Second Trump-Kim summit to take place in Hanoi on February 27-28
US President Donald Trump has said he will meet for the second time with Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), on February 27-28 in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.
The DPRK will embrace great economic development under Kim's leadership, Trump said.
"My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong-un. It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 & 28," Trump tweeted, referring to Stephen Biegun, US special envoy for DPRK-related issues.
"North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse," he later tweeted in a separate post.
"He (Kim) may surprise some but he won't surprise me, because I have gotten to know him & fully understand how capable he is. North Korea will become a different kind of Rocket -- an Economic one!" the US president said on Twitter.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said that his outreach to Kim and their first meeting last June in Singapore opened a path to peace. But there is not yet a concrete plan for how denuclearisation could be implemented.
Denuclearising North Korea is something that has eluded the US for more than two decades, since it was first learned that North Korea was close to acquiring the means for nuclear weapons.
“As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Trump said in his State of the Union address.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress last week that U.S. intelligence officials do not believe Kim will eliminate his nuclear weapons or the capacity to build more because he believes they are key to the survival of the regime. Satellite video taken since the June summit has indicated North Korea is continuing to produce nuclear materials at its weapons factories.
Last year, North Korea released American detainees, suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests and dismantled a nuclear test site and parts of a rocket launch facility without the presence of outside experts.
It has repeatedly demanded that the United States reciprocate with measures such as sanctions relief, but Washington has called for North Korea to take steps such as providing a detailed account of its nuclear and missile facilities that would be inspected and dismantled under a potential deal.
At the second Trump-Kim summit, some experts say North Korea is likely to seek to trade the destruction of its main Yongbyon nuclear complex for a US promise to formally declare the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, open a liaison office in Pyongyang and allow the North to resume some lucrative economic projects with South Korea.
(With inputs from agencies)
