President Trump meets with North Korean Leader Kim, who is hopeful for a successful summit

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un struck a positive tone on Wednesday as they began their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

"Here we are today, sitting next to each other and that give us hope that we will be successful this time and I will really try to make that happen," Kim said as he sat down with Trump on Wednesday.

Kim said both countries had been able to overcome a number of obstacles in order to be able to hold this second summit.

The two leaders exchanged handshakes, laughed and had some more small talk at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, before sitting down for what the White House has described as a "social dinner."

They are to meet again on Thursday for a formal meeting on Kim's advancing nuclear programme.

The two leaders met for the first time in Singapore last June (2018), and that meeting ended with Kim pledging to work towards "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula."