Trump arrives in Vietnam for summit with NKorea's Kim

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Vietnam Tuesday to prepare for an imminent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

Trump arrived in Hanoi on Air Force One after nearly a full day of travel that included refueling stops in England and Qatar. Kim arrived earlier Tuesday following a lengthy train and car ride.

The men are set to begin formal talks Wednesday aimed at securing the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and relief for Pyongyang from international sanctions aimed at bringing the North Korean government to the negotiating table.

Trump and Kim are slated to have dinner Wednesday alongside select top officials, and will hold meetings Thursday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who will attend Wednesday's dinner alongside Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, met earlier in the day with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi, thanking him for hosting the summit.

This week's meeting is the second between Trump and Kim. They first met in Singapore last June in a historic sit-down that was met with criticism by some who say it failed to produce tangible results.

But Trump has repeatedly taken credit for a halt to the North's ballistic missile and nuclear tests following the meeting even as resulting talks have stalled on the North's insistence that additional steps be met with immediate sanctions relief.

Kim is widely expected to continue the demand in his talks with Trump.

In exchange for the halt to the North's tests, the U.S. has suspended military drills with South Korea the North views as provocative. North Korea has also returned the remains of U.S. servicemen killed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

This week's talks are a far cry from the brink-of-war rhetoric exchanged between Pyongyang and Washington in 2017 when Trump warned of unleashing "fire and fury" amid a series of tests that was bookended by a firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile believed to be capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.