Trump, North Korea's Kim end Vietnam summit with no agreement

[webfact]

Trump, North Korea's Kim end Vietnam summit with no agreement

By Jeff Mason and Soyoung Kim

 

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump talk in the garden of the Metropole hotel during the second N

 

HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to reach an agreement on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula at their summit in Vietnam on Thursday, the White House said.

 

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.

 

"The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearisation and economic driven concepts," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. "No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future.”

 

Trump had been scheduled to hold a "joint agreement signing ceremony" with Kim at the conclusion of their summit talks, according to an earlier White House announcement.

 

Both leaders left the venue of their talks, the French-colonial-era Metropole hotel, at 1.25 p.m. (0625), without attending a planned lunch together, and returned to their hotels.

 

Trump is now due to hold a news conference at 2 p.m. (700 GMT)

 

News of the change in schedule sent South Korea's currency lower and knocked regional stock markets.

 

Earlier Kim and Trump, seated across from each other at a conference table, appeared confident of progress.

 

“If I’m not willing to do that, I won’t be here right now,” Kim told reporters through an interpreter, when asked if he was ready to give up his nuclear weapons.

 

Trump, responding to that, said: "That might be the best answer you’ve ever heard.”

 

Kim did not elaborate on what "denuclearisation" would entail, but asked if he was ready to take concrete steps, Kim said they had just been talking about that.

 

While the United States is demanding North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, the North wants to see the removal of a U.S. nuclear umbrella for its Asian allies such as South Korea and Japan.

 

The two leaders' summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, produced a vague statement in which Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

 

But there has been little progress since.

 

(For live coverage of the summit, click: https://www.reuters.com/live/north-korea; Eikon SUMMIT LIVE [nL3N20M1H6]; Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Jeff Mason in HANOI; Additional reporting by Joyce Lee, Jeongmin Kim, Hyonhee Shin, Jack Kim, James Pearson, Mai Nyugen, Ju-min Park, Khanh Vu, Josh Smith in HANOI, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in WASHINGTON; Editing by Robert Birsel and Lincoln Feast)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-28

[Psimbo]

All mouth and no trousers- Tangoman massive fail again after bigging himself up. I look forward to the spin and excuses.

 

Cohen has already been given some of the blame. "It was "terrible" for Michael Cohen's hearing to have taken place during the Hanoi summit says Mr Trump.

 

"Having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this summit is really a terrible thing. They could have made it next week." Boo fracking hoo!!

 

I wasn't aware the US Congress was a fake institution.

[cornishcarlos]

But at least he's served time in Vietnam now, good reason to get elected again !

[sanemax]

8 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

All mouth and no trousers- Tangoman massive fail again after bigging himself up. I look forward to the spin and excuses.

 

 

How do you feel about that ?

Are you a bit disappointed that the talks failed to agree on a deal , or do you view it as a victory , because there was no agreement today ?

[sanemax]

They will have to schedule another meeting , probably around the time of the next USA General election , they had better have the meeting before the next G.E. though , dont want anyone else taking all the credit for Donalds hard work

[Roadman]

30 minutes ago, sanemax said:

How do you feel about that ?

Are you a bit disappointed that the talks failed to agree on a deal , or do you view it as a victory , because there was no agreement today ?

I would put forward neither as it was obvious Kim was playing Trump right from the start and there was never going to be any deal with Trump than what was played today being Kim will keep his tucked away missiles and possible nuclear heads and have the sanctions lifted thanks. If Trump wants to see the best out come on the Korean peninsular then he should back off and stop threatening SK with their attempts to open relations with Kim. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Roadman
Spelling

[ballpoint]

20 minutes ago, sanemax said:

How do you feel about that ?

Are you a bit disappointed that the talks failed to agree on a deal , or do you view it as a victory , because there was no agreement today ?

Would I feel disappointed if an old man told me he could make it rain money, but failed to do so?  No, because I have realistic expectations.  The only ones disappointed by Trump's failure are those who foolishly believed this was anything other than a self serving exercise by both of them.   

[tomacht8]

Result:
Nothing except expenses.
And the end of a great love story.

[bangsaenguy]

Kim plays Trump like a yoyo and Trump tries to shift the blame. Nothing new here

[Sir Dude]

Surely the Americans know that the Chinese are pulling the strings behind it all here...fatboy is just pawn and is allowed to do sweet <deleted> without Beijing's approval.

[heybruce]

I'm a "glass half-full" kind of person and happy with this outcome.  I expected Trump to throw US allies under the bus and sell out his own country in exchange for vague promises of disarmament that would have never been fulfilled.  The summit ending with nothing is the best any realist could have hoped for.

[Justgrazing]

Issue's like this are rarely sorted out in the space of two meetings .. Rewind to the 80's Reagan and Gorbachev held 2 summits , the 2nd in Reykjavik ultimately yielded nothing but laid the foundations for the later 1987 Intermediate range Nuclear Forces reduction Treaty signed by the USA and Soviet Union .. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, bangsaenguy said:

Kim plays Trump like a yoyo and Trump tries to shift the blame. Nothing new here

Kim is China's puppet, so could it be a strategic move on China's side to make Trump look bad and put leverage on the trade talks?

[Tonyt00]

I think the two lovers will kiss and make up! Trump really has the hots for Kimmi. They both admire each others hair cuts.

[sammieuk1]

Oh well bye bye east coast then ????

[300sd]

I don't care how many meetings they have, as long as there are not rockets flying, works for me. This is not going to be fixed overnight. 

 

It's amazing that the US and N. Korea are having a dialogue!

[mtls2005]

70 hours by train for Chairman Kim, excluding smoking breaks. Bit of a waste.

 

Maybe he asked Trump for help "freeing" his vodka, seized in Rotterdam?

 

Kim probably thought he had Trump over a barrel - Trump desperately needs a "win" - and asked for complete sanction relief. Amazing Trump didn't give in.

 

 

 

 

[Jingthing]

Couldn't they have accomplished all they did (nothing) with a Skype call? 

[metisdead]

Some troll posts and the replies have been removed. 

[WeekendRaider]

they got hung up on the sanctions which involved the use of nominees, something that comes up in Thailand as well quite a bit.  we listed out nine inner circle money launderers in UNSC 2371 each of which had dozens of bank intermediaries and "street name" nominees... processing hundreds of millions of US dollars for Kim Jung Un.  it was passed in late 2017 without a Russian or China veto.  here's the thing though..... the forensic accounting involved in that must have not only been begun during the Barrack Obama administration, but have been mostly completed before Trump even was sworn in.  then passage in New York at the UN would have been the next phase.  so if Un capitulates over the next few months still, with fingers pointing at those sanctions... it is Obama who should receive a 2nd Peace Prize..... not Trump.  seriously.  I read UNSC 2371 in it's entirety, it even included some drivers license numbers to identify and blacklist Un's 'A1 Car Wash' gig.  if that is some stuff a Trumper staffer pulled out of the air then we have an even bigger scandal.  it took years of work.  

Edited February 28, 2019 by WeekendRaider

[sfokevin]

One needs a cigarette...

The other a Diet Coke and the TV tuned to Fox News...

[Silurian]

Maybe Donald's "bone spurs" were acting up so he had to leave Vietnam early. Wasn't that the reason he couldn't initially go to Vietnam in the late 1960's?

 

Must be something with the climate.

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Silurian

[mfd101]

I wonder whether it's not actually a case of Trump - and his advisors - having learned something from the first round in Singapore, where DT gave a bit too much away (prestige of meeting, international spotlight, warm words  ie RECOGNITION) for little in return (some symbolic demolitions but nothing that mattered).

 

This time round (I speculate) DT was better prepared, understood the game of chess better (he's supposed to be an expert!) and simply said: You want me to lift sanctions? You have to give me something big & real (namely xyz), otherwise no can do.

 

So he called Kimbo's bluff ... and walking out was a good thing to do: Sets out the red lines for the next round of talks at officials' level. Progress, I think.

[Scott]

Troll post and numerous replies to it removed.  

 

[zydeco]

Looking at the OP picture, Kim has a better tailor. Meanwhile, this probably means Trump will be desperate for the China deal. He must find a "win" somewhere. He's probably going to give the house away to the Chinese because of this fiasco in Vietnam.

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

Surely the Americans know that the Chinese are pulling the strings behind it all here...fatboy is just pawn and is allowed to do sweet <deleted> without Beijing's approval.

Oh really.

[scorecard]

11 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Looking at the OP picture, Kim has a better tailor. Meanwhile, this probably means Trump will be desperate for the China deal. He must find a "win" somewhere. He's probably going to give the house away to the Chinese because of this fiasco in Vietnam.

He lost in Singapore

 

Now he's lost in Vietnam.

 

Better stick to his wall.

[scorecard]

57 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

I wonder whether it's not actually a case of Trump - and his advisors - having learned something from the first round in Singapore, where DT gave a bit too much away (prestige of meeting, international spotlight, warm words  ie RECOGNITION) for little in return (some symbolic demolitions but nothing that mattered).

 

This time round (I speculate) DT was better prepared, understood the game of chess better (he's supposed to be an expert!) and simply said: You want me to lift sanctions? You have to give me something big & real (namely xyz), otherwise no can do.

 

So he called Kimbo's bluff ... and walking out was a good thing to do: Sets out the red lines for the next round of talks at officials' level. Progress, I think.

 

He's called Kimbo's bluff, really?

 

If there enough information available to substantiate your conclusive statement?

 

Was it in fact the other way around? Do you know, I don't. 

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

4 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Issue's like this are rarely sorted out in the space of two meetings .. Rewind to the 80's Reagan and Gorbachev held 2 summits , the 2nd in Reykjavik ultimately yielded nothing but laid the foundations for the later 1987 Intermediate range Nuclear Forces reduction Treaty signed by the USA and Soviet Union .. 

agree

this was not a fiasco and not a failed meeting

they are still on chatting terms, things like this takes time - a lot of time

 

guess Kim ain't happy, he needs sanctions lifted in order to restart his industry and tourism

 

platforms for further meetings are there

 

guess the most disappointed party (not at the meeting) is South Korea,

they need things going in order to further its thaw policy

 

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

This time round (I speculate) DT was better prepared, understood the game of chess better (he's supposed to be an expert!)

 

Says who?

 

Kim probably can play chess. Trump, meh, he'd probably just eat his checkers.

 

Trump is never prepared, and he's often proud to admit that.

 

Amazing what a low bar Trump supporters have.