HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The Latest on the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump (all times local):
1:45 p.m.
North Korean officials have toured Vietnam’s scenic Halong Bay and a nearby industrial site while leader Kim Jong Un spent his second morning in Hanoi inside a hotel preparing for his meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump.
South Korean TV on Wednesday showed a group of North Korean officials, including Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of the party’s central committee, taking a cruise ride along Halong Bay and visiting factories in the port city of Hai Phong.
The group also reportedly included O Su Yong, director of economic affairs at North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Experts say O’s inclusion in the North’s delegation indicates Kim expects to return home with economic rewards, including partial sanctions relief, following nuclear talks with Trump.
Kim is expected to meet Trump during a dinner meeting later Wednesday.
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11:45 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong have presided over a signing ceremony of several commercial trade deals between their two airline industries.
U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing signed agreements with VietJet for 100 737 MAX planes and with Bamboo Airways for 10 787 Dreamliners as the two leaders looked on Wednesday.
U.S.-based aviation technology company Sabre also inked a deal with Vietnam Airlines.
The White House did not immediately provide details on the agreements.
Trump is scheduled to sit down with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un later Wednesday in Hanoi for a second round of nuclear talks.
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11:25 a.m.
The mayor of Hanoi, Vietnam, is urging residents to be on their best behavior during the summit between North Korean and U.S. leaders so they can show the world the “civilized, elegant, friendly and hospitable people” of the nation’s capital.
The statement from Hanoi Mayor Nguyen Duc Chung, posted on the city’s website Tuesday, called for residents to “maintain and sustain Hanoians’ code of behavior.”
The mayor also urged residents to dress well and decorate the city with flags and flowers to welcome the visitors here for the summit.
An estimated 3,000 journalists are in Hanoi to cover the summit on nuclear disarmament.
The mayor says residents should also “refrain from hiking prices of goods and services during the summit.”
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11:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump is calling the relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam an “example” of what can become of North Korea if it gives up its nuclear weapons.
Trump paid a courtesy call Wednesday to Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong ahead of his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.
Trump says, “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.”
The Vietnamese leader says his country has “been making all necessary preparations to ensure the best conditions for the success of this very special meeting.”
Trump is thanking Vietnam for hosting the summit and for agreeing to new trade deals with American companies, including Boeing.
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11 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart hours before he is set to sit down with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Trump is greeting Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, whose country is hosting the second summit between the leaders of the two technically-warring nations.
The two leaders are set to sign a commercial trade agreement Wednesday before Trump is to meet with Vietnam’s prime minister.
Trump’s courtesy call to the host nation’s leadership is meant to provide Kim with a visualization of a potential future should he give up his country’s nuclear weapons in a deal with the U.S. After a decade of bloody conflict that ended more than four decades ago, the U.S. and Vietnam are now economic and strategic partners.
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10:05 a.m.
President Donald Trump’s eldest son is accusing Democrats of trying to distract his father during his summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Donald Trump Jr. told Fox News on Tuesday that he believed the Democrats deliberately scheduled the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, the president’s former fixer, opposite the summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Trump Jr. said that the Democrats were trying to “counterprogram the kind of progress” that could be achieved in the Vietnam gathering and that it was evidence of the “disdain” they hold for the president.
He also argued that it was proof the Democrats were more interested in scoring political points than in national security by attempting to “stymie” the denuclearization talks.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including a campaign finance violation that he says was at the direction of the president.
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9:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump says Vietnam, the site of his second round of nuclear talks with Kim Jong Un, is thriving economically and that North Korea could, too, if it would give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Before sitting down with Kim later Wednesday in Hanoi, Trump tweeted that “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.”
In a second tweet, Trump took a shot at Democrats in Washington, saying they should stop telling him what to do with North Korea and “ask themselves instead why they didn’t do ‘it’ during eight years of the Obama Administration?”
Trump faults previous administrations for inaction on North Korea.