Nuclear Summit: Trump Won’t Say ‘US Demands Irreversible Denuking’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to “make every effort” for “positive result” in nuclear talks.
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US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un failed to reach an agreement at their second nuclear summit in Vietnam, but talks between the two nations will continue in the future.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday, 28 February, that the two leaders discussed de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. She added: "No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future."
Trump addressed a press conference following the Hanoi Summit. While explaining the abrupt and early end to his Vietnamese meet with Kim, he said, "Sometimes you have to walk."
Still, he said, Kim assured that he'll continue to hold off on nuclear and missile tests.
‘Have Not Committed to Third Meet’
During the conference, Trump was not willing to say that the US is demanding complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea before removing sanctions on that country.
Trump and other US officials have long maintained that denuclearisation was a prerequisite to lifting sanctions on North Korea.
He had said earlier that US sanctions were the sticking point in the talks with Kim.
As for any further meetings, Trump said: "It might be soon. It might not be for a long time."
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the news conference in Hanoi that he wishes the two sides could have gotten further.
He also said that they asked Kim to do more and "he was unprepared to do that."
Earlier in the day, Trump and Kim had departed the hotel where they'd been holding summit negotiations far earlier than planned. A joint agreement signing ceremony was also scrapped.
Trump and Kim had began the second day of their high-stakes nuclear summit with a one-on-one discussion.
The two leaders had met on the morning after they had opened the summit in Vietnam.
Trump told reporters that "a lot of great ideas" are "being thrown about." He said, "when you have a good relationship, a lot of good things happen."
The president also said he's in "no rush" to make "the right deal," a sharp break from his heated rhetoric a year ago about the threat posed by Pyongyang.
Kim, meanwhile, added that the "whole world" was watching the talks and suggested that, for some, the image of the two "sitting side-by-side" must resemble "a fantasy movie."
The North Korean leader had pledged to "make every effort" for "positive result" in nuclear talks.
Both Trump and Kim had appeared more relaxed as they emerged after their first formal bilateral meeting on Thursday morning on the Metropole hotel's pool patio, where they were joined by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol.
The group had then gone into a glass-enclosed area and sat down around a table for more talks.
Trump and Kim were to hold a working lunch and appear at a joint-agreement signing ceremony later in the day, before the events were cancelled.
Trump will hold a news conference before boarding his flight home, two hours earlier than expected.
Kim’s ‘Maiden’ Foreign Media Interaction
Meanwhile, Kim answered a question from a foreign journalist almost certainly for the first time ahead of the summit.
Kim also said that he wouldn't be holding a second summit with Trump if he weren't willing to make good on his denuclearisation pledge.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with affairs with North Korea, couldn't confirm whether it was the first time Kim answered a question from a foreign journalist.
But reporters didn't get opportunities to ask questions of Kim during his three summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his four meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim ignored questions shouted at him during his first summit with Trump last June in Singapore.
Kim was also asked if the leaders would be talking about human rights, which he's accused of abusing. But Trump responded to the question instead, telling reporters: "We're discussing everything."
On Opening US Liaison Office in North Korea
Trump said it's "a good idea" for the US to open a liaison office in North Korea, as Kim called the notion "welcomable."
In an unprecedented question-and-answer session with reporters in Vietnam, the two leaders of the technically-warring countries inched closer toward establishing formal ties.
Asked by an American reporter if he was willing to allow the US to open an office in Pyongyang, Kim said, through a translator, "I think that is something which is welcomable."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Trump's press conference has now been moved by two hours.
Moon Keen to Follow up With Trump Post ‘Crucial’ Talks
South Korean President Moon Jae-in expects to speak with Trump on the phone following his summit with Kim.
A spokesperson for Moon said on Thursday that the call could take place shortly before Trump departs Vietnam or when he's aboard the presidential plane.
He recently told Trump in a phone conversation that the South was ready to proceed with inter-Korean economic projects to induce further nuclear disarmament steps from the North.
(Published in arrangement with AP)
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