Trump-Kim Summit Hits the Rock
A summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un ended without agreement after the US refused North Korean demands for sanctions relief, the US president has said.
Mr Trump said the US had refused demands for all sanctions to be lifted. At a news conference after the summit broke up, Mr Trump said:
“It was all about the sanctions. They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that.
“Sometimes you have to walk and this was one of those times.”
On the flight back to Washington, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was very hopeful that officials from both sides could resume talks before too long.
“My sense is it’ll take a little while. We’ll each need to regroup a little bit,” he said.
But at a late-night news conference, North Korea’s foreign minister, Mr Ri, insisted the North had only asked for partial sanctions relief, not a complete lifting.
He said his country had made “realistic” proposals including the complete decommissioning of the Yongbyon nuclear research Centre, under the watch of US observers.
In return, he said, the North had wanted only partial lifting of sanctions
“that hamper the civilian economy and the livelihood of our people”.
