Trump announces second North Korea summit

US President Donald Trump has announced in his State of the Union speech that he will hold a second nuclear summit with North Korea's leader this month.

In an address to the nation with the theme "Choosing Greatness", he vowed once again to build a border wall. While appealing for political unity, the Republican president also said "ridiculous partisan investigations" could damage US prosperity.

In a rebuttal, Democrats accused Trump of abandoning US values.

His primetime address came less than a fortnight after he backed down to end the longest US government shutdown in history when Democrats refused to fund a US-Mexico border wall. Another shutdown could happen if no spending plan is agreed by the end of next week.

The president said in his 82-minute speech on Tuesday night that he would meet Kim Jong-un in Vietnam from 27-28 February.

"If I had not been elected president of the United States," Trump said, "we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea.

"Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong-un is a good one."

Plans for a second summit have been in the works since the two leaders' historic talks last year.

Trump and Mr Kim's meeting last June in Singapore was the first ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

While Pyongyang has not conducted any atomic or ballistic missile tests since last summer, it has yet to agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme.

(BBC)