Derek Wallbank

Derek Wallbank is a senior editor at Bloomberg News in Singapore. A former chairman of the National Press Club's Board of Governors, Derek specializes in covering market-moving geopolitical risk. The below photos, captured during a reporting trip to Hanoi for the Trump-Kim summit, take viewers behind the security cordon, setting the stage for a summit that ultimately failed.

Electronic images

Hanoi

The Calm Before
Downtown Hanoi, in the predawn hours, ahead of what was expected to be a momentous summit. It didn't work out that way.

Hotel lobby

Metropole Lobby
The historic Metropole Hanoi, a French colonial grand dame hotel in the heart of Hanoi, was picked at the last minute to host the summit. Here, a metal detector is set in the lobby of its historic wing.

Dining room

A Lunch Uneaten
In my reporting at the Metropole, I found the table Trump and Kim were to break bread over. That never happened. The food was cooked, the places were set, but the summit ended abruptly before they sat to eat. The image sums up the summit that was, and wasn't.

Tee shirt

Good Morning Vietnam
Vietnam embraced the summit in Hanoi as a chance to reintroduce itself to the world. Here, one of many shirts hawked by locals to tourists, gawkers and the international media throng.