NORTH KOREA/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is expected to announce during Tuesday’s [2-5-19] State of the Union address that his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place in Vietnam on February 27 and 28, according to a source familiar with the summit’s planning and Trump’s planned remarks. The city in Vietnam is still being discussed but the contenders are Hanoi and Da Nang, the source said. A source familiar with the negotiations says that North Korea favors Hanoi given that they have an embassy there. The US favors De Nang given the fact that there was recently an APEC summit in the city which means the US has already conducted a full check. State Department Special Representative to North Korea, Steve Biegun, is heading to Pyongyang Wednesday to solidify some details related to the summit including the city where it will take place. He will also press for the North Korean counterpart to attend a series of working level meetings between now and the summit. With the summit just three weeks away, follow-up meetings at a working level will be needed, especially as there was no progress on denuclearization during the last visit by a North Korean delegation to Washington in January.”
–Kylie Atwood and Zachary Cohen, “Trump plans to reveal details of second Kim summit during State of the Union,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, February 5, 2019 9:10 pm