It was clear early on that no deal would come out of the two leaders’ summit in Hanoi, WTOP National Security Correspondent J. Green writes. One expert on the region is “surprised and disappointed,” while another tells Green there could be a silver lining.
It was their first public meeting of this second summit. U. S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sat in two modest, cushioned wood framed chairs in a banquet room at the Metropole, the French-colonial hotel, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The two men sat on either side of a small wooden table adorned with a small vase of colorful roses. The flags of both nations, carefully draped nearby, outlined the backdrop.
But the red, white and blue patterns of each were as starkly different from each other as the men’s denuclearization paths, which resulted in an abrupt ending to the meeting.
Watching the televised remarks of the two and carefully observing their body language, it seemed something was amiss.
Kim said:
During his remarks, which lasted about two minutes, Kim looked at Trump twice, for less than 10 seconds total, in a sheepish, somewhat awkward, manner. The rest of the time while speaking, he looked at the floor, he looked at the ceiling, and around the room, but not at Trump.
Was he nervous, unsure of himself? Or, was he trying to disarm the president?
When Trump began speaking, Kim’s posture changed. He shifted back in his chair, folded his hands in his lap and seemed to be listening intently, but rarely looked at Trump.
