Trump and Kim failed to reach agreement over sanctions

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un on Thursday failed to reach an agreement over sanctions from a nuclear deal summit in Vietnam 

According to Trump, he walked away from the summit with Kim Jong Un because of unacceptable North Korean demands to lift punishing U.S.-led sanctions.

Earlier, both Trump and Kim had expressed hope for progress on improving relations and on the key issue of denuclearisation, in their talks in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, their second summit in eight months.

It was all about the sanctions, Trump said at a news conference after the talks were cut short. Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that.

The United Nations and the United States ratcheted up sanctions on North Korea when the reclusive state undertook a series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests in 2017, cutting off its main sources hard cash.

Both Trump and Kim left the venue of their talks, the French-colonial-era Metropole hotel, without attending a planned lunch together, and returned to their hotels.

Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times, Trump said, adding “it was a friendly walk”.

Failure to reach an agreement marks a setback for Trump, a self-styled dealmaker.

Since their first summit in Singapore in June, Trump has stressed the good chemistry he has with Kim, but there have been questions about whether the bonhomie could move them beyond summit pageantry to substantive progress on eliminating a North Korean nuclear arsenal that threatens the United States.

Reuters