The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sanctions issue sinks Trump-Kim talks
President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, abruptly ended their second summit meeting Thursday after talks collapsed with the two leaders failing to agree on any steps toward nuclear disarmament or measures to ease tensions on the Korea
“Sometimes you have to walk,” Trump said at an afternoon news conference in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
He said Kim had offered to dismantle the North’s most important nuclear facility if the United States lifted the harsh sanctions imposed on his nation — but would not commit to do the same for other elements of its weapons program. That, Trump said, was a deal breaker.
“It was about the sanctions,” Trump said. “Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn’t do that.”
North Korea’s foreign minister says the North demanded only partial sanctions relief in exchange for shuttering its main nuclear complex, and that the discussions collapsed after the U.S. demanded further disarmament steps.
Ri Yong Ho’s comments during an abruptly scheduled news conference in Hanoi today contradicted the explanation by Trump. Ri says the North was also ready to offer in writing a permanent halt of the country’s nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and that Washington wasted an opportunity that “may not come again.”
The premature end to the negotiations leaves the unusual rapprochement between the United States and North Korea that has unfolded for most of a year at a deadlock, with the North retaining both its nuclear arsenal and facilities believed to be producing additional fissile material for warheads.
It also represents a major setback at a difficult political moment for Trump, who has long presented himself as a tough negotiator capable of bringing adversaries into a deal and had made North Korea the signature diplomatic initiative of his presidency.
Trump had flown across the world to try to work face-to-face with Kim for the second time, an effort to reduce what U.S. officials regard as one of the world’s foremost nuclear threats. Experts estimate that the North has 30 to 60 nuclear warheads as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles that can hit the United States, though it has not demonstrated the technology to protect warheads as they re-enter the atmosphere.
Before ending the news conference to fly back to Washington, Trump tried to put a good face on the outcome. “This wasn’t a walkaway like you get up and walk out,” he said. “No, this was very friendly. We shook hands.”
“There’s a warmth that we have, and I hope that stays,” he added.
Trump said Kim had pledged to maintain a halt on nuclear and ballistic missile tests that is now in its 16th month, and the negotiations would continue.
But further progress could be difficult now that Trump has broadcast he and Kim have staked out conflicting bottom lines.
Both leaders will face greater pressure from hard-line officials in their governments to dig in. For Trump, facing criminal and civil investigations at home, maintaining public support is a growing concern, while Kim has long used the nuclear program to justify his government’s totalitarian rule and explain its weak economy.