Trump hails 'great leader' Kim Jong-un at Hanoi summit

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday told North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un that his country has tremendous economic potential.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump gestures as he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sit down for a dinner during the second US-North Korea summit at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

CNN quoted Trump as saying, “I think your country has tremendous economic potential. I think you will have a tremendous future for your country, you’re a great leader. We will help it to happen.”

The two leaders met for a second summit in Vietnam’s Hanoi and Trump made these comments during a dinner with Kim.

The North Korean leader said that his second meeting with the US president was possible because of the “courageous political decision” taken by Trump.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands before their one-on-one chat. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

While addressing reporters on Wednesday, Kim said that there had been “a lot of thinking, effort and patience” between now and last June.

Trump and Kim met in June last year for their first-ever summit in Singapore.

Kim further asserted that the “outside world” has “misunderstood” the US-North Korean relationship in the period after the Singapore summit. He also expressed hope that the Hanoi summit delivers “an outcome welcome by everyone”.

When quizzed if he’d walked back his vow to insist upon the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, Trump said he had not.

IMAGE: People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, in Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

When questioned about his plan to declare an end to the Korean War, Trump said, “We will see.”

On Wednesday, Trump also held a meeting with Vietnam’s President Nguyen Phu Trong and thanked the country’s leadership for agreeing to host the second US-North Korea Summit.

Talking to the media after the meeting, he promoted the idea of a prosperous North Korea by citing the “good example” of Communist Vietnam.

IMAGE: A man walks while holding a painting of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Trump chose Hanoi for the summit to show Kim that old enemies could be friends of the US after it mends its ways.

The US has reinforced that sanctions would only be eased once full denuclearisation is achieved by Pyongyang -- a stand which the US stuck to even with the second summit drawing near.

Unlike the last summit in Singapore, Trump and Kim are expected to address a joint press conference after the meeting.

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