The White House Press Corps was evicted abruptly from the Melia Hanoi Hotel where they had a workspace set up and many were staying — because Kim Jong Un decided he wanted to stay there.
NBC News reported: ‘The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted Tuesday morning that the reporters who cover Trump would be relocated from their planned staging ground at the Melia Hotel — including a 200-seat ballroom and stand-up spots for broadcast reporters — to an international media center. “You must go now! This way,” a Vietnamese security officer barked at members of the press corps in the hotel lobby Tuesday morning. The forced move was highly unusual because the White House had approved of and supported the use of the space by media who cover the president.'
Reuters reported: ‘South Korean media and experts hailed it as a “heroic” and “deliberate strategy” for Kim to reveal more of himself to the American press. “By exposing his every move to American cameras, Kim Jong Un may be signalling that he is determined to send a strong message about his will to improve ties with the United States,” Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea expert at the Sejong Institute, said before Kim arrived.'
That rumored strategy was foiled when the American journalists were forced out by the Vietnamese foreign ministry.
Though some journalists had a different take. CNN's Jim Acosta said the North Korean delegation wasn't happy to have the Americans at the hotel.
Reuters added: “With less than 24 hours notice, the White House press pool was instead relocated to a shared working space set up for visiting journalists at the Viet Xo Friendship Cultural Labour Palace, a giant Soviet-era edifice a few blocks from the Melia. It was not clear what happened to the journalists who had booked to stay in the Melia.”
