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North Korea’s Kim Jong Un arrives in Vietnam for summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump

Tuesday, 26th February 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The summit, the second since the two leaders met in Singapore last June, is expected to build upon their agreement to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Trump is due to arrive in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

They will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

The two leaders would meet again on Thursday, she said.

Critics say that meeting -- the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president -- failed to produce concrete action in getting the North to give up its nuclear weapons.

After a two-and-a-half-day trip that covered about 2,800 miles overland, Kim arrived Tuesday to a red carpet welcome at 8:15 a.m. local time at the Dong Dang railway station in the border town of Dong Dang in Vietnam's Lang Song province.

Kim waved and smiled as he was greeted by Vietnamese officials and a guard of honor before getting into his Mercedes. His cohort of North Korean bodyguards ran alongside the car as it pulled away.

Roads were closed off with Vietnamese security forces equipped with armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the city’s Melia hotel where he is staying.

Domestic critics have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

Both Kim Jong Un and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders.

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