TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2019) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has left by train for Vietnam, where he is set to hold a second summit with US President Donald Trump next week, local media reported.
According to the Korean Central news Agency (KCNA), the train left for Vietnam on Saturday afternoon. Kim is expected to arrive in the town of Dong Dang, the Vietnamese province of Lang Son bordering China, on Tuesday.
As part of the "official goodwill visit," Kim would also hold talks with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, the agency said.�
In his trip, Kim is accompanied by Deputy Chair of North Korean Workers' Party's central committee Kim Yong Chol, who is in charge of nuclear talks with the United States; Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho; director of the international affairs department of the Supreme People's Assembly, Ri Su Yong; and Defense Minister No Kwang Chol. The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, is also among the members of the delegation.
Trump and Kim will hold their second meeting in the Vietnamese capital on February 27-28. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, announced on Saturday that Kim would pay an official visit to Hanoi in the "coming days" at the invitation of the country's leadership.
The first US-North Korean summit in Singapore, held last June, resulted in an agreement stipulating that Pyongyang would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military drills. However, no specific steps have been taken since then. Pyongyang expects Washington to deliver on its commitments and relax sanctions pressure, while the US administration is waiting for new steps toward North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
