The table had been set for a celebratory lunch at the landmark Metropole Hotel and a ceremony prepared for U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to sign agreements. But both events were hastily canceled just before noon Thursday, bringing a premature end to the second summit by the leaders of the two countries.
“You always have to be prepared to walk,” Trump said, adding “I could have signed something today” and confirming, “we actually had papers ready to be signed.”
The president added that Kim wanted sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that,” Trump explained at a news conference in the Hanoi, after the talks collapsed. “They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all the sanctions for that.” He said they discussed dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear complex, but a complicating matter was another uranium enrichment site.
Kim, according to Trump, had promised at dinner the previous evening that North Korea would not conduct further nuclear or missile tests.
The president described the Hanoi talks as productive and said he thinks the two sides will eventually reach an agreement about denuclearization of North Korea.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, standing alongside Trump, in a large conference room of the JW Marriott Hotel plastered with colorful banners touting the summit, said he hoped talks between the two countries would resume soon.
There were “timing and sequence issues” that prevented the two leaders from crossing the finish line, said Pompeo, who along with National Security Adviser John Bolton are seen as hardliners in the administration in dealing with Pyongyang.
Trump, in response to a reporter’s question, said he had not committed to a third summit with Kim. He also indicated North Korea, which has had numerous international sanctions imposed upon it, would not be punished for the lack of progress.
“I don’t want to talk about increasing sanctions, they’re strong,” said Trump, noting the burden they have had on impoverished North Korea’s population.
The U.S. president said he would make calls on the way home on Air Force One to South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
There was a quick expression of disappointment in Seoul, where Moon has been a cheerleader for the Trump-Kim talks.
“It is unfortunate that we didn’t see a complete agreement between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un,” read a statement issued by South Korea’s presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eul-kyeom. “At the same time, it is also true that we have more meaningful progress than ever before.”
“It is little wonder these negotiations broke down after Trump has spent more time in office blowing up nuclear treaties than building them,” said Akira Kawasaki of the international steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. “We need a real plan rooted in the international community and treaties like the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which the Koreas could join tomorrow and begin the disarmament process with legitimacy.”
Patience, lowered expectations
While some U.S. officials attempted to lower expectations for the outcome of the second summit, Trump was under pressure to extract something beyond the vague commitment made by Kim last June in Singapore on pledging to give up his nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in exchange for a lifting of crushing international sanctions on the impoverished country.
The Singapore summit was hailed as a historical event. When Trump took office there were fears of a renewed war with North Korea as the U.S. president threatened to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen” on the northeast Asian country in response to its threats against the United States and its allies.
During their talks Thursday, both Trump and Kim also expressed a favorable view of the possibility of North Korea allowing the United States, which has no diplomatic relations with the reclusive Asian nation, to open an office in Pyongyang. There had also been speculation the two leaders might agree to discussions about a peace treaty.
Minor breakthrough
Technically, a state of war still exists on the Korean Peninsula as three years of trench warfare ended in 1953 only after the longest-negotiated armistice in history.
There was one historic, albeit minor, breakthrough during Thursday’s talks. During two events intended for photographers, Kim for the first time responded to questions from foreign reporters.
The initial reply was to a question on whether he was feeling confident about a deal that was asked by David Nakamura of the Washington Post, the day’s designated print reporter for the White House press.
Kim replied in Korean: “It’s too early to tell. I won’t prejudge. From what I feel right now, I do have a feeling that good results will come.”
Any such results, however, will presumably now have to wait for a future encounter between the two leaders.
