North Korean ruler Kim Jong-UN has set off for Vietnam for its second summit with US President Donald Trump next week, media reports, with two witnesses seeing a train crossing in China from North Korea.
Reports of Kim's departure from North Korea came after Vietnam announced Kim would make an official visit to "Next days " as the Southeast Asian country prepares to host the summit with Trump on Wednesday and Thursday.
No details on the travel options of the heads of state and government or for the summit have been officially released.
Trump and Kim will meet eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi-the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader to whom they have pledged to join the full Denuclearization of Korea Peninsula.
But since then, progress has been meager.
The Trump administration has called on North Korea to renounce its nuclear weapons program, which threatens the U.S. before it can expect concessions.
North Korea wants a softening to punish sanctions by the United States, security guarantees and a formal end to the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, not a treaty.
Kim left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on an armored train on Saturday local time, Russian news agency TASS said, citing a North Korean diplomatic source.
Two witnesses in the Chinese border town of Dandong, where North Korea's main rail line arrives in China, said a train had crossed the Yalu River in China at around 21:30.
The Yonhap news agency in South Korea and broadcaster YTN reported that a train suspected of transporting Kim had also arrived at Dandong.
Chinese security has been tracking people trying to take photos, a witness says.
Whether Kim was on the train was unclear. China refused to answer questions about Kim's travel plans through the country.
It could take Kim at least two-and-a-half days to travel thousands of miles across China by train to Vietnam.
A senior security official in Vietnam told Reuters Hanoi expected a Vietnamese-linked train on Saturday but did not know if Kim himself was on board.
Two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistical planning said Wednesday that Vietnam was preparing for Kim to arrive by train.
His train was due to stop at Vietnam's border station in Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170km to Hanoi by car, according to the sources.
Vietnamese police have increased security around the border station.
On February 26, Vietnam will ban traffic by road, with Kim expected to travel from a station on the Chinese border to Hanoi, state media said.
Reports of Kim's departure from North Korea came after Vietnam announced Kim would make an official visit to "Next days " as the Southeast Asian country prepares to host the summit with Trump on Wednesday and Thursday.
No details on the travel options of the heads of state and government or for the summit have been officially released.
Trump and Kim will meet eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi-the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader to whom they have pledged to join the full Denuclearization of Korea Peninsula.
But since then, progress has been meager.
The Trump administration has called on North Korea to renounce its nuclear weapons program, which threatens the U.S. before it can expect concessions.
North Korea wants a softening to punish sanctions by the United States, security guarantees and a formal end to the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, not a treaty.
Kim left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on an armored train on Saturday local time, Russian news agency TASS said, citing a North Korean diplomatic source.
Two witnesses in the Chinese border town of Dandong, where North Korea's main rail line arrives in China, said a train had crossed the Yalu River in China at around 21:30.
The Yonhap news agency in South Korea and broadcaster YTN reported that a train suspected of transporting Kim had also arrived at Dandong.
Chinese security has been tracking people trying to take photos, a witness says.
Whether Kim was on the train was unclear. China refused to answer questions about Kim's travel plans through the country.
It could take Kim at least two-and-a-half days to travel thousands of miles across China by train to Vietnam.
A senior security official in Vietnam told Reuters Hanoi expected a Vietnamese-linked train on Saturday but did not know if Kim himself was on board.
Two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistical planning said Wednesday that Vietnam was preparing for Kim to arrive by train.
His train was due to stop at Vietnam's border station in Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170km to Hanoi by car, according to the sources.
Vietnamese police have increased security around the border station.
On February 26, Vietnam will ban traffic by road, with Kim expected to travel from a station on the Chinese border to Hanoi, state media said.
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