North Korea-U.S. Summit

[Anchor Lead]

With the second North Korea-U.S. summit fast approaching, a delegation of North Korean officials visited industrial facilities and other sites outside of Hanoi on February 17, while the U.S. officials checked the venue of the talks and hotels. We have the details.

[Pkg]

Kim Chang-son, the chief secretary of the Secretariat of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, left his hotel early in the morning and headed to the outskirts of Hanoi. Along with other Pyongyang officials, he visited the Bac Ninh industrial complex, which houses foreign companies including Samsung Electronics. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expected to tour the complex when he visits Vietnam for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The regime's officials also checked out the Lang Son area to learn about the country's railway system. Sources say they went on to tour Ha Long Bay, a famous tourist attraction and resort area designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. KBS cameras have captured Kim Chang-son being escorted by Deputy Chief of the Supreme Guard Command Kim Chol-gyu, who is in charge of Kim Jong-un's security, as well as Chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee Pak Chol, who attended the talks with President Trump. With media reports saying Kim Jong-un will likely arrive in Vietnam on February 25th, two days before the summit, the North Korean team is stepping up preparations for the big event. The Vietnamese government designated the Cultural Friendship Palace, which can accommodate about three thousand people, as an international media center, and the largest state-run broadcaster VTV as the main broadcaster of the summit. The Vietnamese government appears to be paying particular attention to security by urging local media to refrain from reporting about the North Korean working-level team.