As US President Donald Trump prepared to make a rather hasty exit following a no deal at the highly anticipated Hanoi peace summit with North Korea, an unexpected malfunction added insult to injury.

While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a somewhat awkward entrance to the summit, as his train overshot the waiting red carpet and his interpreter was forced to sprint after him, Trump’s exit was marred by a minor mechanical fault which delayed takeoff for a brief period while Secret Service agents manhandled the malfunctioning stair car out of the way.

Trump's unexpectedly early exit provided some initial confusion as reporters waited for a scheduled lunch between the two world leaders prior to the announcement that the summit had, in fact, already ended without any agreement reached.

We thought it wasn’t a good thing ‘to be signing anything’ – Trump on Hanoi summit with Kim

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!</s>HANOI, Vietnam — Only four other ears on the planet heard what President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said to each other Wednesday during a one-on-one chat that began their second nuclear summit.

The two leaders’ interpreters were the only others privy to their conversation, raising concerns about why Trump would risk meeting Kim, who has threatened the U.S. with nuclear strikes and has a dismal human rights record, without staff to take notes.

Absent a detailed historical record and corroborating witnesses, the leaders could potentially leave a meeting and misrepresent what transpired, prompting a kind of he said-he said showdown of words.

More one-on-one talks between Trump and Kim are scheduled for Thursday, when the two leaders dig into the meat of their nuclear talks.

Trump has had private confabs with world leaders before that have raised red flags.

Early in his presidency, he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany with only a Kremlin interpreter present. Last year, after Trump spent more than two hours talking with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Democrats tried to subpoena Trump’s translator to testify in Congress about what was said.

Republicans blocked it. The White House has never provided information on what Putin and Trump talked about. Even Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said he didn’t know.

“It is utterly amazing, utterly amazing, that no one knows what was said,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said at the time.

Trump’s translator in Wednesday’s private chat was Yun-hyang Lee, the U.S. State Department’s division chief for interpreting services, who also translated for the president at his first meeting with Kim last year in Singapore. The White House identified Kim’s translator as Sin Hye Yong.

Some experts on past U.S.-North Korean diplomatic efforts worry the private sit-downs give Kim an opportunity to win concessions from Trump that working-level officials would have advised him not to offer.

Before the summit, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he thought Kim requested the private meeting with hopes that he could “elicit concessions from President Trump that might not otherwise be possible if it was just our diplomats talking one on one.”

Others think there’s nothing wrong with the president’s penchant for one-on-one meetings with world leaders.

“I don’t find that they’re nefarious,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis with the Defence Priorities think-tank , which advocates against overusing military action to solve foreign policy challenges.

“I think he’s just more comfortable doing it that way,” Davis told reporters at a summit briefing.

Davis pointed to President Richard Nixon’s many private confabs with Chinese leaders when he reopened relations with China in the 1970s.

Last year, at the Singapore summit, Trump caught U.S. ally South Korea off guard by announcing the suspension of major U.S. military exercises with the South. Trump critics said he squandered critical U.S. leverage before the North took any concrete steps toward denuclearization.

It was widely presumed that Trump made the decision during his private talks with Kim — his description of the war games as “very provocative” seemed to be in line with North Korea’s view of the drills as rehearsals for invasions. Both Washington and Seoul have insisted for years that the exercises were routine and defensive in nature.

Bong Young-shik, an analyst at Seoul’s Yonsei University, was less worried, saying that the criticism Trump faced in Singapore could make him less likely to make huge, impulsive decisions during his private meetings with Kim this time around.

“There’s always a certain level of risk in this kind of meeting, but it’s hard to say Trump will be dragged into a decision by Kim just because of what happened in Singapore,” Bong said.

Former President Barack Obama was known to occasionally hold impromptu chats with leaders on the sidelines of major global summits with only their interpreters at their sides.

At former President Ronald Reagan’s first meeting with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 1985, the two men met alone with only trusted interpreters. Only 15 minutes had been allotted for the discussion, but it went on for an hour.

Follow all of AP’s summit coverage at https://apnews.com/Trump-KimSummit</s>
• President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Vietnam on Wednesday to continue negotiations on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
• As Trump and Kim met, the president referred to Kim as a “great leader.”
• Kim is widely considered one of the world’s most repressive rulers and was threatening the US with nuclear war not so long ago.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who was threatening the US with nuclear destruction not so long ago, that he’s a “great leader” as the two met in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“I think your country has tremendous economic potential,” Trump said to Kim.

“I think you will have a tremendous future for your country, you’re a great leader,” Trump added. “We will help it to happen.”

The president also said his relationship with Kim is a “really a good one.”

Read more: Photos show how Trump’s 2nd nuclear summit with Kim Jong Un is unfolding in Vietnam

“It’s an honor to be with Chairman Kim, it’s an honor to be together in Vietnam,” Trump said as he met with the North Korean leader.

Kim is widely regarded as one of the most repressive leaders in the world and largely maintains power via a brutal system of prison camps.

In 2017, a judge who survived Auschwitz during the Holocaust said North Korea’s camps are “as terrible, or even worse, than those I saw and experienced in my youth in these Nazi camps.” The judge, Thomas Buergenthal, made this statement after hearing from former North Korean prison guards and prisoners.

Read more: The stories from inside North Korea’s prison camps are horrifying

Kim is also the ruler of a country the US is still technically at war with.

Trump on Wednesday said “we’ll see” when asked if he’d formally declare that the war is over as part of his negotations with Kim.

The two leaders are in Vietnam to continue discussions that started in Singapore last June over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump has expressed optimism he can convince Kim to agree to give up his nuclear weapons, but experts and even some of his GOP allies in Congress have expressed doubts.

Read more: An ex-North Korea diplomat says Kim Jong Un won’t ever give up nukes

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday tweeted, “I hope #TrumpKimSummit is a success. I fear it will be a dangerous failure.”

In 2017, Trump and Kim routinely traded threats and insults from across the world, prompting fears a conflict would break out. They changed their tone in 2018, however, which prompted to the ongoing negotations that spiraled into their second face-to-face meeting in Vietnam.</s>SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un were at pains to show they were getting along in the well-choreographed first moments of their meeting in Hanoi on Wednesday, body language experts said.

In images beamed across the globe from the Vietnamese capital, Trump walked towards Kim, palm upturned, against a backdrop of intertwined flags, before the two leaders clasped and turned in sync to face the cameras.

"They are both making an effort to show their relationship has improved since the last time," said Allan Pease, an Australian body language expert and author of several books on the topic. "The mirroring between them is quite strong."

Pease said "mirroring" was how people who want to show that they have a rapport imitate each other's body language to put the other at ease.

Experts said the exchange contrasted with the pair's historic first meeting in Singapore eight months ago when they sought to project a sense of command with "alpha male" handshakes.

The two leaders will hold a series of meetings on Thursday and try to make progress on a vague deal struck in Singapore to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula that has produced few concrete results.

Since Singapore, Trump has declared he and Kim "fell in love" after exchanging letters, a far cry from when Trump in late 2017 called Kim "Little Rocket Man" and a "sick puppy" and Kim said Trump was a "dotard" - meaning a senile old person. Trump, 72, is more than twice the age of Kim, 35.

Kim looked far more confident compared to their Singapore meeting, while Trump welcomed Kim with his palm facing up - a sign, said body language expert Karen Leong, of a more open, conciliatory approach from the brash businessman.

"Trump wants the rapport. He is not here to become the bully, he is here to win Kim," said Leong, managing director of Singapore-based Influence Solutions and author of the book "Win People Over".

"Kim was walking towards Trump far more briskly with his hand extended. Previously in Singapore, Kim was far more hesitant. There is much more sense of familiarity."

Kim Hyung-hee, director of the Korea Body Language Lab, said Trump seemed "to be taking a bit of extra care" in shaking Kim's hand compared to other leaders.

There were signs of tension, however, when the two men sat down.

Pease noted Trump - sitting in his traditional, dominant position with hands forward making a steeple shape - furrowed his brow. Kim's fingers were clenched in his lap, a position that shows frustration and self-control.

"They both smiled only when they were expected to, and how they practised it," he added. "They were performing." (Reporting by John Geddie, Miral Fahmy, Karishma Singh and Kevin Krolicki in SINGAPORE and Joyce Lee in SEOUL Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>Trump-Kim go one-on-one: Who will know what was really said?

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Only four other ears on the planet heard what President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said to each other Wednesday during a one-on-one chat that began their second nuclear summit.

The two leaders' interpreters were the only others privy to their conversation, raising concerns about why Trump would risk meeting Kim, who has threatened the U.S. with nuclear strikes and has a dismal human rights record, without staff to take notes.

Absent a detailed historical record and corroborating witnesses, the leaders could potentially leave a meeting and misrepresent what transpired, prompting a kind of he said-he said showdown of words.

More one-on-one talks between Trump and Kim are scheduled for Thursday, when the two leaders dig into the meat of their nuclear talks.

Trump has had private confabs with world leaders before that have raised red flags.

Early in his presidency, he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany with only a Kremlin interpreter present. Last year, after Trump spent more than two hours talking with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Democrats tried to subpoena Trump's translator to testify in Congress about what was said.

Republicans blocked it. The White House has never provided information on what Putin and Trump talked about. Even Trump's director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said he didn't know.

"It is utterly amazing, utterly amazing, that no one knows what was said," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said at the time.

Trump's translator in Wednesday's private chat was Yun-hyang Lee, the U.S. State Department's division chief for interpreting services, who also translated for the president at his first meeting with Kim last year in Singapore. The White House identified Kim's translator as Sin Hye Yong.

Some experts on past U.S.-North Korean diplomatic efforts worry the private sit-downs give Kim an opportunity to win concessions from Trump that working-level officials would have advised him not to offer.

Before the summit, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he thought Kim requested the private meeting with hopes that he could "elicit concessions from President Trump that might not otherwise be possible if it was just our diplomats talking one on one."

Others think there's nothing wrong with the president's penchant for one-on-one meetings with world leaders.

"I don't find that they're nefarious," said retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis with the Defense Priorities think tank, which advocates against overusing military action to solve foreign policy challenges.

"I think he's just more comfortable doing it that way," Davis told reporters at a summit briefing.

Davis pointed to President Richard Nixon's many private confabs with Chinese leaders when he reopened relations with China in the 1970s.

Last year, at the Singapore summit, Trump caught U.S. ally South Korea off guard by announcing the suspension of major U.S. military exercises with the South. Trump critics said he squandered critical U.S. leverage before the North took any concrete steps toward denuclearization.

It was widely presumed that Trump made the decision during his private talks with Kim — his description of the war games as "very provocative" seemed to be in line with North Korea's view of the drills as rehearsals for invasions. Both Washington and Seoul have insisted for years that the exercises were routine and defensive in nature.

Bong Young-shik, an analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University, was less worried, saying that the criticism Trump faced in Singapore could make him less likely to make huge, impulsive decisions during his private meetings with Kim this time around.

"There's always a certain level of risk in this kind of meeting, but it's hard to say Trump will be dragged into a decision by Kim just because of what happened in Singapore," Bong said.

Former President Barack Obama was known to occasionally hold impromptu chats with leaders on the sidelines of major global summits with only their interpreters at their sides.

At former President Ronald Reagan's first meeting with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 1985, the two men met alone with only trusted interpreters. Only 15 minutes had been allotted for the discussion, but it went on for an hour.

Follow all of AP's summit coverage at https://apnews.com/Trump-KimSummit</s>SEOUL/HANOI: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's long trip to Vietnam for a second summit with US President Donald Trump is causing sleepless nights back home, according to extensive and unusually punctual North Korean state media coverage.

Unlike with their first summit in Singapore in June, when North Korean state media stayed silent until after Kim arrived in the city state, coverage this time began swiftly as he travelled through China to Vietnam by train.

North Korea’s flagship state newspaper Rodong Sinmun emblazoned its front and second pages on Wednesday (Feb 27) with pictures from Kim's first day in Vietnam.

Photos showed Kim surrounded by welcoming throngs, talking to his foreign-policy lieutenants in his stateroom, and greeting cheering children of North Korean embassy staff.

Trump and Kim will meet on Wednesday and Thursday, betting their personal relationship can break a stalemate over the North's nuclear weapons and end more than 70 years of hostility.

Since North Korean media first confirmed Kim's trip on Sunday, Rodong has dedicated much of its coverage to Kim's "historic overseas trip" with descriptions of his "extraordinary political and excellent diplomatic skills".

"Three days, three nights have passed since the news of the Dear Marshal's overseas visit," a commentary said on Wednesday.

"Sleepless thinking of the Dear Marshal since Sunday" was leading to increased production from workers in the eastern town of Samjiyon and other construction "battlefields", it added.

Samjiyon is at the foot of Mount Paektu, a sacred mountain where the ruling family claims its roots. Kim is building a massive tourism centre there, one of his largest construction initiatives as he seeks to make his sanctions-hit economy more self-reliant.

"WHERE IS HE NOW?"

On Tuesday, Rodong carried a picture of school children studying a globe captioned "Where is the Dear Marshal now?"

State news agency KCNA confirmed on Wednesday Kim would stay on in Vietnam after the summit for a Mar 1-2 goodwill visit, making his trip at least a week, the longest known trip since he came to power in 2011.

Vietnamese state media has had unprecedented close access to Kim during his visit.

When Kim's train arrived, Vietnam Television (VTV) filmed it rolling into the station.

Unlike in Singapore, where only a blurry live video on social media was available when Kim met Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Vietnamese state media has been broadcasting fast edits of Kim's activities in Vietnam.

Kim’s first trips abroad as leader last year were initially covered in a characteristically secretive way by North Korean state media, which did not even announce he had left the country until after he was safely back.

But as the frequency of his summits increased with visits to China, Singapore, and to the border with South Korea, state media has begun reporting on his movements with unusual speed.

"First, it shows his confidence in drawing out a favourable summit outcome. Second, by sharing his moves he is trying to form a support base as he tries to turn North Korea in a new direction," said Lim Eul-chul, director of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies.

"It shows confidence in maintaining his regime as well. This is a leader North Koreans hadn't seen before: broadcasting technicolour video of foreign city lights, and giving hope to people," Lim said.

"'As a leader, I'll write new history', that's what he's saying."</s>The summit between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un ended Thursday without any deal. The two sides failed to reach an agreement due to a standoff over U.S. sanctions on the reclusive nation. Here & Now's Eric Westervelt (@Ericnpr) talks with Nicholas Burns (@RNicholasBurns), former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.</s>Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to offer new proposals for inter-Korean engagement following the high-stakes nuclear summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Moon's announcement is planned for a ceremony on Friday marking the 100th anniversary of a 1919 uprising by Koreans against Japan's colonial rule and will likely include plans for economic cooperation between the rival Koreas.

Moon, who has prioritised improving relations with the North, is desperate for a breakthrough in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang so he can continue his ambitious drive for inter-Korean engagement. He has driven the three-way diplomacy but is held back by tough US-led sanctions against the North.

In a meeting with senior aides on Monday, Moon expressed hope on the material progress of the North's nuclear disarmament and the easing of the sanctions, which would allow further space for inter-Korean cooperation, including joint economic projects.

Moon earlier told Trump in a phone conversation that the South was ready to proceed with inter-Korean economic projects to induce further nuclear disarmament steps from the North. Moon and Kim at their third summit in North Korea's capital last September agreed to normalize operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and restart South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such projects.

The Koreas in past months have also discussed ambitious plans to reconnect their railways and roads. "If the North Korean economy opens up, neighboring countries, international organizations and global capital will join in its development," Moon said in the meeting with aides, describing Seoul as the "main stakeholder" in issues on the Korean Peninsula. "In this process, we should not lose our initiative. We are the masters of the destiny of the Korean Peninsula."

Moon wants the Trump-Kim meeting to be followed by his fourth summit with Kim, preferably in the bustling South Korean capital of Seoul. It would be a hard sell for many South Koreans without tangible progress on ridding the North of its nukes, and Kim may be reluctant to travel to South Korea without something big to bring home.

Moon's enthusiasm for inter-Korean engagement has caused disagreements with ally Washington, which sees economic pressure as its main leverage with Pyongyang. Seoul last year walked back a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea after Trump's bluntly retorted Seoul could "do nothing" without Washington's approval.

Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.</s>The swimming pool at Hanoi's Metropole Hotel is usually lined with scantily-clad tourists. On Thursday US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took their place.

The two leaders strolled through the hotel garden between talks sessions, echoing a break they took at their first summit in Singapore.

Unlike that occasion, this time they had their interpreters with them. They said little, although they looked relaxed.

And in the background, Kim's sister and close aide Yo Jong, who has displayed a repeated ability to appear in summit images of her brother in both Singapore and at inter-Korean meetings in Panmunjom, the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.

She peered around a pillar, before lurking behind a large potted plant as the men stopped to chat, joined by a smiling US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim's righthand man Kim Yong Chol.

The group milled awkwardly around a table for a few minutes, seemingly unsure whether to sit down.

It was a sticky, overcast day in Hanoi and Trump at one point gestured toward the sky before the group was ushered into a swanky cafe inside the colonial-era hotel.

Built in 1901, the Metropole has hosted Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Charlie Chaplin, who famously honeymooned there.

Beneath the 360-room hotel are Vietnam War-era bunkers where Hanoians once sought shelter from American bombs raining down on the city.

The convivial stroll was a world away from the war of words Kim and Trump engaged in during 2017, when the US president dubbed the North Korean a "rocket man" on a "suicide mission", with Kim calling him a "mentally deranged US dotard" in return.

Trump is a former reality television star, but Kim has also shown himself keenly aware of the optics of their summits.

"There are people who hold a sceptical view of our meeting," he said Thursday, sitting alongside Trump.

"And for them, I think watching us have a great time will be like watching a scene from a fantasy movie."

It was another echo from Singapore, when Kim mused to Trump that viewers would see the spectacle as a "fantasy ... from a science fiction movie".</s>The swimming pool at Hanoi's Metropole Hotel is usually lined with scantily-clad tourists. On Thursday US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took their place.

The two leaders strolled through the hotel garden between talks sessions, echoing a break they took at their first summit in Singapore.

Unlike that occasion, this time they had their interpreters with them. They said little, although they looked relaxed.

And in the background, Kim's sister and close aide Yo Jong, who has displayed a repeated ability to appear in summit images of her brother in both Singapore and at inter-Korean meetings in Panmunjom, the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.

She peered around a pillar, before lurking behind a large potted plant as the men stopped to chat, joined by a smiling US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim's righthand man Kim Yong Chol.

The group milled awkwardly around a table for a few minutes, seemingly unsure whether to sit down.

It was a sticky, overcast day in Hanoi and Trump at one point gestured toward the sky before the group was ushered into a swanky cafe inside the colonial-era hotel.

Built in 1901, the Metropole has hosted Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Charlie Chaplin, who famously honeymooned there.

Beneath the 360-room hotel are Vietnam War-era bunkers where Hanoians once sought shelter from American bombs raining down on the city.

The convivial stroll was a world away from the war of words Kim and Trump engaged in during 2017, when the US president dubbed the North Korean a "rocket man" on a "suicide mission", with Kim calling him a "mentally deranged US dotard" in return.

Trump is a former reality television star, but Kim has also shown himself keenly aware of the optics of their summits.

"There are people who hold a sceptical view of our meeting," he said Thursday, sitting alongside Trump.

"And for them, I think watching us have a great time will be like watching a scene from a fantasy movie."

It was another echo from Singapore, when Kim mused to Trump that viewers would see the spectacle as a "fantasy ... from a science fiction movie".
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet face-to-face for the first time since their summit last year.