2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit Vietnam

2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit Vietnam Hanoi Summit/ DPRK–USA Hanoi Summit Vietnam
Host country	Vietnam
Date	February 27–28, 2019
Venue(s)	Hanoi, Vietnam
Participants	Kim Jong-un Donald Trump
Website	https://dprk-usasummit2019.mofa.gov.vn

2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit Vietnam
North Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	조미 2차 수뇌상봉
Hancha	朝美 二次 首腦相逢
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Jomi icha sunoesangbong McCune–Reischauer Chomi ich'a sunoesangbong
South 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

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

Background

The first North Korea–United States summit was initiated in 2018 in order to overcome the long-term Korean conflict with ICBM nuclear weapons and denuclearize the Korean peninsula. A 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 meeting between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump on September 11, 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo states the DPRK and U.S. are ‘working diligently’ to make sure the conditions are 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 will 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 to 14.

The visit came ahead of the summit between WPK Chairman Kim Jong Un and US 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 on Monday.

Last week Trump announced he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital.

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 US-DPRK summit and strongly supported dialogue to maintain peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Vietnam stood ready to actively contribute to and co-operate 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

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 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.

Preparations

Preparatory talks

Mike Pompeo(United States Secretary of State) 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 North Korea's chairman Kim Jong-un.

On October 7, 2018, Pompeo travelled to Pyongyang to negotiate with Chairman Kim Jong-un. Both agreed to a second US-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 travelled 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 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 will 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 chairman Kim Jong-un has been set, and said they would be announced next week. On February 5, 2019, President Trump announced 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 to 14 ahead of the second meeting between the two leaders. On February 16, 2019 Reuters reported that North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un will arrive in Vietnam on February 25 ahead of the summit.

The State Department special representative to North Korea, Steve 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 US takes corresponding measures, though Biegun said last week that one of his tasks will be to figure out exactly what that means.

Official website

On February 16, 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam inaugurated a website for members of the media who are interested in covering the Summit between the DPRK and the United States (https://dprk-usasummit2019.mofa.gov.vn/EN/Home/). Registration will be closed at 17.00 (GMT+7) February 21, 2019 (http://www.mofa.gov.vn/en/tt_baochi/tcbc/ns190216131141).

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. US scouts Bangkok, Hanoi and Hawaii as possible locations for the Kim–Trump summit. President Trump reportedly offered to meet Kim in Vietnam in mid-February. According to Channel NewsAsia, the location of next summit with Kim has been decided, as stated by Trump. During the 2019 State of the Union Address President Trump announced Vietnam to host the second meeting between the two leaders.

City choice

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 (being presented the title “City for Peace” by the UNESCO, being the capital of Vietnam, 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, 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.

Reactions

Pre-summit

Cheong Seong-chang, vice president of research planning at the Sejong Institute in South Korea interviewed with Japanese News paper, After the first Trump-Kim summit, for 260 days, they did not just sit down, twiddling their fingers. Instead, they continuously finalized their negotiation strategies for the two leader’s agreement and terms for the next step to be discussed on the second Trump-Kim summit. However, Robert Carlin who is a former CIA and State Department intelligence analyst claimed we should not expect too much of the process of denuclearization from North Korea as it is unrealistic to try to see the endpoint of denuclearization in such a hasty mind set.
Vietnam is honoured that this second Trump-Kim summit will be held in their country, and BBC NEWS believes that DPRK Chairman Kim Jong-un can learn more about the rapid economic development of Vietnam, which was a communist country just like North Korea, while he’s there. Vietnam’s economic reform is a better pattern to follow than China, since Vietnam rose from the gutters despite the United States doing everything to isolate their country and remove all financial aid. While this 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 multifront foreign policies so they would not be dependent on just one economy and built modern systems for banking and finance. DPRK can also learn from Vietnam’s mistakes in the past regarding managing their natural resources and handling political unrest. These are the key points the DPRK can learn from Vietnam’s experience to help them in improving their economy, by attracting foreign investors and developing closer relations with other countries. However, Chairman Kim should convince the upper-class power of North Korea that this is not a sign of surrender to the U.S. & international pressure.

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