The White House has confirmed that the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un is planned to take place in Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, a luxury hotel with a rich history in the heart of Vietnam’s capital city. 
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel. Photo: Metropole
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The meeting will last twenty minutes and will be followed by a “social dinner” where Trump will be accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, while Kim is also expected to be joined by two top officials.
Prior to departing the United States, Trump said he expected the summit with Kim to be “very productive” via his Twitter account.
In a White House Business Session with US governors early Monday morning in Washington, Trump also spoke positively of the coming summit, saying he expects to discuss with Kim Jong Un “something that, frankly, he never spoke to anybody about.”
According to Bloomberg, from Tuesday, security at the posh hotel was increasingly tightened with a metal detector set up in the lobby.
Guests were issued special badges identifying that they’d already paid to stay there, and were advised in a letter that due to the summit in Hanoi, some services might not be available.
More than a dozen hotel staff declined to say anything at all, most literally remaining silent, when asked what the preparation was for.
The Metropole has been in operation since 1901, making it Vietnam’s oldest continuously operating hotel. It was originally built by French investors and has hosted a roster of famous guests over the years, including Charlie Chaplin and British writer W. Somerset Maugham.
The bunker is now open to tour groups and in 2013 was awarded a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award.
