CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor will lead the network’s division-wide coverage of the U.S.-North Korea summit from Hanoi, Vietnam, for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms, CBS News said Wednesday, the same day an “exclusive” war broke out among news outlets reporting yet another plan to replace Glor – this time with Norah O’Donnell.

Glor’s coverage from Hanoi of President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un will start Monday and continue through the week. Glor’s evening newscast will originate from Hanoi on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, CBS News touted.

The announcement follows by one day reports George Stephanopoulos had re-upped at ABC News after being wooed by CBS to take Glor’s anchor chair.

From Hanoi, Glor also will lead special reports of summit coverage, and contribute regularly to CBS This Morning, where O’Donnell currently is one of four co-hosts.

Glor succeeded Scott Pelley in the anchor chair in December 2017, one of the moves by former CBS News chief David Rhodes. Since that re-casting, the CBS newscast has continued to trail its broadcast competitors, falling even further behind.

For the most recent week, CBS Evening News clocked 6.667M viewers – a lap behind NBC Nightly News’ 8.747M viewers and ABC World News Tonight’s 9.350M.

In the news demo of viewers ages 25-54, Glor’s newscast averaged 1.374M viewers, trailing ABC’s 2.004M and NBC’s 2.034M.

One source tells Deadline that O’Donnell, who previously lobbied for the job, has been told by incoming CBS News boss Susan Zirinsky she could have any job she wants.

Zirinsky told Deadline she would do a “top down” look at her franchises and, “like a baseball team,” consider whether everybody is “in the right place” rather than looking at individuals in isolation.

“I think the advantage CBS has now is there isn’t a single person in a position who isn’t doing a good job,” she boasted when she was named to the job last month.

CBS News is staffing up in Washington D.C., where O’Donnell owns a home, commuting to and fro, one source notes.

As for the division’s announcement today, Glor’s reports from Vietnam also will be featured on CBSN, CBS News’s 24/7 streaming news service and Glor’s old stomping ground.

Contributing to CBS News’ effort with on-the-ground reports from Vietnam: Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan, CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News foreign correspondent Ben Tracy.

On CBS News Radio, Glor will co-anchor CBS News on the Hour With Jeff Glor throughout the week from Vietnam.

Should Glor exit Evening News for a correspondent post, this is another high-profile assignment with which to burnish his credentials.

In Wednesday’s announcement, CBS News noted that Glor’s summit coverage follows his extensive international reporting, including from Singapore for the first U.S.-North Korea summit; Jerusalem and Ramallah for the opening of the U.S. Embassy, which included on-the-ground dispatches from extended clashes in the West Bank; and his interview with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris for the One Planet summit.

Glor also conducted back-to-back interviews with President Donald Trump in Scotland and at the White House surrounding the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin, CBS News reminded.

All that’s left is for Glor to talk about how excited he is that he’s no longer chained to a desk and can get back to his first love – reporting.</s>SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in told U.S. President Donald Trump in a call on Tuesday that his country is willing to open economic engagement with North Korea as a “concession” if it will hasten Pyongyang’s denuclearization, Moon’s office said.

Trump is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam next week for a second summit aimed at enticing Kim to follow through on his pledge to abandon nuclear weapons.

Since Trump and Kim first met in June last year, there has been little progress in talks between the two countries, while Moon and Kim have forged ahead with multiple summits of their own, as well as promises of inter-Korean cooperation on everything from reducing border tensions to launching a joint bid for the 2032 Olympics.

But plans for economic projects, such as linking railways, reopening a joint industrial center, and allowing South Korean tourists to visit the North, have been on hold while the United States opposed loosening sanctions until more progress is made on denuclearization.

Moon asked Trump to make use of South Korea’s role as a “concession” to expedite North Korea’s denuclearization, saying he was ready to undertake anything from reconnecting rail and road links between the two Koreas to other inter-Korean economic cooperation, according to a statement from Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.

Read More: Two Koreas’ leaders in mountain show of unity

“We’re determined to take up that role if President Trump asks, if that’s the way to lessen the U.S. burden,” Moon said.

Moon said it was Trump’s “leadership and firm resolve” that had brought difficult negotiations with North Korea thus far, as well as progress in inter-Korean ties, according to the statement.

He “expressed his respect” to Trump who is “exploring a diplomatic strategy to achieve denuclearization and a lasting peace regime on the peninsula, overcoming diplomatic failures over the past 25 years that did not accomplish any outcome through negotiations but only strengthened North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities,” the spokesman said.

Moon’s praise echoes Trump’s own assessment of his efforts, given in a Rose Garden news conference on Friday in which he made the case that he deserves to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on North Korea and Syria, but complained he probably would never get the honor.

In the past, Moon has said that Trump deserves the prize for engaging with Kim Jong Un directly, in a way no other American president has.

During Tuesday’s call, Trump briefed Moon on preparations for the upcoming summit, and said he would brief the South Koreans on the results, including in a future meeting with Moon, the Blue House said.</s>What's Changed Between U.S. And North Korea Since First Summit

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet for a second time next week. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with North Korea expert Frank Aum about what's changed since the last meeting.

If all goes to plan, one week from today, President Trump will be in Hanoi, Vietnam, preparing to sit down for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. So far, this one is coming together with decidedly less drama than the first time these two met. You may recall just days before last year's summit in Singapore, Trump called it off. And then, suddenly, it was back on.

This time, Trump's tone is less heated and on the substance and the central U.S. demand that North Korea give up nuclear weapons. The president has been tempering expectations.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: As long as there's no testing, I'm in no rush. If there's testing, that's another deal. But there has been no testing.

KELLY: So where does that leave expectations for this summit? In our studio to discuss is Frank Aum. He was senior adviser for North Korea at the Defense Department during the Obama administration. Welcome.

FRANK AUM: Good to be here.

KELLY: So start with what we just heard from the president. First, just a quick fact check - he's right. There's been no testing since the Singapore summit, correct?

KELLY: OK. And when you hear him say he's in no rush, what should we read into that?

AUM: Well, I'm speculating here, but I think he is trying to create the impression that he is not desperate for denuclearization - that he can walk away from a deal if it's not good for the U.S. I don't think that was the best way to phrase it because it sends the wrong message that the U.S. government is OK with a nuclear North Korea as long as it doesn't conduct provocations.

KELLY: I was going to ask, isn't he desperate for North Korea to denuclearize? I mean, that has been the U.S. position for many years now when negotiating with North Korea - was the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.

AUM: Well, I think President Trump certainly is looking for a foreign policy victory. And it's interesting that you've seen a radical shift in his policy towards North Korea over the last six months. And I think that's probably, actually, a helpful indication of what's to come at Hanoi.

KELLY: Explain that. What's the radical shift you see?

AUM: So previous administrations and the Trump administration, at least earlier on, had always said that they demanded denuclearization from North Korea first, before they would be willing to discuss peace and normalization.

But in the remarks from Stephen Biegun, who's the special representative for North Korea - he made remarks at Stanford a few weeks ago. And he said that the U.S. is committed to pursuing denuclearization, but also peace talks in parallel. And that would be a marked shift from the policy that we've pursued in the past.

KELLY: So if I'm hearing you right, it sounds as though, in your view, the U.S. is walking into this summit with a radically different starting point than it did last year at the Singapore summit.

AUM: Absolutely. Before the Singapore summit, President Trump described it by saying that it would be a get-to-know-you meeting, plus. So that sounded very superficial, just establishing a relationship with Kim Jong Un. So I had very - actually had very low expectations out of Singapore.

We're now eight months later. I think a lot of the ideas have had a chance to marinate a little bit more. You're hearing more reports about potential concessions from both sides. That gives us a little more optimism going into Hanoi.

KELLY: With that as backdrop, what does the U.S. want from this summit in Vietnam next week? What would count as a U.S. win?

AUM: Tangible outcome - so we need to see something that demonstrates that North Korea is denuclearizing. One, I think, right off the bat is to reaffirm their dismantlement of their nuclear test site at Punggye-ri and the missile test site at Tongchang-ri. Also, the permanent dismantlement of their main nuclear facility - that would be a big step.

To go even further, a commitment to freeze or cap their production of fissile material and ballistic missiles - that would be a significant win for us as well.

KELLY: What does North Korea want?

AUM: Right now, their main interest is to get some sanctions relief. I don't think we need to give up all of the sanctions immediately or dismantle it, but I think it would be helpful to get some initial steps.

Also, they would very much appreciate a declaration confirming that the Korean War is officially over. That would be something that Kim Jong Un could take to his domestic public to convince them that there's a new environment on the peninsula.

KELLY: So bottom line - you said you were skeptical about the Singapore summit. Where are you a week or so out from Vietnam?

AUM: Well, I think it's a fool's choice to be too optimistic about progress, especially in the context of North Korea. But I don't think we need to swing for the fences here. I think a single is good enough, as long as we keep the rally going for diplomatic momentum. I think that would be a success.

KELLY: Frank Aum, former senior Pentagon adviser. He's now with the U.S. Institute of Peace. Thank you.</s>WASHINGTON — The U.S. will not move to ease economic sanctions on North Korea until it is confident that the nuclear weapons threat from Pyongyang has been “substantially reduced,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.

Pompeo didn’t elaborate, but his comment seemed to leave open the possibility that sanctions relief was possible short of complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Pompeo told NBC’s “Today” that he hopes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will make good on his pledge to give up his nuclear weapons during his second meeting with President Donald Trump next week in Vietnam.

But a senior administration official said the U.S. is still not sure if North Korea has decided to give up its nuclear weapons. Asked if North Korea was negotiating in good faith, the official said the nations are in a genuine negotiation, and it will take time to “tease out” exactly what is Kim’s full commitment.

The official, who is familiar with the talks and spoke only on condition of anonymity, also said that reducing the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea has not been a topic of the talks.

There has been discussion, however, about using the summit as a venue to declare the end of the Korean War — something that Kim has sought. The fighting ended with an armistice in July 1953. That armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war.

Pompeo said he didn’t want to get into the details about what either side was willing to offer to make progress in the talks.

“The American people should know we have the toughest economic sanctions that have ever been placed on North Korea and we won’t release that pressure until such time as we’re confident we’ve substantially reduced that risk,” Pompeo said, adding that he hopes the two leaders will take a “truly historic step forward” at their meeting in Hanoi.

Asked if the U.S. was willing to compromise on its goal of complete, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Pompeo said:

“To keep the American people safe, we have to reduce the threat from a nuclear-armed North Korea and then, in turn, we can work on peace and security on the peninsula and a brighter future for the North Korean people.”

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>SEOUL — President Trump has curiously downplayed expectations for next week’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by saying he is in “no rush whatsoever” to get the country to give up its nuclear weapons and, instead, is more focused on keeping the North from restarting nuclear testing.

But Trump also told South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a phone call Tuesday that he expects “great progress” at the summit in Hanoi, according to the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Meanwhile, U.S. envoy Stephen E. Biegun is in Hanoi and is expected to meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim Hyok Chol, again this week as the two sides try to prepare the ground for the summit.

So what can we expect next week? Here’s a look at what each side might bring to the table in Hanoi.

Apart from Trump’s “no rush” comment on dismantling the North’s nuclear program, the U.S. administration has made clear it wants to see final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. It wants to see Kim commit to concrete measures to advance that process at the summit.

Washington would also like to see North Korea dismantle its inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) stockpile and manufacturing program, to reduce the threat of a nuclear attack on the U.S. mainland. Such a step could play well for Trump domestically, especially as he thinks about a possible reelection campaign, but too much emphasis on this aspect, without simultaneous steps to denuclearize, would be deeply unsettling to key U.S. ally Japan and to some in South Korea.

Biegun indicated recently that the United States is no longer demanding North Korea hand over a comprehensive list of its nuclear and missile sites up front, a demand Pyongyang has fiercely resisted. Instead he now says this needs to happen “at some point” before full denuclearization.

[U.S. envoy to visit North Korea with a plan to restart denuclearization talks]

Ideally the United States would like to agree a road map to achieve denuclearization, with corresponding steps by each side on a path to full denuclearization and friendly relations. Experts say a detailed road map is unlikely to be agreed to at this summit, given the lack of trust between both sides and the fact that working-level talks have only just begun. But as Duyeon Kim at the Center for a New American Security explains, it’s an important goal.

North Korea’s top priority is to get sanctions relief. Kim has made it clear he wants to boost his country’s economic development, and for that he needs trade and investment. At the top of his agenda are likely to be a relaxation of restrictions on exports of coal and imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products, and a resumption of economic cooperation with South Korea through the joint Kaesong Industrial Zone and the Mount Kumgang joint-tourism project in the North.

North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself against possible U.S. invasion and won’t surrender them unless it feels secure.

To that end, Pyongyang has called for a formal declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is over. The conflict ended in an armistice, and North Korea says the United States needs to show it is committed to a peaceful relationship by declaring the war is over. Such a declaration would be only the first step toward a formal and comprehensive peace treaty.

Most likely signatories would be the United States, North Korea, South Korea and possibly China, although not necessarily by their respective heads of state.

North Korea is also demanding an end to joint military exercises between U.S. and South Korea troops, which it has long characterized as a hostile act and practice for an invasion.

The U.S. offer: Engagement and gradual sanctions relief

Aside from sanctions relief, the United States has a few carrots to offer.

There are easy steps, such as humanitarian assistance and sporting and cultural exchanges (the New York Philharmonic Orchestra played in Pyongyang in 2008).

There are diplomatic moves, too, that could reassure North Korea that a new era in relations has begun, such as the end-of-war declaration.

Another possible deal would involve both countries opening liaison offices in each other’s capitals, a first step toward diplomatic relations. That would grant Pyongyang some of the diplomatic recognition it craves.

The United States has already suspended some military exercises after Trump called them “provocative.” But the U.S. military argues that the exercises are vital to sustain preparedness and won’t be keen to see them permanently end.

Given his desire to bring U.S. troops home from foreign assignments, Trump might even offer to reduce the U.S. troop presence in South Korea from the current 28,500. That’s a step that might play well domestically but could deeply unsettle allies South Korea and Japan, reducing American influence and playing into China’s hands.

Sanctions relief, if it is an offer, will be a gradual process, and sanctions would not be fully lifted until North Korea fully disarms, the Trump administration insists.

There are a number of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, South Korea and the European Union. Of these, South Korea’s would be the easiest to unwind.

U.S. sanctions are more complicated and were imposed for a variety of reasons, including human rights abuses, money laundering and support for terrorism, as well as its nuclear weapons program. Some of those sanctions cannot be lifted unless the president certifies to Congress that North Korea has made progress in all those areas, as the Heritage Foundation’s Olivia Enos explains.

Unwinding sanctions agreed by the United Nations Security Council will also be a slow process. Essentially because once unwound, they would be almost impossible to reimpose. The sanctions were imposed in a rare moment of unanimity among the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Russia and China’s relations with the West are so fraught that unanimous agreement to reimpose sanctions if North Korea cheats on any deal would be extremely hard to reach.

Seoul is hoping for exemptions to the Security Council resolutions for its joint economic development projects such as Kaesong and Mount Kumgang. Restarting the Kaesong economic zone could be complicated without a wider relaxation of sanctions, but reopening the Mount Kumgang tourism zone would be easier, diplomats say.

North Korea’s offer: Yongbyon and maybe more

North Korea has already suspended its nuclear and missile tests. That’s not insignificant. Nuclear scientists say Pyongyang would probably need more tests to prove it can reliably deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States on an ICBM, or weaponize a hydrogen bomb. Still, Pyongyang has already shown significant ability to weaponize and deliver its nuclear bombs and its deterrent is real.

Kim also pledged last year to allow international inspectors in to verify that North Korea has closed down its main nuclear test site at Punggye-ri and a missile engine test site and launchpad at Tongchang-ri. Getting inspectors in anywhere is not irrelevant, but these sites don’t have much value to North Korea anymore, and experts say this shouldn’t be counted as a major new concession in Hanoi.

The most intriguing overture is Kim’s reported offer to close its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, which is the heart of the country’s nuclear industry, home to its main reactor and its only source of plutonium. It is also thought to house a major facility to produce highly enriched uranium, which can also be used to make nuclear bombs, as well as possibly a facility to produce tritium for potential hydrogen bombs. But North Korea is also thought to have other sites for uranium enrichment elsewhere in the country.

Kim told Moon in September that he is prepared to permanently dismantle Yongbyon if the United States takes unspecified “corresponding measures.”

Biegun says Kim has even gone a step further and pledged to dismantle and destroy all of North Korea’s plutonium and uranium-enrichment facilities at “a complex of sites” extending beyond Yongbyon, if the United States reciprocates with measures of its own.

Closing down Yongbyon would be a “big, big deal” says Siegfried Hecker, a leading nuclear scientist and Stanford professor.

But the devil will be in the details, argues Melissa Hanham of the One Earth Future foundation: Which facilities would North Korea offer to close, what access would inspectors get, and would any closure be permanent and essentially irreversible? The main reactor at Yongbyon has been shut down twice before under previous deals, but North Korea’s nuclear program has started up again later. This time the United States would want a more robust closure.

It is also important to note that closure of Yongbyon and other sites to enrich uranium would be only the start of a long process toward denuclearization. This would still leave North Korea with a significant amount of fissile material and an unknown number of nuclear warheads, and with plenty of missiles to deliver them. But it would be a big step forward that would indicate a seriousness of purpose.

Opinion is divided. Some experts fear that Trump might settle for a deal that he thinks will play well at home, such as eliminating ICBMs and bringing troops home, but undermines U.S. alliances in Asia and does little or nothing to denuclearize North Korea. Others hope that a deal to dismantle and inspect Yongbyon could represent progress.</s>BAC GIANG, Vietnam (AP) — In a rice field in northern Vietnam, 14 headstones are an enduring symbol of the wartime friendship of Vietnam and North Korea. They mark the original burial ground of North Korean pilots who died while secretly fighting alongside Vietnamese comrades against U.S. Air Force and Navy planes during the Vietnam War.

The role of North Korea is a footnote in the sweeping history of that conflict, one that speaks mostly of the fraternal relations of two nations that separately fought bruising armed conflicts against the United States in the context of the Cold War. Decades later, the communist nations' friendship is apparent as Vietnam gets ready to host the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week.

"When they died, Vietnamese people treated them the same as Vietnamese martyrs who sacrificed for the country," Duong Van Dau, the caretaker of the memorial, said last week. On the high ground where the fallen pilots were interred, their tombs all face northeast, toward their homeland.

South Korea's role in the war is much better known. From 1964 to 1973, Seoul deployed more than 300,000 military personnel to help the U.S. effort in South Vietnam against the communists.

By contrast, the North Korean air force contingent deployed near Hanoi in what was then called North Vietnam — the communist half of the war-torn Southeast Asian nation — had 200-400 personnel, including about 90 pilots over more than two years, according to postwar Vietnamese accounts.

In September 1966, according to Vietnamese historical documents obtained and translated by CIA analyst turned scholar Merle Pribbenow, Hanoi accepted an offer by Pyongyang to send three companies of pilots who would form a regiment equipped with 30 aircraft in total. They were to wear North Vietnamese uniforms and Vietnam would provide the aircraft, facilities and equipment.

It was timely assistance. Vietnam's fleet of aging Russian-made MiG-17 fighters was taking heavy losses defending against the U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, Operation Rolling Thunder. China and Russia provided material assistance, but the number of trained Vietnamese pilots was shrinking by attrition.

The first North Korean contingent, also destined to fly Mig-17s, were sent before the end of 1966 to Kep air base in Bac Giang province, 70 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Hanoi, to aid in training and to carry out combat missions.

"The agreement was signed by the two governments, but we didn't know anything about it. I did know that North Korea wanted to send pilots to Vietnam so that they could practice and gain experience with the aim of building its air force," Vu Ngoc Dinh, one of the Vietnamese pilots who served alongside the Koreans, recalled in an interview with Istvan Toperczer, a Hungarian air force officer turned historian.

"The pilots were their best ones whose parents or relatives were working for the Politburo of the North Korean Central Party Committee," Dinh is quoted saying in Toperczer's book "MiG Aces of the Vietnam War."

"They sent their pilots and commanders to Vietnam and we provided the hardware they required during their service," Dinh said. "They kept everything secret, so we didn't know their loss ratio, but the North Korean pilots claimed 26 American aircraft destroyed."

"Although they fought very bravely in the aerial battles, they were generally too slow and too mechanical in their reactions when engaged, which is why so many of them were shot down by the Americans," Dinh said. "They never followed flight instructions and regulations either."

Dau, the cemetery caretaker, is also a war veteran. He joined the army and marched south in 1966 to fight for the communist side in South Vietnam. He was discharged three years later after getting shot in the knee in fighting just outside of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City.

"For the North Korean pilots who fought to protect our country and died for our country, I salute them. Being a soldier myself, I have great compassion for them. I see them as my comrades, regardless of the nationality," Dau said.

In 2002, the remains of the pilots were repatriated from Vietnam to North Korea in a ceremony held by the military of both countries. But the headstones remain, lined up in two rows behind a memorial marker with an inscription in Vietnamese: "Here used to lie 14 North Korean comrades."

Since the repatriation, the number of visitors to the site has declined. But Dau said he would continue to care for the gated memorial to the fallen pilots.

Only in 2000-2001 was the participation of the North Korean pilots officially acknowledged by Hanoi and Pyongyang. Since then, there has been a trickle of additional details about North Korea's involvement in the Vietnam War, teased out mostly from Vietnamese memoirs and state press accounts and Eastern European diplomatic archives.

What has also emerged is a revisionist view of North Korea's assistance, which suggests Pyongyang would have been happy to see Hanoi fight to the last Vietnamese.

"Sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, the U.S. government did not want to open a new front in Korea if it could help it," wrote Balazs Szalontai, a Hungarian historian of North Korea. He alleges that North Korea's then-leader, Kim Il Sung, "had much to gain from keeping America bogged down in Vietnam" and for that reason went out of it way to sustain North Vietnam's struggle.

Conversely, "the very fact that North Korea's assistance to Hanoi was strongly motivated by self-interest also implied that Pyongyang would not take kindly to any steps that could potentially enable the U.S. to get off the Indochinese hook and refocus its attention on the Korean peninsula," he noted in an essay on nknews.org, a website with news and analysis about North Korea.

When Washington and Hanoi began peace talks in Paris in 1968, North Korean aid began to tail off sharply, and Pyongyang greeted the 1973 Paris Peace Accords coldly, Szalontai noted.</s>Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said sanctions against North Korea would remain in place in the meantime and noted Pyongyang’s freeze in nuclear and missile testing since 2017.

“I’m in no rush. There’s no testing. As long as there is no testing, I’m in no rush. If there’s testing, that’s another deal,” he said. “I’d just like to see ultimately denuclearisation of North Korea.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said of Kim last week it was “time for him to deliver,” but the Trump administration has moved away from demands that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons immediately and has appeared to adopt a more gradual, reciprocal approach Pyongyang has insisted on.

The US State Department said US special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, was travelling to Hanoi on Tuesday to continue preparations for Trump’s second summit with Kim scheduled for Feb 27-28 in the Vietnamese capital.

Biegun spent three days in North Korea from Feb 6-8, a trip he said was aimed at agreeing on “concrete deliverables” for the summit.

The State Department offered no sign of any specific progress after those talks but said Biegun agreed to hold further meetings with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol before summit. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told a news briefing on Tuesday he had no details of the meetings the envoy would have in Hanoi.

Biegun said after his North Korea visit his talks had been “productive” but there was “hard work to do” before the summit.

The United States has been demanding that North Korea give up a nuclear weapons programme that threatens the United States, and Trump has been eager for a second summit even though a first meeting in Singapore in June meeting produced only vague commitments from Kim and little concrete progress since.

North Korea has been seeking a lifting of punishing US-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

Asked whether Washington would consider lifting sanctions, Palladino said: “We’ve been clear on sanctions. These are the world’s sanctions and that is something that ... will continue to be maintained until we’ve achieved our final result of a fully, finally verified denuclearisation.”

However, he then added: “But I don’t want to get ahead on ... any further details on what’s being negotiated regarding that question.”

Palladino did not respond directly when asked about reports that the two sides were discussing the exchange of liaison officers and declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

“I am not going to get ahead of diplomatic conversations, or ahead of the president. A lot of things are being discussed and we are very much looking forward to next week,” he said.

Pompeo said last week that Washington aimed to “get as far down the road as we can” with North Korea in the next two weeks and that Biegun’s team would discuss all issues covered in Singapore.

Asked on Thursday how important a formal end of the Korean War was in the discussions, Pompeo said: “It’s something we’ve had a lot of talks about.”

He said Trump and Kim would also be looking at the “denuclearisation pillar they agreed to” in Singapore and how to reduce tension and military risk “so we can get peace and security on the peninsula as well.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-in about the summit and he plans to talk to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday.

Moon told Trump his country was willing to open economic engagement with North Korea if it will hasten Pyongyang’s denuclearisation, Moon’s office said.

The Trump administration has been wary of Moon’s eagerness to resume such engagement, fearing a weakening of pressure on Pyongyang will give it no incentive to give up its weapons.

Moon and Kim have held multiple summits in the past year and agreed to cooperate on everything from reducing border tensions to launching a joint bid for the 2032 Olympics.

But plans for economic projects, such as allowing South Korean tourists to visit North Korea, have been on hold while the United States keeps its sanctions in place.

While praising Trump’s “leadership and firm resolve,” Moon said he was ready to undertake anything from reconnecting rail and road links between the two Koreas to other inter-Korean economic cooperation to help on denuclearisation, according to Moon’s spokesman.

“We’re determined to take up that role if President Trump asks, if that’s the way to lessen the US burden,” Moon said.

Earlier this month, two influential US senators, Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Robert Menendez, wrote to Pompeo warning that Kim was seeking to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul and warning against a premature relaxation of pressure on North Korea.</s>HANOI: Wearing traditional dresses, the children in Hanoi's only North Korean-founded kindergarten belt out Korean songs and recite their Korean vocabulary - skills they hope to show off to Kim Jong Un when he visits Vietnam next week.

The reclusive North Korean leader is making his first trip to Vietnam to meet with US President Donald Trump between Feb 27 and 28.

It is their second summit, during which Washington hopes to see progress on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

The serious summit agenda was far from the minds of toddlers at the Vietnam-DPRK Friendship Kindergarten on Tuesday (Feb 19).

Instead the three-to-five-year-olds sang and danced in the "Kim Il Sung" classroom, named after Kim Jong Un's grandfather, one of Hanoi's closest allies during the Vietnam War.

"Jal gaseyo!" the kids chanted - goodbye in Korean - at the school where portraits of past communist leaders - Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong Il and Vietnam's revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh - hang on the wall.

Established in 1978, at a time when conflict-battered Hanoi still received aid from Pyongyang, the school was built almost entirely with North Korean donations, from the blankets and mattresses for naptime to the bowls and utensils used at mealtime.

Today, some of the school's 450 pupils learn about North Korean culture, from kimchi and kimbap to traditional dress, and occasionally receive visits from North Korean officials and embassy personnel.

"Even though North Korean friends are in difficult conditions, they still pay due attention to this kindergarten," former head teacher Hoang Thi Thanh said.

The school's current headmaster Ngo Thi Minh Ha is hoping that support extends to North Korea's top leader, who will meet Trump in Hanoi.

"We really hope to welcome North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to visit Vietnam and the Vietnam-DPRK friendship kindergarten, we have proposed our wish (to the embassy)," she said.

Pyongyang has not yet confirmed the summit, with news about its date and location coming only from the White House, and details of the ultra-secretive leader's trip remain unknown.

The meeting is aimed at building on Trump and Kim's first summit in Singapore in June, the first ever meeting between sitting leaders from the US and North Korea, who have never formally ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Former head teacher Thanh said she would love to see Kim visit the school, but is also hoping for a productive summit.

"I hope for peace and stability in Korean peninsula in the next meeting. I also hope this meeting will bring closer the two sides of Korea like (north and south) Vietnam," she said.</s>WASHINGTON/HANOI
• A week before a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump held out the prospect of an easing of tough sanctions on the country, but only if it does "something that is meaningful" on denuclearisation.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Mr Trump also said he expects to meet Mr Kim again after their Feb 27-28 summit in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.

Mr Trump said he did not think North Korea was reluctant to denuclearise, despite a lack of concrete progress since he and Mr Kim met for a first summit in Singapore last June. "I don't think they are reluctant; I think they want to do something," he said.

"We will see what happens. The sanctions are on in full. I haven't taken sanctions off, as you know. I would love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that is meaningful on the other side."

Mr Trump said he and Mr Kim had "a good relationship", and added: "I wouldn't be surprised to see something work out."

He said he and Mr Kim have made a lot of progress, but "that doesn't mean this will be the last meeting".

Mr Trump's comment was his most explicit yet that the United States might be willing to consider easing sanctions on North Korea before Pyongyang completely abandons its nuclear weapons programme.

The administration has previously said that sanctions will remain in place until North Korea's complete denuclearisation.

Mr Trump spoke as his special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun was due in Hanoi to finalise preparations for the summit. Mr Biegun is expected to hold talks with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Mr Trump said on Tuesday that he wants North Korea to ultimately end its nuclear programme, but he had no pressing timeframe for this, provided it stuck to a nuclear and missile testing freeze in place since 2017.

When Mr Trump and Mr Kim met in Singapore, it was the first meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

Mr Kim pledged then to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but negotiations have made little headway since, with North Korea demanding a lifting of punishing US-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

In September, Mr Kim expressed willingness to permanently dismantle facilities at his country's main nuclear site of Yongbyon in return for corresponding US moves.

Mr Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang this month which he said would include discussion of such corresponding steps, but the State Department had offered no sign of any specific progress.

Mr Biegun said after his North Korea visit that his talks had been productive, but there was "hard work to do" before the summit.

Sources in Hanoi said earlier that Vietnam was preparing for Mr Kim Jong Un to arrive by train for the summit. It could take Mr Kim at least 21/2 days to travel the thousands of kilometres through China by train, from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to Vietnam, meaning he would have to set off later this week in time for his planned arrival on Monday.</s>In a rice field in northern Vietnam, 14 headstones are an enduring symbol of the wartime friendship of Vietnam and North Korea. They mark the original burial ground of North Korean pilots who died while secretly fighting alongside Vietnamese comrades against U.S. Air Force and Navy planes during the Vietnam War.

The role of North Korea is a footnote in the sweeping history of that conflict, one that speaks mostly of the fraternal relations of two nations that separately fought bruising armed conflicts against the United States in the context of the Cold War. Decades later, the communist nations’ friendship is apparent as Vietnam gets ready to host the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week.

“When they died, Vietnamese people treated them the same as Vietnamese martyrs who sacrificed for the country,” Duong Van Dau, the caretaker of the memorial, said last week. On the high ground where the fallen pilots were interred, their tombs all face northeast, toward their homeland.

South Korea’s role in the war is much better known. From 1964 to 1973, Seoul deployed more than 300,000 military personnel to help the U.S. effort in South Vietnam against the communists.

By contrast, the North Korean air force contingent deployed near Hanoi in what was then called North Vietnam — the communist half of the war-torn Southeast Asian nation — had 200-400 personnel, including about 90 pilots over more than two years, according to postwar Vietnamese accounts.

In September 1966, according to Vietnamese historical documents obtained and translated by CIA analyst turned scholar Merle Pribbenow, Hanoi accepted an offer by Pyongyang to send three companies of pilots who would form a regiment equipped with 30 aircraft in total. They were to wear North Vietnamese uniforms and Vietnam would provide the aircraft, facilities and equipment.

It was timely assistance. Vietnam’s fleet of aging Russian-made MiG-17 fighters was taking heavy losses defending against the U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, Operation Rolling Thunder. China and Russia provided material assistance, but the number of trained Vietnamese pilots was shrinking by attrition.

The first North Korean contingent, also destined to fly Mig-17s, were sent before the end of 1966 to Kep air base in Bac Giang province, 70 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Hanoi, to aid in training and to carry out combat missions.

“The agreement was signed by the two governments, but we didn’t know anything about it. I did know that North Korea wanted to send pilots to Vietnam so that they could practice and gain experience with the aim of building its air force,” Vu Ngoc Dinh, one of the Vietnamese pilots who served alongside the Koreans, recalled in an interview with Istvan Toperczer, a Hungarian air force officer turned historian.

“The pilots were their best ones whose parents or relatives were working for the Politburo of the North Korean Central Party Committee,” Dinh is quoted saying in Toperczer’s book “MiG Aces of the Vietnam War.”

“They sent their pilots and commanders to Vietnam and we provided the hardware they required during their service,” Dinh said. “They kept everything secret, so we didn’t know their loss ratio, but the North Korean pilots claimed 26 American aircraft destroyed.”

“Although they fought very bravely in the aerial battles, they were generally too slow and too mechanical in their reactions when engaged, which is why so many of them were shot down by the Americans,” Dinh said. “They never followed flight instructions and regulations either.”

Dau, the cemetery caretaker, is also a war veteran. He joined the army and marched south in 1966 to fight for the communist side in South Vietnam. He was discharged three years later after getting shot in the knee in fighting just outside of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City.

“For the North Korean pilots who fought to protect our country and died for our country, I salute them. Being a soldier myself, I have great compassion for them. I see them as my comrades, regardless of the nationality,” Dau said.

In 2002, the remains of the pilots were repatriated from Vietnam to North Korea in a ceremony held by the military of both countries. But the headstones remain, lined up in two rows behind a memorial marker with an inscription in Vietnamese: “Here used to lie 14 North Korean comrades.”

Since the repatriation, the number of visitors to the site has declined. But Dau said he would continue to care for the gated memorial to the fallen pilots.

Only in 2000-2001 was the participation of the North Korean pilots officially acknowledged by Hanoi and Pyongyang. Since then, there has been a trickle of additional details about North Korea’s involvement in the Vietnam War, teased out mostly from Vietnamese memoirs and state press accounts and Eastern European diplomatic archives.

What has also emerged is a revisionist view of North Korea’s assistance, which suggests Pyongyang would have been happy to see Hanoi fight to the last Vietnamese.

“Sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, the U.S. government did not want to open a new front in Korea if it could help it,” wrote Balazs Szalontai, a Hungarian historian of North Korea. He alleges that North Korea’s then-leader, Kim Il Sung, “had much to gain from keeping America bogged down in Vietnam” and for that reason went out of it way to sustain North Vietnam’s struggle.

Conversely, “the very fact that North Korea’s assistance to Hanoi was strongly motivated by self-interest also implied that Pyongyang would not take kindly to any steps that could potentially enable the U.S. to get off the Indochinese hook and refocus its attention on the Korean peninsula,” he noted in an essay on nknews.org, a website with news and analysis about North Korea.

When Washington and Hanoi began peace talks in Paris in 1968, North Korean aid began to tail off sharply, and Pyongyang greeted the 1973 Paris Peace Accords coldly, Szalontai noted.
The United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee permits those North Koreans on its global travel ban list to travel to Hanoi, Vietnam, for the second summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.