By Lee Chi-dong and Lee Haye-ah
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on during the extended bilateral meeting in the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-US summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb 28, 2019.Photo courtesy Mizzima
HANOI, Feb 28 (NNN-BERNAMA-YONHAP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he failed to reach a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as Kim demanded the lifting of all sanctions on Pyongyang without giving enough denuclearization measures in return.
“Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn’t do that,” he said at a post-summit press conference in Hanoi. “They were willing to denuclearize a large portion of the areas we wanted but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for them.”
He said he had to “walk away” from the talks with no deal in hand, as he believed it was not right to sign a document.
“I want to take off the sanctions so badly because I want that country to grow,” Trump said. “But they had to give up more.”
But he said the summit was not without progress, citing Kim’s promise to continue the suspension of nuclear and missile testing.
He added his relationship with Kim is still “strong” and that he believes the gap in the two countries’ positions will be bridged “at a certain point.”
“But there is a gap. We have to have sanctions and he wants to denuke but he wants to just do areas that are less important than areas we want,” Trump said.
North Korea’s main nuclear facility in Yongbyon was on the table, Trump said, and Kim was willing to dismantle it in exchange for sanctions relief.
“We have to have more than” that because the North has other nuclear and missile facilities that the U.S. knows about, he said.
If agreed to, the U.S. could “easily” carry out inspections on all of North Korea’s nuclear and missile sites, he added.
On whether the two leaders agreed to meet again, Trump said he hopes they will, but that he didn’t commit to a specific timeline.
He added that papers were ready to be signed, but “it just wasn’t appropriate.”
“I wanted to do it right. I would much (rather) do it right than do it fast,” he said.
Trump said he plans to speak over the phone with South Korean President Moon Jae-in soon to discuss the outcome of the summit and that he likes the South Korean leader, who is working very hard on North Korea.
Trump spoke of “some options” that were discussed during the talks, but he did not elaborate.
Speaking next to Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. wanted the North to do more but that the regime wasn’t ready for that.
There were issues with “timing and sequencing” in terms of which side would move first on denuclearization and reciprocal measures, according to the secretary.
“But remember too even that facility, the Yongbyon facility and all of its scope, which is important for sure, still leaves missiles, still leaves warheads and weapons systems, so there is a lot of other elements we couldn’t get to,” Pompeo said.
When the meeting was cut short, without the planned lunch or signing ceremony, Trump said the atmosphere was still “very good” and “very friendly.”
Asked whether he brought up the 2017 death of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who was detained in the North and returned in a coma to die days later, Trump said the case was addressed.
Kim “felt very badly” about the incident, Trump said, adding that he doesn’t believe the North Korean leader knew about Warmbier’s condition or would have allowed the tragedy to happen.
He blamed instead the prison conditions in the North.
Recalling his decision to suspend South Korea-U.S. military drills after his first summit with Kim in June, Trump said he still thinks the exercises are expensive and that South Korea should help pay for the cost.
He didn’t say whether he would take additional steps on the drills.
Trump fielded questions from a large group of reporters before heading out to return to Washington later in the day.
–NNN-BERNAMA-YONHAP
