North Koreans fire back on why Kim-Trump summit failed
Hanoi: North Korea's Foreign Minister held a midnight press conference to dispute US President Donald Trump's account of why the two sides had failed to strike a deal at the Hanoi summit.
The unusual press conference was called hours after Trump had left Hanoi and had blamed North Korea for demanding full sanctions relief.
Ri Yong-Ho, North Korea’s Foreign Minister, centre, speaks as Choe Son Hui, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister, left, listens during a during a news conference following the Hanoi Summit.Credit:Bloomberg
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Jong-ho said North Korea sought the partial lifting of United Nations' sanctions in return for the dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
Ri said North Korea was willing to pledge in writing to permanently end nuclear and long-range missile tests.
The addition of long-range missile tests to the negotiations was new.
"The US was not ready to accept our proposal," Ri told reporters.
He said the US had demanded "one more" measure beyond Yongbyon that North Korea was not willing to accept.
North Korea's offer will not change even if the US seeks further talks, he said.
Elsewhere, South Korean media reported on Thursday evening the former South Korean unification minister Jeong Se-hyun had blamed US National Security Adviser John Bolton for derailing the summit by demanding North Korea disclose their chemical and biological weapons.
A North Korean official had also told reporters that Kim Jong-un may have lost the will for further talks. "Chairman Kim got the feeling that he didn't understand the way Americans calculate," the official said.
Chairman Kim got the feeling that he didn't understand the way Americans calculate.
North Korea had sought the lifting of sanctions that were damaging the livelihood of North Korean people, Ri said.
Out of 11 United Nations sanctions, North Korea had sought the lifting of five sanctions made in 2016-2017.
By contrast, Trump had told reporters at a press conference earlier in Hanoi that a working lunch and signing ceremony had been cancelled because North Korea wanted sanctions lifted in their entirety.
The Korea Centre said the sanctions North Korea had asked to be lifted cover the ban on North Korean exports such as coal, textiles and seafood, which were important sources of foreign currency for the regime.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said: "We asked him to do more and he was just unprepared to do that."
On Thursday morning, ahead of the meetings, Kim had told reporters he would not have come to Hanoi if he wasn't serious about denuclearisation.
"If I had no such will, I wouldn't have come here," he said.
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