Trump says Hanoi summit may not be last with Kim

 U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he doesn’t expect next week’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be his last.

Trump and Kim plan to hold their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27 and 28. The two sides are seeking to flesh out an agreement reached at last June’s first summit in Singapore to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.

“I don’t think this will be the last meeting by any chance,” Trump told reporters at a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the White House.

He said there were “a lot of problems” at the start of his administration’s diplomatic engagement with the North, including American citizens being held by the regime and nuclear weapons and missile testing by the North.

But now the two countries have a “very good relationship,” Trump said.

He disagreed with the notion that Pyongyang is reluctant to denuclearize, saying he believes “they want to do something.”

“The sanctions are on in full, as you know. I haven’t taken sanctions off,” Trump said. “I’d love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that’s meaningful on the other side.”

Trump again touted the prospects for North Korea’s economic development and said Kim “understands that very well.”

“So they have a great, great potential as a country and I think that’s what they are looking to do,” he said.