3:31
- ABC News
- February 27, 2019
Trump, Kim shake hands at 2nd US-Korea summit
The two leaders dined together Wednesday before Thursday's day of meetings.
3:31
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not mention Blumenthal or his military record in a readout of the visit. Just hours before his first handshake with Kim, the president also turned his attention to another high profile event at home -- the public testimony of his former attorney Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee. In a Twitter attack, the president sought to distance himself from his former fixer.
Once at war with the U.S. and now a growing economic power in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is seen as a potential model for North Korea -- a communist state that maintains tight political control while allowing for some economic liberalization, like private businesses and property. Trump himself offered up the prospect in a tweet, saying Vietnam is \"thriving\" and North Korea \"would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize.\"
Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon - Very Interesting!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2019
\"We both felt very good about having this very important summit in Vietnam because you really are an example as to what can happen with good thinking,\" Trump said of he and Kim during his meeting with the Vietnamese president.
Crowds amassed on Tuesday hoping for a glimpse of the reclusive North Korean strongman, who has smiled and waved for cameras. While he seems comfortable as a statesman on the world stage, it was less than a year ago that he'd never left his country while in power. Now, thanks in part to his summit diplomacy with Trump, he's visited China three times, had meetings with leaders in Singapore and Vietnam, and has been invited to Seoul, South Korea.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/vietnam-3-gty-er-190226_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
But it's unclear if Kim wants the kind of economic opening Vietnam has. The third ruler in a hereditary, communist dynasty, he's maintained sharp control over his citizenry, including through prison camps, severe restrictions on access to information and purges of high-ranking officials perceived as disloyal. Allowing outside economic investment could undermine that iron rule.
Instead, Kim's goal in Hanoi is sanctions relief, with his country still under the thumb of United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear weapons proliferation and human rights abuses. While North Korea seeks recognition as a nuclear weapons state and normalized ties with the U.S., Kim may be willing to give up some aspects of his nuclear program in exchange for that relief.
That would likely include inspections of the main reactor and other nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and verification that test sites like Punggye-ri nuclear facility and Sohae missile engine launch site have been destroyed. However, analysts point out those are largely hollow concessions, as those facilities were no longer in use.
Trump is eager for some success on the world stage, lowering expectations this week by saying Sunday, \"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody. I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/kim-5-gty-er-190226_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
North Korea halted ballistic missile and nuclear tests in 2017, in large part because it claims to have perfected its nuclear capability and no longer needs to test. Some analysts doubt that claim, but the lack of testing has helped cool tensions that once prompted Trump to promise to \"totally destroy\" North Korea if provoked.
But more important, while some say formalizing an end to testing would be a good first step, it does nothing to eliminate North Korea's already existing nuclear weapons, a stockpile reportedly estimated at 20 to 60 bombs and long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the continental U.S.
The U.S. intelligence community says Kim and his regime have no intention of giving that up, viewing it as essential to their survival. Trump's chief negotiator, Special Representative Stephen Biegun, conceded that point, but said that's why they are giving summit diplomacy another shot: \"It is all the more urgent that we engage diplomatically with North Korea to see if we can change the trajectory of their policies by changing the trajectory of our own,\" he said last month.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/trump-kim-gty-er-190226_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Those changes in U.S. policy could include opening liaison offices in each other's capitals -- diplomatic facilities that would allow for better communication and closer ties.
It may also mean signing a declaration to end the Korean War, which ended with a truce in 1953. While that would be welcome in Pyongyang as a symbol that the U.S. is less of a threat, many analysts criticize it as a means to push U.S. troops from allied South Korea and an empty agreement given the ongoing threat posed by North Korea's arsenal.
The most controversial decision could be providing North Korea some kind of sanctions relief. The Trump administration has been adamant that sanctions would not be lifted until there were concrete steps toward dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program, but in recent days, Pompeo and others have indicated small sanctions loopholes could be granted to incentivize North Korea.
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