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President Trump on Tuesday announced a second nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam on February 27-28, as the White House tries to restart moribund talks.
Trump made this revelation in his State of the Union address, hailing the summit as a sign of progress in his attempt to neutralize the Kim regime's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program. despite public testimony from US intelligence officials last week that the North continues to develop. his arsenal in secret.
Trump said he remained fully committed to personal diplomacy with Kim, with whom he had exchanged letters and claimed to have developed good relations since their first summit in Singapore last June. Although lower-level talks have boggled over the last few months, Trump and his advisers said they believe the two leaders could make a breakthrough in a face-to-face meeting.
"As part of a bold new diplomacy, we are continuing our historic effort for peace on the Korean peninsula," Trump said. "If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would be in a major war with North Korea right now. There is still a lot of work to do, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is good. "
Analysts say Vietnam's choice, with its business-driven authoritarian government and its successful mix of trade and tourism, could spotlight the way for North Korea and encourage Kim to choose a brighter economic future. nuclear weapons. Vietnam has diplomatic relations with North Korea, which has an embbady in Hanoi.
Trump was not specific to where the meeting would take place in Vietnam. Speculation focused on Hanoi, the capital, or Da Nang, a resort town that Trump visited in November 2017 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings.
"It's a socialist country but has good relations with the United States and other democratic countries," said Ernest Bower, who heads a Southeast Asian consulting firm. "They serve as a non-threatening bridge between two ideologies and maintain an open and decent relationship with North Korea."
Since Singapore, Trump said he believed Kim was sincere in dismantling his arsenal as part of an agreement with the United States, China and South Korea that would formally end the war. from Korea. Still, US intelligence officials told Congress last week that it was unlikely North Korea would deliver the weapons that the regime viewed as a critical deterrent against the invasion or reintegration. reversal.
Trump's optimism underscores the transformation of relations between Washington and Pyongyang since last year's State of the Union address when Trump called the Kim dynasty "depraved".
A few months after this speech, Trump stunned the world by accepting a personal meeting with Kim, which took place in June with warm handshakes and smiles but few specific results. US officials said the second meeting would be more substantive.
Trump attributes to his strategy of threats and severe rhetoric during the first year of his presidency redefining the terms of a negotiation with Kim. He praises their personal relationship and the first summit in Singapore with a long time without any North Korean nuclear test or missile launch.
Trump's envoy to North Korea plans to meet with North Korean officials in Pyongyang on Wednesday to revive North Korean nuclear weapons talks ahead of the leaders' summit.
Special Envoy Stephen E. Biegun outlined negotiating objectives in a speech last week, suggesting that the Trump government was trying to expand talks with North Korea and offer some carrots.
"On our side, we are ready to discuss many actions that can contribute to building trust between our two countries and at the same time advance the goals of the Singapore Summit to transform relations, to establish a permanent peace regime on the continent. peninsula and to carry out denuclearization, "he told Stanford University.
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