Hopes high for concrete results from 2nd Kim-Trump summit

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Governments across Asia on Wednesday expressed hope that a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam will produce concrete results that will lead to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump announced in his State of the Union address that the summit will take place February 27-28.

A spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in said South Korea hopes the United States and North Korea will produce “more concrete and practical” agreements during the meeting.

The leaders’ first summit in Singapore last June ended with a vague promise by Kim to work toward denuclearisation, without a concrete plan for how it would be implemented.

Presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in Seoul that Vietnam will be a “very good” place for the United States and North Korea to “write new history” in their relations.

Japan, too, said it hopes the summit will be “meaningful” and lead to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also raised the issue of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and ’80s, saying it remains “our most important issue” related to North Korea.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said enforcing international sanctions against North Korea is important in conveying that “the world is equally committed” to its denuclearisation.

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