President Trump Plays Up North Korea’s Economic Potential During Summit with Kim Jong-un in Vietnam
So far nothing surprising by the President’s comments to Kim Jong-un:
Donald Trump has met Kim Jong-un for the second time at a summit in Vietnam, shaking hands and praising North Korea’s “unlimited” economic potential.
The American and North Korean leaders greeted each other before a backdrop of their countries’ interwoven flags at a luxury hotel in Hanoi, the Vietnam capital.
The pair shook hands for around 10 seconds, with Mr Trump patting Kim on the back before the men shared a laugh as they posed for photographs.
In opening remarks before a one-on-one conversation due to last for 20 minutes, Mr Trump talked up the possibilities for growth and development in North Korea.
“I think that your country has tremendous economic potential, unbelievable, unlimited,” Mr Trump told Kim.
“And I think that you will have a tremendous future with your country, a great leader.”He added: “I look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen. And we will help it to happen.”
The Telegraph
Asked by a reporter if the pair might formally end the Korean War during their two-day summit, Mr Trump responded: “We’ll see.”
You can read more at the link, but those who closely follow North Korea know that it will never reach its full economic potential if the Kim regime remains in charge. Vietnam style economic development would lead to a challenge of the Cult of Kim. So isolated and highly regime controlled economic projects within North Korea such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the East Coast Tourism scheme is the type of economic development North Korea wants.
It also appears that the negotiators were not able to lock in whether a peace treaty would happen during the summit prior to the two leaders meeting. I guess we will see if anything big comes out of this summit over the next 24 hours.
