FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Kim and Trump in Hanoi—Dinner Wednesday, Summit Thursday‘

Feb. 26, 2019 (EIRNS)—Both Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have arrived in Hanoi, with a brief one-on-one conversation and then a dinner scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 27 (they did not have dinner in Singapore), with the summit scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 28. Trump is joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.‘

Trump tweeted: “With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!” Speaking at the National Governors’ Association on Feb. 24, Trump said:

“I’m not in a rush. I just don’t want testing. As long as there’s no testing, we’re happy. We want denuclearization, and I think he’ll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy.”‘

As for Kim’s 60-hour train journey to Hanoi through China instead of flying, this is an echo of his grandfather Kim Il Sung’s visit to Vietnam in 1964, who similarly traveled by train. Kim Jong Un has quite openly patterned himself in many ways after his grandfather, the first leader of North Korea. Kim will also visit some of the same locations visited by the elder Kim, two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning told Reuters.‘