trump’s advisers believe more concrete progress – beyond a series of friendly handshakes – will be necessary during this summit to prove the diplomacy is working. Trump, meanwhile, has touted his warm relationship with Kim as progress in itself, and brandished the glowing letters he’s received from Kim in meetings with hostile lawmakers.