Vietnam looms as host of next Trump-Kim summit

High-level talks aimed at agreeing on a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un get under way today.

Former North Korean intelligence chief Kim Yong-chol, right, at Beijing International Airport yesterday. Picture: AP

High-level talks aimed at agreeing on a second summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un get underway in Washington this weekend with speculation the leaders’ meeting will be held in Vietnam.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former North Korean intelligence chief Kim Yong- chol were due to meet in Washington today.

There was also speculation that the North Korean negotiator could be invited to meet Mr Trump in the White House.

The meetings are the first major sign of potential movement on the diplomatic front between the US and North Korea. Talks between the two sides had stalled after US criticism of the lack of action by the North Koreans in meeting their commitments at the Trump-Kim summit last June to dismantle their nuclear weapons program .

Mr Trump said late last year he could meet with the North Korean leader this month or next. A meeting this month is now unlikely, given the US government shutdown, but there is increasing speculation Vietnam could be the location of the second meeting, possibly after the Lunar New Year period next month or in March.

The communist-run government of Vietnam has good relations with both the US and North Korea. The Vietnamese capital of Hanoi is considered the most likely host of the summit with the central city of Danang also being touted as a possibility, with some reports the city has been told to be prepared for a high-level visitor next month.

While Singapore hosted the first summit, it had to foot an expensive bill to pay for all of the Kim entourage’s accommodation and security while in the island state.

There is a view that a second summit should be in a different location with Vietnam, whose economy has benefited from manufacturing moving out of southern China, as the most likely host country, keen to show its strong relations with the US.

Vietnam has diplomatic relations with both countries and is seen as a neutral location.

Washington ended its decades-old arms embargo on Vietnam in 2016. A US aircraft carrier visited the country last year for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War.

Media in Hanoi have speculated that a Kim visit to the capital is likely after the Lunar New Year holidays, which run from February 4 to 8.

Mr Trump has spoken several times of having a second summit with Kim early this year and has exchanged multiple letters with the North Korean leader.

There has been little tangible progress on the vague denuclearisation agreement reached between the US and North Korean leaders at their first meeting on June 12, but Mr Trump appears keen for a second summit.

The North Korean leader visited Beijing earlier this month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, travelling by train from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Kim visited China several times last year, before and after the Singapore summit.

Mr Xi is reported to have agreed to make his first visit to North Korea in mid-April with speculation that it could coincide with the Day of the Sun holiday on April 15. Expectations are that this would occur after the second Trump-Kim summit.

The North Korean negotiator, Kim Yong-chol, was last in Washington in June, delivering the letter from Kim Jong-un to Mr Trump that opened the way for the Singapore summit.

Despite the June summit agreement, several private analysts have published reports detailing continuing North Korean development of nuclear and missile technology.

There has been speculation that the US will need to look for ways to lower the bar on its hopes for a complete denuclearisation in North Korea as well as providing more incentives for significant denuclearisation steps.

Some sources said recently that the US was considering “interim measures” to try to end the stalemate. This could include easing sanctions that ban North Korea from exporting coal, iron ore and textiles and severely restrict its exports of oil and refined petroleum.

The Trump administration has so far insisted there would be no easing of sanctions before complete dismantling of in North Korea’s nuclear weapons.