What to expect from Trump-Kim summit

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will meet for their second summit in Vietnam this week. Here’s what to expect.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will meet for their second summit in Vietnam this week.

The leaders of the US and North Korea will face each other in the country’s capital, Hanoi, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore last June.

Mr Trump announced the meeting during his second State of the Union Address in early February.

Like the first, this is expected to be a widely-publicised and heavily-photographed affair.

It comes as relations between the two countries have stalled, with reports North Korea is still actively making nuclear fuel and building weapons, despite promising to give up its nuclear arsenal during the last summit.

Here’s what you need to know.

WHEN WILL THE SUMMIT TAKE PLACE?

The summit is scheduled to take place on February 27-28 in Vietnam’s capital city, Hanoi.

Mr Trump will fly in from Washington, while Mr Kim is most likely to take the train.

Earlier this week, media reported a train crossing into China from North Korea, which is believed to be carrying the North Korean leader.

WHAT’S THE POINT OF THE SUMMIT?

The summit in Hanoi comes amid questions about prospects for progress.

American intelligence officials have said they believe Mr Kim is unlikely to ever relinquish all of his nuclear arsenal, and UN monitors have reported that in recent months North Korea has taken steps to hide, disperse and protect its weapons.

But a former US intelligence officer, who helped arrange the first summit, predicted on Friday the second summit would be more productive than the first, quoting Kim Jong-un as saying last year he did not want his children to live with the burden of nuclear weapons.

Mr Kim is visiting Vietnam at the invitation of President Nguyen Phu Trong, who is also general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said in a statement earlier on Saturday, but it gave no further details.

The preferred location for the summit is the Government Guesthouse, a colonial-era building in central Hanoi, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

WHAT DOES THE US WANT?

Denuclearisation of North Korea is the overriding goal Washington is seeking to achieve.

That means elimination all weapons of mass destruction programs in North Korea — the production of those weapons, as well as the intercontinental ballistic missiles that can deliver them.

The US will seek to form a shared understanding with North Korea of what denuclearisation means at the summit, US officials said on Thursday.

Washington is also expected to seek to establish a road map that sets expectations and the process for negotiations on denuclearisation beyond this week’s summit.

A freeze on North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and missile programs is also likely to be on the agenda. North Korea appears to have produced enough bomb fuel in the past year to add as many as seven nuclear weapons to its arsenal, a report by Stanford University’s Centre for International Security and Co-operation said earlier this month.

WHAT DOES NORTH KOREA WANT?

North Korea has publicly called for an end to the crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Nations, which will be its main aim at the summit.

But its concept of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula could include removal of the US nuclear umbrella for South Korea and nuclear-capable forces.

Some officials in South Korea, the US Congress and elsewhere have expressed concern North Korea is calling for changes to the level of US troops stationed in South Korea, but Mr Trump said on Friday drawing down US troops in South Korea was not on the table.

North Korea has also long called for a peace deal with the US to normalise relations and end the technical state of war that has existed since the 1950-1953 Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Washington has baulked at signing a comprehensive peace treaty before North Korea denuclearises, but US officials have signalled they may be willing to conclude a more limited agreement to reduce tensions, open liaison offices and move towards normalising relations.

Mr Kim said last month North Korea is “ready to reopen Kaesong industrial park and tours to Mount Kumgang without any preconditions or price”. The two inter-Korean projects require at least partial easing of sanctions to resume operations.

Mr Kim also said North Korea was seeking from the US “corresponding practical actions” for the “various practical measures” it says it has taken for the complete denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula.

“Corresponding actions” North Korea is demanding of the US include “the end of hostile policies” against North Korea and the lifting of sanctions, a commentary by state news agency KCNA said on December 20.

What the “end of hostile policies” entails is unclear.