HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The Latest on the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he wouldn’t be holding a second summit with President Donald Trump if he weren’t willing to make good on his denuclearization pledge.
Asked by a U.S. reporter Thursday in Hanoi whether he’s willing to denuclearize, Kim responded: “If I’m not willing to do that, I won’t be here right now.”
Trump told reporters that that’s what the two are discussing during their second day of talks.
Kim was also asked if the leaders would be talking about human rights, which he’s accused of abusing. But Trump responded to the question instead, telling reporters: “We’re discussing everything.”
The comments came as the two met with an expanded coterie of aides, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton.
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11:05 a.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has answered a question from a foreign journalist almost certainly for the first time ahead of his high-stakes nuclear summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
When asked by a member of the White House press pool about his outlook on the summit on Thursday, Kim said: “It’s too early to say. I won’t make predictions. But I instinctively feel that a good outcome will be produced.”
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with affairs with North Korea, couldn’t confirm whether it was the first time Kim answered a question from a foreign journalist.
But reporters didn’t get opportunities to ask questions of Kim during his three summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his four meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim ignored questions shouted at him during his first summit with Trump last June in Singapore.
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10 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un appeared more relaxed as they convened near the pool of the luxury Vietnamese hotel where they’re holding their second summit.
Trump and Kim emerged after their first formal bilateral meeting Thursday morning on the Metropole hotel’s pool patio, where they were joined by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol.
The group then went into a glass-enclosed area and sat down around a table for more talks.
Trump told reporters earlier that he’s in no rush for progress, saying: “What’s important is that we do the right deal.”
Trump and Kim will later be holding a working lunch and appearing at a joint-agreement signing ceremony later in the day.
Trump will hold a news conference before boarding his flight home.
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9:10 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are beginning the second day of their high-stakes nuclear summit with a one-on-one discussion.
Trump and Kim met Thursday, the morning after they opened the summit in Vietnam.
Trump told reporters that “a lot of great ideas” are “being thrown about.” He says, “When you have a good relationship, a lot of good things happen.”
The president also said he’s in “no rush” to make “the right deal,” a sharp break from his heated rhetoric a year ago about the threat posed by Pyongyang.
Kim added that the “whole world” was watching the talks and suggested that, for some, the image of the two “sitting side by side” must resemble “a fantasy movie.”