A pat on the back for ‘my friend Kim’
Ben Riley-smith
Nicola Smith
DONALD TRUMP praised Kim Jongun as a “great leader” yesterday and talked up North Korea’s “unlimited” economic potential as the pair began their two-day 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.
Mr 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 Mr Trump, 72, and Mr Kim, 35, over the past 18 months.
Mr 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.
Mr 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.
Mr 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.
Mr 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.
“A lot of things are going to be solved, I hope,” Mr Trump said as the meal began. “I think it will lead to a wonderful, a really wonderful situation longterm.”
The White House unexpectedly restricted access for the handful of reporters following the group, allowing just one print reporter into the dinner. Two journalists who asked questions during the handshake were reportedly not allowed to attend, prompting outrage from Washington media over press restrictions.
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said of the incident that “due to the sensitive nature of the meeting” the group of reporters allowed in had to be “limited”.
Mr Trump earlier in the day had met Nguyen Phu Trong, the Vietnamese president, and Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the prime minister.
The US president, who was greeted by scores of children waving Vietnam and US flags before the meeting, signed trade deals that confirmed the sale of more than 100 Boeing jets to Vietnamese businesses. Mr Trump wrote on Twitter at the start of the day: “Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearise.
“The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong-un. We will know fairly soon – Very Interesting!”
But some local politicians played down the hope of the summit creating a major breakthrough.
Dr Ngo Quang Xuan, vice-chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Vietnam’s National Assembly, told The Daily Telegraph: “It will take time – not one or two days, not one month – for the final settlement.”