No deal! Kim and Trump’s nuclear talks end in failure
DONALD Trump’s second summit with Kim Jong-un came to naught yesterday after the leaders failed to agree a deal on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
‘Sometimes you have to walk,’ Mr Trump said following the talks in Vietnam.
Negotiations faltered after the US refused to lift all sanctions on the rogue state unless it completely dismantled its weapons programme, Mr Trump said.
Kim had offered only to shutter its main Yongbyon nuclear facility – but Mr Trump said the US was well aware that the Pyongyang regime has at least one other enrichment plant.
When Mr Trump raised this second site, Kim’s officials were ‘surprised’ by what the US knew, the President claimed.
He continued to speak warmly of a leader who has executed members of his own family and imprisons up to 300,000 political opponents and their families in brutal ‘re-education’ camps. ‘This wasn’t a walkaway like you get up and walk out,’ Mr Trump said. ‘No, this was very friendly. We shook hands ... there’s a warmth that we have and I hope that stays.’ The premature end to the scheduled two days of talks in Hanoi marked an embarrassing setback for Mr Trump, who has boasted of his brilliance in making deals and bringing Kim to the negotiating table. The pair’s first summit took place in Singapore last summer.
Before returning to the US, Mr Trump insisted at a press conference that he would continue to seek a deal with North Korea. However, experts fear the President may now lose interest in the regime’s nuclear ambitions.
They have also warned that, having lost face, Kim could now take a harder line on his weapons programme.
Brian Katulis of the Centre for American Progress thin-tank said: ‘What happened is a textbook case of what not to do. ‘[Mr Trump] flew all the way on the other side of the world for a deal that wasn’t anywhere close to having the necessary ingredients – let alone being partially baked.’
North Korea disputed the US account of why the summit collapsed, claiming it was only asking for ‘partial’ sanctions relief.