The US President said that North Korea’s disarmament prospects are economic development and prosperity.
Prior to his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, US President Donald Trump called the North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un his “friend.” Trump promised North Korea economic development and prosperity on Wednesday morning should Kim decommission his nuclear and missile arsenal.
On Twitter, the US President wrote: “The potential is AMAZING, a great opportunity for my friend Kim Jong-un, like no other in history.” The first meeting of Trump and Kim in the Vietnamese capital, according to the White House, is scheduled for Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm.
After the welcome at the Hotel Metropole, Trump and Kim want to have a 20-minute conversation in private. Then both sides want to come together in a small group for about one and a half hour dinner. On Thursday, further talks are planned. After Kim, Trump arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday night.
The environment of the hotel “Metropole” was already cordially closed off on Wednesday morning. Armored vehicles and soldiers were posted in the area.
On Wednesday morning Trump met Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong. According to the White House, a 35-minute bilateral conversation was planned.
Subsequently, Trump and Trong wanted to attend a trade signing ceremony. Trong is also Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam and thus the strongman of the South Asian country.
Trump then wanted to meet Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for talks and lunch.
Trump compared the possibilities of North Korea with the situation in Vietnam. ” Vietnam is flourishing like few other places in the world, and North Korea would very soon be the same if it abolishes its nuclear weapons.” At the same time, Trump rejected on Twitter criticism of the opposition US Democrats in his dealings with Pyongyang. The Democrats should not talk about what he has to do, but wonder why they would not have done it themselves in the term of US President Barack Obama.
Trump and Kim had already agreed on a “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” at their first summit meeting in Singapore last June. Concrete steps were not agreed. Also, a time frame remained open.
The largely isolated leadership in Pyongyang wants to move in the conflict over its nuclear weapons program, however, only if the US is ready for greater compromises. “North Korea is moving only as much as the US is moving,” wrote the Japan -based pro-North Korean newspaper Choson Shinbo on Wednesday.
The newspaper emphasized Kim Jong-un’s promise in his New Year’s speech that his country no longer wanted to produce and test nuclear weapons and to use and transmit them. However, Washington must respond with “corresponding” measures if these promises were to be fulfilled. Pyongyang has in recent months, specially strengthened its call for a relaxation of sanctions.