A close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Hanoi on Saturday, a source said, ahead of the planned second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim.

According to the source, a delegation of North Korean officials led by Kim Chang-son, chief secretary of the North Korean Secretariat of the State Affairs Commission, arrived at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport at around 10:45 a.m. via a China Southern Airlines plane from Guangzhou.


Kim is known as the North Korean leader's de facto chief of staff in charge of protocol. He also managed protocol and other related affairs, such as accommodations, for the first historic Trump-Kim summit held last year in Singapore.

He left Pyongyang on Friday and traveled to Guangzhou via Beijing on the same day before heading to Vietnam.

The delegation is expected to have discussions with U.S. officials on the protocol preparations for the planned summit, which will take place on Feb. 27-28 in the Vietnamese capital.

Last year, Trump and Kim agreed on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and charted new relations between Washington and Pyongyang.

Analysts expect the upcoming summit to focus on dismantling the North's main nuclear complex, while Pyongyang is seeking the easing of sanctions. (Yonhap)