Trump, Kim to hold second nuclear summit with world watching

HANOI, Vietnam -- President Donald Trump is paying a courtesy call on his Vietnamese hosts while North Korea's Kim Jong Un was expected to take in some sights today before the leaders open their second nuclear summit with a one-on-one meeting and private social dinner.

But the carnival-like atmosphere in the Vietnamese capital, with vendors hawking T-shirts emblazoned with the leaders' faces, stood in contrast to the serious items on their agendas: North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Trump and Kim first met in June in Singapore, a summit long on historic pageantry but short on any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea has spent decades, at great economic sacrifice, building its nuclear program, and there is widespread skepticism that it will give away that program cheaply.

Trump has praised Pyongyang for ceasing missile tests and has appeared to ease up on demanding a timeline for disarmament. Trump hopes Kim, who is seeking relief from crushing U.S. sanctions, will opt to give up his nuclear weapons program in exchange for help revitalizing his country's economy.

In this combination of images, on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, waves from a car after arriving by train in Dong Dang, Vietnam, and U.S. President Donald Trump waves from his car after arriving on Air Force One at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam. Trump and Kim are to meet today in their second summit aimed at addressing perhaps the world's biggest security challenge: Kim's pursuit of a nuclear program that stands on the verge of viably threatening targets around the planet.Associated Press

"Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize," Trump tweeted today, hours before he and Kim were due to meet again. "The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon -- Very Interesting!"

Trump had a full day of meetings with Vietnamese officials before the one-on-one sit-down and dinner with Kim later today. Kim was expected to leave his locked-down hotel to visit various sites in Hanoi.

Trump remains eager to claim a victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

With the president outside the U.S., his now-disbarred former personal lawyer was testifying publicly on Capitol Hill later today about alleged misconduct by Trump. The Democratic-led House, with backing from several Republicans, approved legislation aimed at blocking the Republican president from steering billions of dollars to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. A House committee also voted to subpoena administration officials over family separations at the border.

T-shirts depicting President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are displayed for sale Tuesday in a tourist area in Hanoi, Vietnam. The second summit between Trump and Kim will take place today and Thursday in Hanoi.Andrew Harnik ~ Associated Press

Michael Cohen, once Trump's loyal attorney and fixer, has turned on his former boss and cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into whether Trump's presidential campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation.

The president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats in Congress of scheduling Cohen's testimony to overshadow the summit.

"After 60 years of failed attempts trying to end the war, trying to end nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula, you have finally a president who's willing to do it," he told Fox News Channel. "For the Democrats to try to counter program that kind of progress -- to try to perhaps somehow distract him with this nonsense ... it just goes to show you how much those Democrats really disdain Trump but also America."

The president jabbed at Democrats, too, saying in a tweet they "should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn't do 'it' during eight years of the Obama Administration?"

AP journalists Yves Dam Van in Dong Dang, Hyung-jin Kim, Adam Schreck and Hau Dinh in Hanoi, and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Follow all of AP's summit coverage at https://apnews.com/Trump-KimSummit