Vietnam making all-out efforts for summit Children at a kindergarten in Hanoi stage a welcoming event for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who arrived in the city, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Kim Bo-eunVietnam is pulling out all stops to make the most of hosting the second summit between North Korea and the U.S. to be held today through Thursday.The communist state with a fast-growing economy is hoping that playing host for the major summit will promote the country's image globally as one engaging in multilateral diplomacy, capable of hosting large international events.Hanoi has adorned major streets with signs welcoming the summit and promoting the city as well as Vietnam. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered government ministries to do their utmost to prepare for security earlier this week, and the government deported a political impersonator over what appeared as possible security concerns, Monday. The Hong Kong-based Kim Jong-un impersonator Howard X was told to leave due to an "invalid" visa, after staging a fake summit with a Trump lookalike.Meanwhile, the Vietnam National Administration Feb 26, 2019By Kim Bo-eun
Train trip to Vietnam no longer pipe dream for South Koreans Kim Jong-un boards a train in Pyongyang for his trip to Vietnam. South Koreans are excited about the possibility of being able to travel to other countries by train. APBy Jung Min-hoFacing a belligerent regime in the north for decades, South Koreans have become so used to the belief that ― like people living on an island ― traveling overseas almost always requires air tickets.So when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced earlier this month that he would take a train to Vietnam for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28, they were pleasantly surprised.The news reminded South Koreans that Korea is part of the Asian continent and, if the North opens its railways to them, they too can go to Vietnam or even Britain by train.South Korea has resources to build world-class high-speed trains and railways, and its people have purchasing power and interest in overseas travel. With Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in already cooperating to connect railways along the eastern and western Korean Peninsula, the dream of connecting South Korea with thFeb 26, 2019By Jung Min-ho
PHOTOS Revealed: Kim Jong-un's hotel room in Hanoi The Melia Hotel in Hanoi where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is staying. YonhapBy Park Si-soo North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has picked the five-star Melia Hotel as his resting place during the Hanoi summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. And now attention is on which room is reserved for him. Nothing is known about this, but the most reasonable assumption would be that he is staying in the hotel's most expensive penthouse suite. South Korean newspaper Joongang Daily on Tuesday offered a rare glimpse into the Melia Hotel's penthouse suite. The room is on the 22nd floor and is numbered 2201.To see related photos and video: https://bit.ly/2Nt5UIk“Room 2201 is the most expensive and luxurious room in the hotel,” a hotel janitor was quoted as saying. It is reportedly as big as “two or three regular rooms combined.” Joongang said the room has a spacious bedroom, a living room and a separate room for business meetings. Feb 26, 2019
PHOTOS Hanoi kinder kids welcome Kim Vietnamese children wave the national flags of Vietnam and North Korea during an arts festival at the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Kindergarten in Hanoi Tuesday to celebrate the arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the second North Korea-U.S. summit that starts Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThe Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Kindergarten opened on Mar. 8, 1978. It was built with financial support from North Korea's first leader Kim Il-sung. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThe Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Kindergarten had 120 students when it opened. Now some 500 children attend the facility that has 17 classrooms. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukA picture of North Korea's second leader Kim Jong-il, the late father of the current leader Jong-un, is decorated inside the “Kim Jong-il Classroom” at the Vietnam-North Korean Friendship Kindergarten. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThe Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Kindergarten told The Korea Times photographer Tuesday that it hopes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will drop by during his visit to Feb 26, 2019By Ko Dong-hwan
Pompeo arrives in Vietnam for North Korea summit U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Tuesday for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Reuters-YonhapU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday, hailing this week's second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as an "important opportunity" for denuclearization and peace.Pompeo traveled to Hanoi on his own official aircraft, separate from Air Force One, and landed hours before Trump's scheduled arrival."Made it to Vietnam for President @realDonaldTrump's #HanoiSummit with the DPRK," Pompeo tweeted, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Will be important opportunity to make progress on Singapore Summit commitments of transformed relations, building lasting peace, and complete denuclearization."Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday to follow up on their first summit in Singapore in June.The two leaders agreed then to work toward complete denuclearizaFeb 26, 2019
PHOTOS Kim Jong-un's first day in Vietnam North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived at Vietnam's Dong Dang Railway Station, at the border with China, Tuesday. After being greeted by Vietnamese well-wishers at the station, Kim was driven to Hanoi in a limousine. His motorcade was given a rousing welcome as Kim arrived at the Melia Hotel, where he will be staying. Kim also visited North Korea's embassy in Hanoi. Kim will meet his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday for dinner, to kick off the two-day North Korea-U.S. summit in the Vietnamese capital.North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un visits the North Korean embassy in Hanoi, Tuesday, ahead of the second U.S.-North Korean summit. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, took time out for a photo with officials and their family members during his visit to the country's embassy in Hanoi, Tuesday. North Korea's late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un's grandfather and father, are shown in the portrait on the wall, with a background of Mount Paektu. The three leaders are in black Mao suits, symbolic costume of socialist countriFeb 26, 2019
Official: Trump- Kim summit schedule President Donald Trump with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday during their first meetings at the Capella hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore. APU.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will kick off their highly anticipated summit with a brief one-on-one and a "social dinner" on Wednesday, the White House said.Trump and Kim are set to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the denuclearization of the regime.Kim arrived at Vienam's Dong Dang station Tuesday morning and Trump is expected to arrive in Hanoi later in the day.After a brief one-on-one and greetings on Wednesday evening, the two men will each be joined by two officials for a social dinner, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.Trump will be joined by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, while Kim will reportedly bring top aide Kim Yong-chol and a "third as yet unknown associate."No schedule was provided for the second day.Meanwhile, Trump will hold his first event with Vietnamese officials at 11 a.m. Wednesday.He is scheduFeb 26, 2019
PHOTOS Trump en route to Hanoi for second summit with Kim U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, February 25, 2019, as he travels to Hanoi, Vietnam for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AFPU.S. President Donald Trump will begin his second summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un with a private dinner Wednesday. The White House said Monday that the leaders' two-day meeting in Hanoi will begin with an official greeting and a meal. Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Kim will also have two aides present and both men will have translators. Trump and Kim will then hold a series of official meetings Thursday.Trump is set to land in Vietnam late Tuesday and will have meetings with the host country's president and prime minister Wednesday before seeing Kim. Trump and Kim first met last June in Singapore, a summit that yielded powerful images but few concrete steps for North Korea's denuclearization. Air Force One, carrying US President Donald Trump, takes off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, February Feb 26, 2019
PHOTOS Kim Jong-un arrives in Hanoi In this image made from Japan's TBS TV video on early Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a habitual smoker, takes a pre-dawn smoke break at the train station in Nanning, China, hours before his arrival in Vietnam for his high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump over resolving the international standoff over the North's nuclear weapons and missiles. TBS/JNN-AP-Yonhap North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves as he arrives at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Reuters-YonhapNorth Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves from a car as he departs for Hanoi after arriving at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Yonhap North Korean leader Kim Jong-un checked into a Hanoi hotel Tuesday on the eve of his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to focus on trading his nuclear program for economic and political rewards.A bulletproof Mercedes S600 Pullman Guard carrying Kim arrived at the five-star Melia hotel in downtown Hanoi after a two-hour, 170-kilometer road trip from a train station near ViFeb 26, 2019
INTERVIEW 'North Korea's denuclearization will outlive the Trump administration' U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore last June. Reuters-YonhapBy Jung Da-minAhead of the Feb. 27-28 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, two experts shared their views in interviews with The Korea Times.David Kim, a former State Department nonproliferation and East Asia desk official and a research analyst with the Stimson Center's Weapons of Massive Destruction, Nonproliferation and Security program, believes Pyongyang's denuclearization should be a long-term goal.Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean naval officer and professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, points out the two countries' differing perspectives on how to approach the North's denuclearization. The following are edited interviews. 'North Korea's denuclearization will outlive the Trump administration': David KimDavid Kim of the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of David Kim“The denuclearization and the transformation of U.S.-DPRK relations havFeb 25, 2019
