Vietnam most likely candidate for 2nd N. Korea-US summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump during their first summit in Singapore on June 12.

Country offers potential economic development model for North Korea’s reform

Even though US President Donald Trump said on Jan. 19 that the country in which the second North Korea-US summit will be held has been selected, he didn’t mention the name of the city or country. Taking into account various reports in the media and information from sources, Vietnam seems to be the likely country, with the final options being narrowed down to the capital of Hanoi and the major tourist destination of Da Nang.

The JW Marriott Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam.

A range of factors appear to have made Vietnam a leading contender for hosting the second North Korea-US summit, including Vietnam’s neutral position, maintaining diplomatic relations with both North Korea and the US (just like Singapore, which hosted the first summit); the distance that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would have to travel; and conditions on the ground, including security, accommodations and press access.

Both members of the socialist bloc, North Korea and Vietnam have a tradition of friendly relations that goes back to Jan. 1950, when they established diplomatic relations. Their bilateral relations entered a chilly phase after Vietnam normalized relations with South Korea in 1992, but they were restored when Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong visited North Korea in 2002. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho also paid a visit to Vietnam from Nov. 29–Dec. 2 of last year.

If Kim visits Vietnam, he would have the chance to personally witness the results of the economic development based on “Doi Moi,” the approach to reform and opening that Vietnam adopted in 1986. The Vietnamese model of economic development has been regarded as the model that would be easiest for North Korea to learn from and emulate.

Vietnam is also a convenient location from the US point of view. The two adversaries in the Vietnam War achieved a historic reconciliation when they normalized their diplomatic relations in July 1995, and since then they have been bolstering their cooperative relationship in response to China’s aggressive expansion into the South China Sea.

Hanoi and Da Nang main contenders for hosting summit

As for cities inside Vietnam, Hanoi, which is being mooted as one of the chief contenders, is regarded as optimal for making practical preparations for the summit because both the North Korea and the US embassy are located there. Hanoi has solid infrastructure and experience with major diplomatic events, such as the APEC summit, which it hosted in Nov. 2006. The JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi, which provided accommodations for US president Barack Obama in 2016 and for South Korean President Moon Jae-in on his state visit to Vietnam last year, is likely to provide space for the major meetings.

A view of Da Nang, Vietnam, a popular vacation spot. (source: the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)

The other leading contender is Da Nang, which is regarded as Vietnam’s top resort city. This city also has the experience and infrastructure to support major diplomatic events, such as the APEC summit that was held here in Nov. 2017. One stumbling block, however, is that Da Nang is a city that symbolizes US-Vietnam cooperation in blocking China’s expansion in the South China Sea. In Mar. 2018, the US ruffled China’s feathers by having an aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, call at the port of Da Nang.

Hanoi is located at a distance of 2,760km from Pyongyang and Da Nang at a distance of 3,060km, which means that both cities are well within reach of Kim Jong-un’s personal jet, the Chammae-1, an IL-62M which is estimated to have a flight range of around 5,000km. Though three planes were put into the air when Kim traveled to Singapore for his first summit with Trump, the plane he actually flew on was not the aging Chammae-1 but a charter jet from Air China that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang uses for his overseas trips. But since North Korea and the US haven’t made an official announcement, the possibility remains that the summit could be held somewhere other than Vietnam, such as in Bangkok, Thailand.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff writer

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