Trump-Kim summit 2019: North Korean leader arrives in Hanoi before two days of meetings
- The two leaders will meet on Wednesday before a dinner, followed by a ‘series of back and forth’ meetings on Thursday
- Kim travelled to Hanoi by limousine after his heavily armoured train pulled into the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang just after 8am
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump will conduct their summit over the course of two days in Hanoi, starting with a one-on-one meeting on Wednesday before a dinner that evening.
On Thursday, the two leaders will have a “series of back and forth” meetings, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who briefed reporters aboard Air Force One as Trump left the US. The US president is expected to arrive in Hanoi later on Tuesday, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo already in the Vietnamese capital.
Kim, escorted by dozens of motorcycles and black vans, arrived at the Melia hotel in Hanoi around 11am.
Earlier, he arrived by train at the border station of Dong Dang and was welcomed with a military salute reminiscent of the fanfare that greeted his grandfather Kim Il-sung more than half a century ago.
His heavily armoured train pulled into the station just after 8am (9am Hong Kong time), after a 65-hour, 4,500km journey from Pyongyang via mainland China.
Just as they did during Kim Il-sung’s visit 55 years ago, a dozen Vietnamese soldiers in white and green uniforms saluted the 35-year-old leader as he emerged from the train and walked on the red carpet.
As a Vietnamese marching band played music to welcome Kim to the country for the first time, hundreds of bystanders waved flags of North Korea and Vietnam. Kim then got into a bulletproof Mercedes Benz limousine for the 170km journey to Hanoi, with about a dozen bodyguards jogging alongside his car as it set off.