2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit

For the 2018 Trump–Kim summit, see 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit.

2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit DPRK–USA Hanoi Summit Vietnam Hanoi Summit
Logo used by the United States Logo used by Vietnam
President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un shaking hands at the first night of the summit
Host country	Vietnam
Date	February 27–28, 2019
Venue(s)	Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Hanoi
Participants	Kim Jong-un Donald Trump
Precedes	2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit
Website	dprk-usasummit2019.mofa.gov.vn

2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit
Korean name
Hangul	조미 2차 수뇌상봉
Hanja	朝美 二次 首腦相逢
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Jomi icha sunoesangbong McCune–Reischauer Chomi ich'a sunoesangbong
Alternative Korean name
Hangul	북미 2차 정상회담
Hanja	北美 二次 頂上會談
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Bungmi icha jeongsanghoedam McCune–Reischauer Pungmi ich'a chŏngsanghoedam

The 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit, officially the DPRK–USA Hanoi Summit Vietnam, or commonly known as the Hanoi Summit, was a two-day summit meeting between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, held at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27–28, 2019. This was the second meeting between the leaders of the North Korea and the United States, following the first meeting in June 2018 in Singapore.

On February 28, 2019, the White House announced that the summit was cut short and that no agreement was reached, with Trump later elaborating that it was because North Korea wanted an end to all sanctions. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho asserted that the country only sought a partial lifting of 5 United Nations sanctions placed on North Korea during 2016–17.

Background

Main article: 2018–19 Korean peace process

The first North Korea–United States summit took place in June 2018 in Singapore in order to overcome the long-term Korean conflict with ICBM nuclear weapons and denuclearize the Korean peninsula. Series of bilateral summits were held between North Korea's Kim Jong-un, China's Xi Jinping, South Korea's Moon Jae-in, and Donald Trump of the United States.

Announcement

The White House gave confirmation of the planned summit between North Korean WPK Chairman Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump on September 11, 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the DPRK and U.S. were ‘working diligently’ to make sure the conditions were right for the summit.

Trump announced the host country, Vietnam, and the dates, February 27–28, during his second State of the Union Address on February 5, 2019.

On February 8, 2019, President Trump announced that Hanoi, Vietnam would host the summit meeting.

Vietnam's reactions and preparations

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh visited North Korea at the invitation of DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho from February 12-14. The visit came ahead of the summit between Chairman Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump planned to take place in Hà Nội, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28, a spokeswoman from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on Twitter.

In reply to a question for Vietnam’s comment on Trump’s remarks in his latest State of the Union Address on the upcoming summit, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lê Thị Thu Hằng said Vietnam welcomed the second DPRK-USA summit and strongly supported dialogue to maintain peace, security, and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Vietnam stood ready to actively contribute to and cooperate with both sides to ensure the success of the second DPRK-USA summit, helping to achieve the above-mentioned goal, the official said.

Developments since June 2018 summit

File:Sept. 2018 Inter-Korea Summit 01.jpg

Moon Jae-in arriving at the Pyongyang International Airport for the third inter-Korean summit

File:Sept. 2018 Inter-Korea Summit 07.jpg

President Moon and Chairman Kim with the "Pyongyang Joint Declaration of September 2018"

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appointed Stephen Biegun as United States Special Representative for North Korea on August 23, 2018.

In September 2018, The New York Times reported that “North Korea is making nuclear fuel and building weapons as actively as ever” but is doing so quietly, “allowing Mr. Trump to portray a denuclearization effort as on track.” The Times reported two months later that North Korea appeared to be engaged in a “great deception” by offering to dismantle one missile base while developing sixteen others. The Times reported this expansion program was long known to American intelligence but contradicted Trump’s public assertions that his diplomacy was yielding results. Immediately following the June 2018 summit, Trump had declared "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea...sleep well tonight!"

In September 2018, there was the third inter-Korean summit in 2018. It was held for three days between September 18–20. The agenda was finding the strategy of the breakthrough in its hampered talks with the U.S. and solution for the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

In November 2018, North Korea repeated its demand that American economic sanctions on the country be lifted as a condition of proceeding in talks, while the Trump administration continued to insist North Korea make concessions first. Meetings between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials were scheduled, canceled due to disagreements, then rescheduled. The February 2019 summit was confirmed after Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s top negotiator, met with Trump in the Oval Office on January 18, 2019.

In the days leading up to the summit, Trump asserted that former president Barack Obama had been on the verge of going to war with North Korea, and had told Trump so during the transition, suggesting that Trump had pulled America back from the brink of war; former Obama aides denied these claims. Trump also suggested that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy with North Korea, with the U.S. informally asking Japan to nominate Trump, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, which Shinzo Abe did according to the newspaper but Abe did not confirm or deny the reports as it has been tradition to keep nominations confidential. Noting that one of North Korea's primary objectives is to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War, Scott Snyder, the senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, observed, "What I worry about is the president may want the peace most — more than the denuclearization...[o]ne of the big worries that people have is that somehow the president is going to trade the alliance for the prospect of a Nobel Peace Prize."

Top American intelligence officials testified to Congress in January 2019 that it was unlikely North Korea would fully dismantle its nuclear arsenal, and Trump national security advisor John Bolton continued to believe North Korea could not be trusted and denuclearization efforts would fail. Trump has asserted that North Korea’s pause of weapons testing since the Singapore summit was a sign of progress, but Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation noted there had been longer testing pauses during previous administrations.

Going into the summit, wide gaps persisted between the two countries, including exactly what “denuclearization” means. In January, Biegun had repeated the official American stance that sanctions on North Korea would not be lifted until the country had fully denuclearized. On January 31, 2019, Biegun indicated that American negotiators might not demand that North Korea provide a full inventory of its nuclear and missile programs as a first step toward denuclearization, a demand that North Korea had been resisting.

Preparations

Preparatory talks

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

On September 26, 2018, CNN reported that Mike Pompeo was to travel to North Korea to organize the second summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim.

On October 7, 2018, Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang to negotiate with Chairman Kim. Both agreed to a second U.S.–North Korea summit. While discussions are still ongoing to determine the timing and location of this second summit, South Korea's presidential office stated that it would take place "as soon as possible." Pompeo also issued a statement where he claimed that his latest trip to Pyongyang was "another step forward" to denuclearization in the Korean peninsula and he also had a "good, productive conversation" with Kim, though there was still more work which needed to be done. The same day, Pompeo traveled to the South Korean capital, Seoul, where he held talks with Moon. Pompeo afterwards stated that details of his meeting with Kim were revealed to Moon, but that they were currently classified so that the South Korean government would be the only third party with firsthand knowledge. He also stated that the summit would happen "soon".

On January 8, 2019, Kim Jong-un made his fourth visit to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping to consult with him on the possibility of the Kim–Trump summit in Vietnam. On 13 January 2019, Pompeo said details were being worked out for a second U.S.-DPRK summit. On January 14, 2019, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that Pompeo would hold talks with North Korea January 17 or 18. On January 18, 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal, The White House announced that President Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un would meet for the second time in February. On January 30, 2019, Pompeo said a team is heading to Asia for the second Trump–Kim summit. North Korea and the United States reportedly to hold working talks at Panmunjom around February 4. On January 31, 2019, President Trump said a time and location for summit with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has been set, and said they would be announced next week. On February 5, 2019, President Trump announced during his State Of The Union address that the summit will take place on February 27–28 in Vietnam; however, he did not reveal in what city it will take place. On February 10, 2019, Bloomberg reported that the United States and North Korea will resume talks in the week of February 17. On February 11, 2019, South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported that Vietnam's top diplomat would visit North Korea from February 12–14 ahead of the second meeting between the two leaders. On February 16, 2019, Reuters reported that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un will arrive in Vietnam on February 25 ahead of the summit.

The State Department special representative to North Korea, Stephen Biegun, is heading to Pyongyang on Wednesday to solidify some details related to the summit, including the city where it will take place. He will also press for the North Korean counterpart to attend a series of working level meetings before the summit. With the summit just three weeks away, follow-up meetings at a working level will be needed, especially as there was no progress on denuclearization during the last visit by a North Korean delegation to Washington, in January. The North Koreans have also said that they would take steps on denuclearization if the U.S. takes corresponding measures, though Biegun said last week that one of his tasks will be to figure out exactly what that means, though this most likely means the easing of sanctions.

Train journey to Vietnam

Kim Jong-un stayed in Melia Hanoi Hotel during the summit

Kim Jong-un departed from Pyongyang on February 23, according to images released by the KCNA news agency. The train will travel for more than two days through China and Vietnam to reach Hanoi, while the exact itinerary is kept secret. Concerning the distance from DPRK to Vietnam, It would be at least 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) for about 60 hours by train. The train would arrive in Đồng Đăng railway station of the Vietnamese border city of Đồng Đăng on Tuesday February 26, and Kim was scheduled to travel to Hanoi by vehicle. Some experts analyzed the reason for long train trip instead of swift air travel, Kim Jong-un opts to follow his grandfather Kim Il Sung's footsteps in 1958 to Vietnam by using the train through a long journey.

Meeting location

Locations considered

Regarding the release from Bloomberg and the South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo anticipated the location of the second Trump–Kim Summit as Vietnam's capital city, Hanoi, because Vietnam is a long-standing partner of DPRK, and there is also an excellent foreign relationship between Vietnam and the US. During the 2019 State of the Union Address, President Trump announced Vietnam as the host of the second meeting between the two leaders.

City choice

The Presidential Palace in Hanoi; the second Trump-Kim summit location was confirmed to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam

There was a list of several cities that were considered potential to host this event. It includes government direct-administered cities (Hanoi, Đà Nẵng, Hồ Chí Minh City) and some other places like Hạ Long, Nha Trang, Phú Quốc. However, Hanoi is said to be the brightest candidate for many reasons, such as being presented with the title “City for Peace” by the UNESCO, being the capital of Vietnam, and being a favorable place for Vietnamese leaders to meet DPRK leaders and USA leaders.

It was reported that when the city in Vietnam was still being discussed, the main contenders were Hanoi (favored by North Korea because it has its Embassy there) and Da Nang (favored by the United States because the 2017 APEC Vietnam summit was held there).

On February 8, 2019, President Trump confirmed that Hanoi, Vietnam will host the summit meeting.

Venue choice

Picture of Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi; DPRK officials have repeatedly inspected the potential venue for the Hanoi summit

DPRK officials have repeatedly investigated the Government Guesthouse and the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Hanoi's first international hotel. The summit was held at Metropole Hotel in Hanoi.

Summit meeting

First day

Meeting with Vietnamese leaders

President Donald Trump and General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, February 27, 2019

President Trump met Vietnamese President and General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng around at 11:42 am local time. They watched the Vietnamese airline executives sign a series of business deals with U.S. companies. Some examples of contracts were that VietJet Aviation JSC announced it would acquire 100 Boeing Co. 737 MAX aircraft, and also signed an agreement to purchase engines and maintenance services of General Electric. Bamboo Airways signed a deal to buy 10 Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

President Trump also had a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in February 27.

One-on-one meeting

At Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel, Trump and Kim had a one-on-one meeting for 30 minutes on Wednesday evening. They started the summit at 6:30 pm local time (6:30am Eastern Standard Time) with a handshake and then participated in a one-on-one meeting, with interpreters only.

Dinner

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un having dinner, along with their delegation

President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim started with a social dinner in Hanoi on Wednesday. There were a few key attendees at the dinner; seated at the round table were U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, DPRK Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho. President Trump assured North Korea a "tremendous future for your country" in his initial comments with Chairman Kim. Chairman Kim described the second summit as a "courageous political decision" by Trump and also added that there had been "a lot of thinking, effort, and patience" between now and previous June summit in Singapore.

On the first night of the summit, the White House announced that Trump and Kim would sign a “joint agreement” the next afternoon.

Second day

One-on-one meeting

During the One-on-one meeting in Hanoi, President Kim was asked by a reporter if he would consider opening a US Office in Pyongyang. The North Korean leader initially hesitated to answer the question and asked President Trump to excuse the press from the summit room, but the US president urged President Kim to answer the question, to which, he responded through an interpreter that the idea was “welcomeable”. President Trump acknowledged the response as a positive one. After that, another reporter asked if the North Korean leader was willing to shut down his nuclear program, to which, he responded, "If I’m not willing to do that, I wouldn’t be here right now." After that, both leaders went into a closed-room meeting. However, the planned working lunch between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim appears to have been canceled, as well as the potential joint signing ceremony. After preliminary negotiations between Trump and Kim went over a period of time, White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, told reporters waiting to cover the lunch that it had been called off.

End of summit

President Donald Trump and Secretary Mike Pompeo at the press conference after the summit

The White House on Thursday, February 28, 2019, announced that the summit was cut short and that no agreement was reached. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not tell reporters why the schedule was changed and whether there was going to be a signing ceremony. This unexpected turn of events caused stocks on the South Korea stock exchange to fall. President Trump said in a press conference after the summit in Hanoi that the summit was cut short because North Korea wanted an end to economics sanctions. President Trump elaborated by saying "Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that," Trump said. "We had to walk away from that particular suggestion. We had to walk away from that."

North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong-ho stated his country had proposed only a partial lifting of sanctions in exchange for "permanently and completely" dismantling its primary nuclear facility in Yongbyon, adding "Given the current level of trust between North Korea and the United States, this was the maximum step for denuclearization we could offer...This kind of opportunity may never come again."

During the press conference after the summit, Trump discussed American student Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned for 17 months by North Korea, and who died shortly after being returned comatose to the U.S. Trump said he believed Kim's word that Kim did not personally know about Warmbier's treatment when Warmbier was in North Korean custody. Trump also argued that it was not to Kim's benefit to allow Warmbier to be treated like that. Comparisons were made to Trump's previous promotions of the denial of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the responsibility for Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and the denial of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the responsibility of the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.

News report

NBC News reported on the second day of the summit that American negotiators had dropped their demand that North Korea provide a detailed inventory of its nuclear and missile programs. NBC also quoted U.S. official's speech: the current focus of deal is the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. Nuclear scientist Dr. Siegfried Hecker claimed: "Yongbyon is the heart of North Korea's nuclear program, and if we are completely dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear facility, North Korea would never be able to make plutonium there again".

Reactions

Pre-summit

Cheong Seong-chang, vice president of research planning at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, said: "After the first Trump–Kim summit, for 260 days, they did not waste their timeliness. Instead, they continuously finalized their negotiation strategies for the two leaders' agreement and terms for the next step to be discussed on the second Trump–Kim summit."

BBC News believed that DPRK Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un could potentially learn from Vietnam's social, political and economic history during the second Trump-Kim summit. While the country has strict rules against political liberalization, it is fairly lax in their social, religious, and economic guidelines. Citizens were able to travel to neighboring countries often. Vietnam also pursued multi-front foreign policies so they would not be dependent on just one economy and built modern systems for banking and finance. According to the BBC, the DPRK can also learn from Vietnam's mistakes in the past regarding managing their natural resources and handling political unrest. The BBC believes these are some cases the DPRK could learn from Vietnam's practice to help them in improving their economy by attracting foreign investors and developing closer relations with other countries. It is also assumed by the BBC that Vietnam's economic reform is a better pattern for the DPRK to follow than China's.

Al Jazeera assumed that the impact of China on the second Trump–Kim summit would be significant. The relationship between China and North Korea is centered on "mutual benefit", but it differs from "mutual trust". Australian professor Carlyle Thayer claimed China and the DPRK are of the corresponding inclination after Kims' four visits to China and "it indicates some kind of coordination". China believes that it is impossible for North Korea to abruptly destroy nuclear missiles. However, it is hoped that North Korea's nuclear missile program will be shut down gradually, as economic sanctions against North Korea will be eased.

Andrew Kim, former head of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, believes in Supreme Leader Kim's genuine desire to achieve denuclearization and get a concession from the United States. In a speech Andrew Kim made on Friday, February 22, at Stanford University, Kim said that Supreme Leader Kim told United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "[that] he is a father and husband and he does not want his children to live their lives carrying nuclear weapons on their back". He also believes that the DPRK tried to strike a deal with previous administrations, but they waited too long, and they aim to finalize the deal with the Trump administration before it's too late. Kim assessed that the closure of the Yongbyon nuclear facility will be the beginning of full denuclearization and that this could lead to a peace treaty. The YongByon facility is known to be the center of nuclear development and research in North Korea.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Kim's previous propaganda was changed into patriotism and economy, and in improving the relationship between the United States, China and South Korea.

Post-summit

Despite the summit being cut short and no agreement having been reached, South Korea and Japan both supported Trump's actions.

Veteran diplomacy and national security journalist Michael Gordon reported in The Wall Street Journal: "If the two sides had opted for the traditional bottom-up approach to diplomacy, their diplomats would have worked to close the divide and only arranged for a summit when they appeared to be within striking distance of an agreement. However, U.S. and North Korean diplomats have had only intermittent meetings since the June summit, and both sides bet they would be more successful by pressing their case at another summit. Mr. Kim calculated that Mr. Trump would be more flexible in agreeing to lift sanctions than his subordinates. Mr. Trump, for his part, assumed that he was the best person to pursue the art of the nuclear deal."

Joseph Yun, until March 2018 the American Special Representative for North Korea Policy, said of the summit's outcome, “This really speaks to the lack of preparation. You cannot draft a joint statement out of nothing. They never quite got around to building a consensus around sanctions, and that led to the deadlock.”

Gary Samore, former White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, observed, “Obviously a blunder by both sides. Failure is a good lesson for both sides that summits need to be prepared in advance.”

See also

• Korean peace process
• Korean reunification
• North Korea–United States relations
  • Agreed Framework
• Nuclear power in North Korea
• 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit (the first Trump–Kim summit)
• 2017–18 North Korea crisis
  • April 2018 inter-Korean summit
  • May 2018 inter-Korean summit
  • September 2018 inter-Korean summit
  • Kim–Xi meetings
  • 2017 North Korean missile tests

External links

• DPRK USA Summit 2019 at the Foreign Ministry of Vietnam