Author: Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak / Source: CNN
Hanoi, Vietnam (CNN)President Donald Trump tamped down expectations he will make significant progress with Kim Jong Un during their nuclear talks in Hanoi on Thursday local time, repeating he’s in no rush to strike a deal even as North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program.
“I’ve been saying very much from the beginning that speed is not that important to me,” Trump said at the start of his second summit with Kim. “Speed is not important to me. What is important is that we do the right deal.”
Kim, for his part, also expressed cautious optimism a deal would eventually be struck. But he did not suggest such an accord would come soon.
“It’s too early to say,” he said, in an unprecedented response to a foreign journalist’s shouted question. “I would not say I’m pessimistic. From what I feel right now, I do have a feeling that good results will come out.”
Trump is pursuing two objectives as he sits down once again with the North Korean dictator here on Thursday: draw North Korea closer to the prospect of abandoning its nuclear weapons and regain control of the media narrative.
As he arrived at the swanky Metropole Hotel on Wednesday to advance his historic direct diplomacy with Kim, Trump was quickly upstaged by the damning congressional testimony of his longtime former attorney and adviser Michael Cohen. By the time Trump finished dinner with Kim, the airwaves were blanketed with coverage of Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
A grand agreement on denuclearization might have helped in that effort. But Trump downplayed the prospects of a deal emerging from the Hanoi talks. Instead, he suggested something more vague might result from his second summit with Kim.
“I can’t speak for today but over a little bit longer term … we’re going to have a fantastic success,” Trump said.
He described his dinner an evening earlier as positive, but did not describe in detail any of the negotiations underway.
Following an intimate Wednesday evening dinner, the two leaders once again put their chummy personal relationship on display on Thursday. Walking along the flower-lined pool deck at the French-colonial Metropole hotel, Kim and Trump engaged in friendly conversation to give the cameras…
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