US President Donald Trump and DPRK Chairman Kim Jong-un create a historic handshake at their Hanoi Summit, February 27-28, 2019. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

On Thursday morning, US President Donald Trump and DPRK Chairman Kim Jong Un began a second day of talks in Hanoi, with both sides expressing hope for progress on relations and the key issue of denuclearization. 

At a press conference before their one-on-one meeting, Chairman Kim promised to do his utmost to achieve a fruitful summit. He said: “We have so far made lots of progress. Now that we’re meeting again like this, I’m confident that there will be an excellent outcome and I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

The US President said he had “great meetings” and “very good dialogue” with Chairman Kim on Wednesday. Mr. Trump stressed that the talks aimed at tackling DPRK’s nuclear threat should not be rushed and that speed is not important to him. He added that he has great respect for Chairman Kim and sees great potential for a better relationship. President Trump also said he very much appreciates no testing of nuclear rockets and missiles by the DPRK. He said: “I think, very importantly, the relationship is very strong and when you have a good relationship, a lot of good thing will happen. I can’t speak necessarily for today but I can say for a little bit longer term, I might have fantastic success with respect to Chairman Kim and North Korea. They are going to be an economic powerhouse and something I very much look forward to helping with.”

Nguyen Vinh Quang, senior advisor of the Vietnam Centre for Strategic Studies and International Development, commented on positive signs from the the two leaders: “What drew great attention at such an important meeting was the non-verbal communication like handshakes and smiles. Those initial gestures between the two leaders and their optimistic comments indicate the success of their meeting, after which I don’t feel a tense atmosphere anymore.”