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Bloomberg
The slapdash nature of Donald Trump’s second summit with Kim Jong Un was exposed on Tuesday, as American journalists were abruptly evicted from a Hanoi hotel housing the North Korean leader and key details of the meeting remained a mystery.
The White House has set low ambitions for Thursday’s talks, organized in a matter of weeks after Trump announced the summit February 8. The two sides haven’t even agreed on the meaning of denuclearization or the ultimate purpose of the negotiations — and that’s unlikely to be resolved this week.
Before Kim’s arrival in Hanoi Tuesday morning, Vietnam’s foreign ministry announced that the White House media center would have to move from the Melia hotel downtown, where the North Korean leader is staying. The White House offered no explanation for the move, which forced news organizations operating from the hotel to pack up and relocate a few blocks away.
Trump was due to arrive in Vietnam later on Tuesday, and will dine with Kim on Wednesday evening after meetings with Vietnamese leaders, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters traveling with the president aboard Air Force One. She didn’t say where the two men would have dinner on Wednesday, and the White House also hasn’t said where they will hold their formal summit on Thursday.
Trump will be joined at dinner by his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Kim will also be joined by two aides, Sanders said. She didn’t identify them.
Sanders complained on Fox News last week that American media had manufactured “high expectations†for the summit. Trump has sought to tamp down public expectations as well, telling state governors that he has no intention of lifting harsh US sanctions on North Korea and isn’t pushing for a hasty deal with Kim.