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the UN Security Council has eased sanctions a senior North Korean

officials enabling them to travel to Vietnam for the second Pyongyang

Washington summit Reuter says the sanctions have been temporarily lifted

for the entire North Korean delegation as it's not yet clear exactly who will

be traveling to Hanoi for the preparation work and the summit such a

move comes as Vietnam requested for a blanket exemption the UN sanctions

committee also eased sanctions for the North's officials last year in June when

Pyongyang and Washington held their first landmark summit in Singapore

For more infomation >> UNSC lifts sanctions on N. Korean delegation for Kim-Trump summit, enabling them to travel to Hanoi - Duration: 0:35.

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Bolton to travel to South Korea ahead of Trump Kim summit Politics - Duration: 2:50.

Bolton to travel to South Korea ahead of Trump Kim summit Politics

Boltons trip comes as top US officials continue to hammer out the details of Trumps second summit with Kim. From the pageantry of the meeting to the substance of what Trump and Kim might agree to regarding denuclearization theres much to be worked out.

South Korea is a crucial partner in US diplomacy with North Korea and South Korean President Moon Jae in has been the biggest proponent of Trumps continued engagement with Kim.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been the diplomatic lead on the North Korea negotiations in Trumps Cabinet, even though Bolton has remained closely involved in policy discussions on North Korea. Bolton attended the last Trump Kim summit in Singapore and was at the table for Trumps discussions with Kim and other North Korean officials.

When asked about the trip, National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said the NSC had "nothing to announce right now."

Bolton has long been a skeptic of a diplomatic resolution to North Koreas nuclear threat and has made clear that Kim has yet to take concrete steps toward denuclearization.

In December, because Kim hasnt lived up to commitments he made during the first summit last June.

"They have not lived up to the commitments so far," Bolton told The Wall Street Journals annual CEO Council conference in Washington. "Thats why I think the President thinks that another summit is likely to be productive."

Trump told reporters this week that he sees "no rush whatsoever" on denuclearization of North Korea. Yet his team is hard at work getting the logistics and diplomacy hammered out ahead of the meetings. The White House has a whole advance team on the ground in Hanoi and on Tuesday Steve Biegun, the State Departments Special Representative to North Korea, also traveled to the Vietnamese capital for summit preparations.

But Boltons pre summit trip to the region is raising eyebrows.

The National Security Advisor came under fire last year when he referenced the Libya model in discussing the potential way forward with the diplomacy aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea. The comparison set off alarm bells because Libya did give up its nuclear program in 2003, but fewer than 10 years later Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in a domestic uprising supported by a NATO led intervention.

When Vice President Mike Pence defended Boltons comments and added that the US NK talks would only end like the Libya model "if Kim Jong un doesnt make a deal" the North Koreans responded by calling Pence "ignorant and stupid."

Whether Bolton knowingly sought to enrage the North Koreans with his Libya comments has been a subject of debate, he has been a longtime skeptic of using diplomacy to curtail North Koreas nuclear production. Those who worked on the Six Party talks say that Bolton and his staff routinely took steps that ran counter to the Bush administrations stated goals on North Korea.

"John routinely made fun of the photo of Madeline Albright going to North Korea and raising champagne glasses in 2000," explains Mark Groombridge, who worked closely with Bolton for years before Bolton joined the Trump administration. "He does not have the zeal for the deal."

But Bolton has also proven himself a loyal foot soldier.

Some of the Presidents past foreign policy advisers from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to Boltons predecessor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster have slow walked or sought to thwart Trump decisions they considered rash or unwise, eventually earning Trumps ire.

While Bolton has privately voiced disagreements with Trump over policy most recently over the withdrawal of US troops in Syria he has also quickly fallen into line once Trump makes a decision.

And Bolton has also been cautious not to publicly contradict Trumps assertions about the pace of progress in the US North Korea diplomacy.