We begin with the ongoing preparations for the 2nd North Korea-U.S. summit.
While curiosity has been mounting over WHERE the summit will be held,... U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted this morning that the venue will be Vietnam's capital Hanoi.
Let's connect to our correspondent Oh Jung-hee, who's been watching the development.
She joins us on the line.
Jung-hee, what can you tell us?
Ji-won,
President Trump tweeted just a couple of hours ago that his representatives had a very productive meeting in North Korea and agreed upon the time and date for his second summit with Kim Jong-un.
It's all set -- the summit talks are going to be held at Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, for two days from February 27th to 28th.
Until now, it's been known that the summit will be held in Vietnam, but the exact city hadn't been revealed.
It seems, out of two potential venues -- Hanoi and Da Nang -- the two sides narrowed it down to Hanoi.
Hanoi is a place that was much preferred by the North Korean side.
First of all, it has the North Korean embassy... and second, late former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, who's Kim Jong-un's grandfather, visited the city two times in 1958 and 1964.
It's also known that the Vietnamese government recommended Hanoi for the summit.
As it will be the first time in over 50 years that a North Korean leader travels to the country, it's possible that Kim could make a state visit to Vietnam and meet with the Vietnamese president.
Jung-hee, this major announcement comes after the U.S. nuclear envoy wrapped up his visit to Pyeongyang on Friday.
Tells us more about that. Who did he meet, what did he talk about,... and what's still to come?
Right,
For the past three days, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, has met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol, whom the U.S. State Department confirmed as Pyeongyang's Special Representative for U.S. Affairs.
He belongs to the regime's State Affairs Commission, a government body that Kim Jong-un heads.
So, Kim Hyok-chol and Biegun sealed the location of the upcoming summit.
But, Washington also says that they discussed advancing the commitments made at the Singapore summit -- which means, the two sides talked about some specific actions they should take in terms of denuclearizing and rewarding.
Watchers believe Washington is demanding that the North dismantle additional sites and allow access and verification by American experts.
And in return, it's likely that Washington is considering offering some type of assistance for the North's economic development.
Trump stressed through Twitter this morning that North Korea will become a great economic powerhouse, again encouraging the regime to denuclearize.
So this morning, the U.S. nuclear envoy met with South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and shared what he talked about with his North Korean counterpart.
Biegun said that his discussions with the North were productive and the two sides are committed that they
