The possibility of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sharing a Hanoi hotel with the White House press corps covering this week's summit with US President Donald Trump failed to materialize, as the filing center for the American reporters will be relocated.
Kim is likely to stay at the Melia Hanoi hotel in the city center during his visit to the Southeast Asian nation for his second summit with US President Donald Trump slated for Wednesday and Thursday. The hotel has notified guests of the operation of security scanners in accordance with the stay of a "Head of State."
People walk at the International Media Center of the second US-North Korea summit, in Hanoi, Vietnam, 25 February 2019. The second meeting of US President Donald J. Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Ong-un, running from 27 to 28 February 2019, focuses on furthering steps towards achieving peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. (Yonhap)
The filing center for White House reporters had also been scheduled to open at the same hotel, sparking speculation about an extraordinary cohabitation between the leader of the reclusive country and the Western reporters.
Some experts have said such an unimaginable arrangement, if realized, should be a carefully premeditated one by the North with an aim to boost Kim's friendly image and to appear confident and stable by increasing his media engagements.
In a twitter message, however, the Vietnamese foreign ministry said that the US media center is scheduled to be shifted from the hotel to the International Media Center in the city.
It is not known which side selected the Melia Hanoi first and what prompted the United States to change its plan.
Putting top priority on the security and safety of its leader, North Korea has kept details about its leader's path, schedules and whereabouts in strict confidence.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is likely to stay at the JW Marriott in the western part of the city. (Yonhap)
