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Experts observing the summit said Trump and Kim were trying to show that they are getting along.
They knew the whole world was watching as Trump walked towards Kim and the two leaders clasped and turned in sync to face the cameras.
"They are both making an effort to show their relationship has improved since the last time," Allan Pease, an Australian body language expert, told Reuters. "The mirroring between them is quite strong," she said, adding that it was in contrast with their first meeting when they sought to project a sense of command with "alpha male" handshakes.
Singapore-based body language expert Karen Leong told Reuters that Kim looked far more confident compared to Singapore, while Trump welcomed Kim in a more open, conciliatory approach. "Trump wants the rapport. He is not here to become the bully, he is here to win Kim," she said.
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Photo by Reuters |
"Nothing like having a nice private dinner," Trump joked as the two leaders sat down for dinner at the Hanoi Metropole Hotel and reporters took photos.
A number of reporters were asked to leave. "Due to the sensitive nature of the meetings, we have limited the pool for the dinner to a smaller group," CNN quoted White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders as saying.
Video by Reuters
Kim Jong-un told the press that the U.S. and North Korea have been able to overcome all the obstacles since he first met Trump, 261 days ago.
"That gives us hope that we will be successful this time," he said.
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Trump and Kim shake hands before a private dinner in Hanoi. Photo by AFP |
Kim Jong-un called the second summit a "courageous political decision" by the U.S. President.
Trump said he believes that a lot of progress has been made, that he is on good terms with Kim, and hopes the second summit will be "greater" than the first. When asked whether he planned to declare an end to the Korean war, Trump said: "We'll see."
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Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters |
In his first meeting with Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, President Trump painted a positive outlook for North Korea.
"I think your country has tremendous economic potential," Trump said.
"I think you will have a tremendous future for your country, you’re a great leader," he said. "We will help it to happen."
The two leaders shook hands and posed in front of flags.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet face-to-face in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, at which they pledged to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The White House said Trump would meet Kim at Hanoi’s French-colonial-era Metropole Hotel at 6:30 p.m. (Hanoi time) and have a 20-minute one-on-one conversation before a dinner scheduled to last just over an hour and a half.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said other dinner guests from the U.S. are Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, Mick Mulvaney, Assistant to the President and acting Chief of Staff, Lee Yun-hyang, interpreter; and from North Korea Kim Yong Chol, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Ri Yong Ho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sin Hye Yong, interpreter.
Donald Trump will not pay an official visit to Vietnam this time, but he met Vietnam's President and Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and had a working lunch with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc this morning.
Kim Jong-un is scheduled to pay his first official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong. He visited the North Korean embassy in Hanoi Tuesday after reaching the capital city in the morning.
