The Vietnam Summit : Trump and Kim Arrives Hanoi

The summit is a two-day meeting in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. Prior to his meeting with Mr. Kim, Mr. Trump will meet Vietnam's prime minister and other politicians. The pair is then scheduled to dine at Hanoi's five-star Metropole hotel.

Mr. Trump tweeted in praise of the host country on Wednesday morning, writing: "Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly if it would denuclearize."

"The potential is AWESOME," he added.

It is worthy to note that North Korea has been ruled since its creation in 1948 by three generations of the Kim family. The country has a woeful human rights record, and the UN says its people live under "systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations".

Kim Jong-un carried out a brutal purge after taking charge of the country in 2011, ordering the death of his own uncle to secure his power. About 140 senior military officers and government officials were executed between 2012 and 2016, according to South Korea's Institute for National Security Strategy.

The economy is tightly controlled by the government, with widespread shortages of food, fuel, and other basic necessities as the state funnel funds into the military and its nuclear weapons programme. The Hanoi meeting is expected to build on the groundwork of what was achieved at the Singapore summit last June.

That meeting produced a vaguely-worded agreement, with both leaders agreeing to "work towards denuclearisation" - though it was never made clear what this would entail. Little diplomatic progress was made following the summit. This time around, both leaders will be very conscious of the need to answer their critics with signs of concrete progress.

It's an ideal location for many reasons. It has diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea, despite once having been enemies with the US - and could be used by the US as an example of two countries working together and setting aside their past grievances.