Vietnam is an “interesting location” to host the US-North Korea summit

Observers believe that Vietnam can successfully organize the second US-North Korea summit and make a great contribution to the denuclearization process.

In his State of the Union address on February 9, US President Donald Trump announced that his second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in Vietnam on February 27-28.

"It is clear that Vietnam is capable of ensuring logistics and security for the US-North Korea summit. Vietnam has experience hosting international events, typically the APEC Summit in 2017," Professor Charles Armstrong, Columbia University, USA, commented when talking toVnExpress.

Armstrong mentioned a series of events during the APEC Summit Week in late 2017 that took place in Da Nang. The heads of state of most APEC member countries attended, including US President Trump, Russian President Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

This expert assessed Vietnam as an "interesting location" to hold the second meeting between US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Hanoi has good relations with both Washington and Pyongyang, and can be seen as a mediator for peace.

Professor Nam Sung-wook, Korea University also said that "Vietnam is the best place to hold the summit".

"Vietnam is an iconic country in terms of providing good logistics, security and also the role of peacemaker," Nam said.

According to Professor Carl Thayer, Australian Defense Force Academy, University of New South Wales, Vietnam and Hanoi will be the center of attention of the world until the Trump-Kim meeting ends. Vietnam has demonstrated its ability to organize high-level events by ensuring public security and luxurious infrastructure to meet the requirements of leaders. During the APEC 2017 summit week, Vietnam ensured security "at the highest level".

As for Trump, since becoming US President, he has met with Vietnamese leaders and visited Hanoi. Thayer's sources said that North Korea wants Hanoi to be the location for the meeting with Trump because Kim Jong-un can simultaneously pay an official visit to Vietnam. The North Korean leader's restriction on travel between cities is also a priority in ensuring Pyongyang's security. Kim Jong-un can arrive in Hanoi by private jet in a 3-4 hour flight, not affected by the time zone difference.

Vietnam has hosted secret meetings between Pyongyang and Tokyo on the issue of reuniting families separated by the war. North Korea has sent delegations to Vietnam to learn about its economic reform program. Vietnam could also share its experience with North Korea in discussing ending the US embargo, how to open the economy to foreign investment, the framework for joint cooperation projects and a bilateral free trade agreement.

Meanwhile, South Korea has a very good relationship with Vietnam. Thayer said that China also encourages the US and North Korea to promote dialogue. Therefore, the US, North Korea, China and South Korea all trust Vietnam's role as a mediator, its ability to organize and manage security, logistics and communications. All parties involved benefit from Vietnam hosting this meeting.

"The fact that Vietnam was chosen as the venue for the second US-North Korea summit shows that Hanoi will have great prestige in the eyes of the international community, in terms of being a positive contributor to regional and world security," said Thayer.

By successfully organizing this meeting, Vietnam will consolidate the correctness of its policy of multilateralization and diversification of diplomatic relations, and be a trustworthy friend to all countries.

According to Harry Kazianis, Center for the National Interest, US, Vietnam will "have no problem" in organizing the second meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un and will carry out that task smoothly.

"Hanoi wants to show the world its strengths, to be a world-class business, tourism and diplomatic destination," Kazianis said. Over the past few years, the US has highly valued Vietnam's position in Asia. Being the venue for the Trump-Kim summit shows that the US has trust in Vietnam, a respected diplomatic partner and a rising star in the Indo-Pacific.

However, observers do not have high expectations for the outcome of the second meeting between the US President and the North Korean leader. Professor Nam Sung-wook suggested that we can look at the details of the preparatory meeting to predict what the Trump-Kim meeting will bring. The two sides may reach an agreement on Pyongyang dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear facility and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in order to jointly declare an end to the Korean War and ease sanctions with the US.

"The denuclearization process remains uncertain until both sides achieve concrete results," Nam said.

Joshua Pollack, an expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in the US, recalled that Trump and Kim Jong-un did not prepare much for their first meeting in Singapore last year and issued a short and simple joint statement. Harry Kazianis said that after overcoming the "brink of war" period, the two sides now need to show some specific results, otherwise "it will be considered a reality TV show".