Periodico 26

First Kim-Trump historic meeting in Singapore in June 2018.

Hanoi.- Diplomatic sources who asked to remain anonymous told Prensa Latina that the two heads of State will meet face to face on February 27 and will probably have lunch that day.

On February 28, they will hold the summit as such, heading their delegations in Hanoi, the venue of the meeting.

If things go as planned, that format would be similar to the one used at their first historic meeting in Singapore in June 2018.

Kim is expected to arrive here on Monday night or after midnight, after traveling 4,500 kilometers in an armored train from Pyongyang, going through China, and arriving at a train station on the border between that country and Vietnam.

He is expected to cover the remaining 170 kilometers between that point and Hanoi by car.

On the next day, he will hold official talks with the general secretary of the Communist Party and president of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong.

It will be the first time in 55 years that a top leader from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) visits Vietnam, since Kim's grandfather and founder of the Republic, Kim Il Sung, did so in October 1964.

Sources from the local Foreign Ministry told Prensa Latina that the US president will arrive at Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport on Tuesday night.

On the next morning, Trump's tentative program will include a meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong at the Presidential Palace, and at noon, he will meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Government Office.

The meeting between Trump and Kim is scheduled for that day, but the sources did not elaborate whether that first and very important segment of the summit will take place before or after the talks with Vietnamese leaders.

SOUTH KOREAN FM EXPECTS SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS AT KIM-TRUMP SUMMIT

Geneva.- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in Geneva Monday that she expects great progress from the second summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, to be held this week in Vietnam.

During a disarmament conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the Seoul Foreign Minister expressed her hope that the meeting between the two leaders will become "another important milestone" in efforts to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.

In her statements, quoted by the Yonhap agency, the South Korean Foreign Minister called for this meeting to allow progress towards denuclearization with 2specific and visible" steps.

After decades of being the centre of global instability, the Korean Peninsula changed course and has become a source of hope, the Minister said.

Kang reaffirmed the permanence of the sanctions applied by the United States and the UN Security Council against the DPRK "until it is assured that we are on a firm and irrevocable way towards complete disarmament."

In this regard, Kim Jong-un recalled that during 2018 the DPRK took concrete steps towards the elimination of this weaponry, while the United States ignored these goodwill actions by not offering the due and expected guarantees of peace.

According to Kim, last year the country launched a series of initiatives to halt the development of its nuclear military force, which had its origins in defensive action against threats from the United States and its allies.

In spite of this, South Korea supports the US position of maintaining the pressure of these punishments on that country.

DPRK has on several occasions criticized the US for maintaining these unilateral sanctions on the country and issued a forceful warning to Washington concerning word violations. (PL)

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