Five reasons why Vietnam was selected to host second Trump, North Korea summit

SINGAPORE—When President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28 for a second round of nuclear talks, the world spotlight will shine on a country that has come a long way from the Vietnam War.

The communist-led Southeast Asian nation is now a booming economy and increasingly assertive regional diplomatic player. It is also one of the few nations to enjoy friendly relations with both Washington and Pyongyang.

The first round of talks, held last June in Singapore, produced vague promises by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal—but no concrete steps to achieve that. Now Trump is trying to demonstrate that his outreach to the young dictator isn’t just a diplomatic show.

Experts said that made the selection of Vietnam both practical and symbolic. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Location, location

The host city hasn’t yet been disclosed, but one option is Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, which lies 1,700 miles from Pyongyang, North Korea. That’s closer than Chicago is to Los Angeles, and it means an even shorter flight for Kim than the one he took to Singapore.

Unlike his late father, Kim Jong Il, who was afraid of flying and used an armored train on his rare foreign trips, the young North Korean leader appears comfortable in the air.

2. Security

The flight from North Korea to Vietnam would cross only friendly Chinese airspace, making Kim feel even safer. On the ground, the North Korean leader would step into the tight-if-not-quite-suffocating embrace of another one-party state.

Vietnamese authorities exercise significant control over dissent, public demonstrations and the media. A recent anti-corruption crackdown ensnared high-level officials in the Communist Party and at state-owned companies, but drew comparisons to a Chinese-style political purge.

3. Neutral ground

The U.S. and Vietnam share a bloody history, but the relationship has moved far beyond the 1965-74 war that claimed the lives of 58,000 U.S. soldiers and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese troops and civilians.

Since President Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995, the countries have developed close economic and military ties, centered in part on shared concerns over China’s trade practices and its advances in the South China Sea.

Bilateral trade jumped from $451 million in 1995 to nearly $52 billion in 2016. The Pentagon conducts an annual high-level dialogue with Vietnamese counterparts, and last year Vietnam participated for the first time in the U.S.led “Rim of the Pacific,” the world’s largest international maritime exercise.

4. A source of economic inspiration

A decade after the “American War” ended, Vietnam was internationally isolated and starving, a Stalinist experiment in collectivization having left farmers starving and store shelves barren.

In 1986, Hanoi’s leadership began a “Doi Moi” program of liberalization that reopened the country to the world and produced one of the most stunning economic turnarounds in recent times.

5. A model for reshaping U.S. ties

From bitter enemies to trusted partners, the trajectory of the U.S.-Vietnam relationship could excite a young North Korean leader who is said to be enamored of Western culture (particularly NBA basketball).

The rapprochement with Vietnam began slowly, with bilateral efforts to account for prisoners of war. It has expanded to cooperation in repatriating the remains of U.S. service members and cleaning up remnants of Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant sprayed by U.S. warplanes over large swaths of northern Vietnam during the war.