Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung (R, Rear) speaks at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 25, 2019. The upcoming visit by Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is the first by a DPRK top leader in 55 years to Vietnam, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said Monday. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

HANOI, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming visit by Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is the first by a DPRK top leader in 55 years to Vietnam, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said Monday.

The deputy minister told the press at the international media center that Kim, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, will pay an official friendly visit to Vietnam at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Feb. 8 that his second meeting with Kim would take place in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 27-28. His first meeting with Kim in June 2018 in Singapore resulted in improved U.S.-DPRK relations.

So far, nearly 3,000 foreign reporters from more than 200 foreign media outlets in nearly 40 nations and regions have registered to cover the summit, Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said at the press conference.

During the summit, Trump will also meet with Vietnamese senior leaders, Trung said.