UN gives green light for North Koreans to travel to Vietnam

U.N. diplomats say the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea has given a green light to Kim Jong Un's delegation to travel to Vietnam next week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

The diplomats said Wednesday that Vietnam's government requested an exemption from sanctions for the entire delegation to travel to Hanoi and there was no objection by any of the 15 council nations. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because consultations were private.

The exemption covers anyone in the delegation who is on the U.N. sanctions blacklist and thus banned from traveling and subject to an asset freeze. It will also allow all delegation members to take home luxury goods whose import to North Korea is banned by the council.