HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The Latest on the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump is calling the relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam an "example" of what can become of North Korea if it gives up its nuclear weapons.
Trump paid a courtesy call Wednesday to Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong ahead of his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.
Trump says, "We both felt very good about having this very important summit in Vietnam because you really are an example as to what can happen, with good thinking."
The Vietnamese leader says his country has "been making all necessary preparations to ensure the best conditions for the success of this very special meeting."
Trump is thanking Vietnam for hosting the summit and for agreeing to new trade deals with American companies, including Boeing.
___
11 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart hours before he is set to sit down with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Trump is greeting Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, whose country is hosting the second summit between the leaders of the two technically-warring nations.
The two leaders are set to sign a commercial trade agreement Wednesday before Trump is to meet with Vietnam's prime minister.
Trump's courtesy call to the host nation's leadership is meant to provide Kim with a visualization of a potential future should he give up his country's nuclear weapons in a deal with the U.S. After a decade of bloody conflict that ended more than four decades ago, the U.S. and Vietnam are now economic and strategic partners.
___
10:05 a.m.
President Donald Trump's eldest son is accusing Democrats of trying to distract his father during his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Donald Trump Jr. told Fox News on Tuesday that he believed the Democrats deliberately scheduled the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, the president's former fixer, opposite the summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Trump Jr. said that the Democrats were trying to "counterprogram the kind of progress" that could be achieved in the Vietnam gathering and that it was evidence of the "disdain" they hold for the president.
He also argued that it was proof the Democrats were more interested in scoring political points than in national security by attempting to "stymie" the denuclearization talks.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including a campaign finance violation that he says was at the direction of the president.
___
9:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump says Vietnam, the site of his second round of nuclear talks with Kim Jong Un, is thriving economically and that North Korea could, too, if it would give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Before sitting down with Kim later Wednesday in Hanoi, Trump tweeted that "North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un."
In a second tweet, Trump took a shot at Democrats in Washington, saying they should stop telling him what to do with North Korea and "ask themselves instead why they didn't do 'it' during eight years of the Obama Administration?"
Trump faults previous administrations for inaction on North Korea.