Pat on the back for ‘my friend Kim’
Donald Trump praised Kim Jong-un as a ‘‘great leader’’ yesterday and talked up North Korea’s ‘‘unlimited’’ economic potential as the pair began their twoday summit in Vietnam.
The US and North Korean leaders shared a 10-second handshake, warm words and a laugh while posing for the camera as they met for the second time in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.
They talked alone at first, save only for interpreters, before dinner with key members of their administrations at the Metropole hotel.
Trump, who earlier in the day had written on Twitter about ‘‘my friend Kim’’, talked up North Korea’s economic prospects – the carrot with which he hopes to convince Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.
‘‘I think your country has tremendous economic potential – unbelievable, unlimited,’’ the US president said at the beginning of their one-on-one chat.
‘‘I think you will have a tremendous future with your country – a great leader – and I look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen.’’
Kim said that North Korea had been ‘‘misunderstood’’ and viewed with ‘‘distrust’’ in the past, but praised the steps Washington and Pyongyang had made to ease tensions.
‘‘There have been efforts, whether out of hostility or not, to block the path that we intend to take,’’ he said, before adding that those challenges had been ‘‘overcome’’. He said of the Vietnam summit: ‘‘I am confident that we can achieve great results that everyone welcomes.’’
The civility of the exchanges underscored the remarkable thawing in relations between Trump, 72, and Kim, 35, over the past 18 months.
Trump’s first year in office was marked with threats of ‘‘fire and fury’’ and mockery of Kim as ‘‘Little Rocket Man’’, but from early 2018 tensions eased, culminating in the historic summit in Singapore last June.
There were no policy breakthroughs announced, with more substantial talks about implementing Kim’s loose pledge to denuclearise at the Singapore summit due to take place today.
Instead, the two leaders put on a display of mutual respect, striding out towards each other shortly before 7pm local time when they met at the Metropole, a French colonial-era -hotel that includes actor Charlie Chaplin and author Graham Greene among famous former guests.
Trump and Kim shook hands against a backdrop of interwoven US and North Korean flags.
The US president then patted Kim on his back before they turned to pose for the cameras, with the pair sharing a laugh before heading off to the negotiations.
Trump was asked by one reporter if the summit would result in a political declaration to end the Korean War. ‘‘We’ll see,’’ he responded.
A one-on-one chat was followed by dinner with an extended group of aides around a small round table covered by a white tablecloth.
Trump was joined by Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.
Alongside Kim were Kim Yong-chol, a former military spy chief helping lead negotiations, and Ri Yong-ho, the foreign affairs minister. Two translators also attended.
– Telegraph Group