President Donald Trump on Tuesday night revealed that he plans to meet North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un for a two-day summit in Vietnam on February 27 and 28, as he also boasted about averting a deadly standoff with the rogue nation.
"If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed," Trump said during his State of the Union address. "Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one. And Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam."
The two men held a historic first meeting in Singapore last June, during which they agreed on a framework for future negotiations, including that North Korea would begin to work toward “complete denuclearization.”
“North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S.,” he tweeted. “No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization…”
Trump administration officials have been quietly planning the president’s second summit with Kim for weeks. A senior White House official said the plans came together in mid-January when Trump welcomed Kim Yong Chol, a leading North Korean official, for a meeting in the Oval Office. U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun is also set to travel to North Korea this week to plan the high-level meeting.
The president previewed his summit announcement during a sit-down earlier on Tuesday with TV anchors. He also told them that he plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his time abroad later this month, though it was not clear if their bilateral sit-down would also occur in Vietnam.