Children in North Korean-built kindergarten practise Korean songs for Kim Jong-un ahead of Trump-Kim summit 2019 in Hanoi

The Vietnam-North Korea Friendship kindergarten was founded by the North Korean government in 1978 at a time when Vietnam still received aid from the country

Today some of the school’s 450 pupils learn about North Korean culture, from kimchi and kimbap to traditional dress, and occasionally receive visits from North Korean officials and embassy personnel

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Children at the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship kindergarten, founded by the North Korean government in Hanoi. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:07pm, 19 Feb 2019Updated: 5:14pm, 20 Feb 2019

Wearing traditional dress, the children in Hanoi’s only North Korean-founded kindergarten belt out Korean songs and recite their Korean vocabulary – skills they hope to show off to Kim Jong-un when he visits Vietnam next week.

The North Korean leader is due to make his first trip to Vietnam for a second summit with US President Donald Trump on February 27 and 28, during which Washington hopes to see progress on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

But the serious summit agenda was far from the minds of toddlers at the Vietnam-DPRK Friendship Kindergarten on Tuesday.

Instead the three-to-five-year-olds sang and danced in the ‘Kim Il-sung’ classroom named after Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, one of Hanoi’s closest allies during the Vietnam war.

Vietnamese children play in front of a portrait of Kim Jong-il at the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship kindergarten. Photo: Reuters

“Jal gaseyo [goodbye]!” the kids chanted in Korean at the school where portraits of communist leaders past – Kim Il-sung, his son Kim Jong-il and Vietnam’s revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh – hang on the wall.