North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Hanoi by car on Tuesday after a 70-hour train trip via China to Vietnam, a day ahead of his planned second meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Footage carried by South Korea’s YTN News showed a convoy of cars, including the one likely carrying Kim, driving in the Vietnamese capital.
Earlier, on a drizzly morning at the border town of Dong Dang, Kim was greeted by senior Vietnamese ruling party and government officials after alighting from his train. He was showered with applause and received a bouquet before climbing into a black Mercedes.
Rail was the preferred mode of transport for Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Since becoming North Korean leader, Kim has visited China by train twice before this trip.
The summit between Trump and Kim is slated to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, with a focus on whether they can break an impasse over concrete steps toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which the North Korean leader has pledged to achieve.
The White House abruptly announced Tuesday that it will relocate the media center for U.S. reporters from the Melia Hanoi hotel “due to technical issues,” indicating Kim will stay there.
Kim is the first North Korean leader to visit Vietnam since 1964. That year, Kim Il Sung traveled via China and flew to Hanoi to meet Vietnam’s then president, Ho Chi Minh.
Kim left Pyongyang by special train on Saturday afternoon, the Korean Central News Agency reported earlier.
His sister and close aide, Kim Yo Jong, and Kim Yong Chol, a senior ruling party official who held talks with Trump last month, are among those accompanying the North Korean leader.
