North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was treated to a red carpet welcome when he arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump, but U.S. journalists were given the cold shoulder.
A spokesperson for the Vietnamese government tweeted that the workspace White House press corps members had been using would be relocated to another hotel in Hanoi.
Reporters on the ground began tweeting about the scene when Kim arrived, noting they’d been prohibited from taking any photos or videos. Window shades had even been pulled down, wrote Bloomberg’s Margaret Talev.
Kim later ventured out for some sightseeing, including a visit to his country’s embassy where he was greeted with cheers, The Associated Press reported.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim on Wednesday and Thursday for their second summit on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, which remains a cause of international alarm. They are also expected to discuss lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. However, some U.S. lawmakers ― and, reportedly, some of Trump’s own advisers ― have expressed little confidence that a potential deal between the two leaders will be any guarantee of denuclearization.