The summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un finished earlier than expected Thursday. The White House said that no deal had been reached.
“The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearization and economic driven concepts…No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” the White House said in a statement.
“Basically it was about the sanctions,” said Trump at a press conference, explaining that North Korea wanted sanctions lifted in their entirety before a deal can be completed. “They were willing to give some areas, but not the ones we wanted.”
The two men on Wednesday began their second summit together in less than a year in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi. The summit was intended to bring about North Korea’s de-nuclearization, and possibly provide a formal end to the Korean War.
After an informal meeting, followed by a dinner on Wednesday evening, the summit talks were expected to run through much of Thursday local time. The pair were set for a working lunch Thursday, possibly followed by a joint signing ceremony. Trump was scheduled to hold a solo press conference at 3:40 p.m. local time.
In a pre-lunch statement, the White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said that talks would wrap in the next 30 minutes, and that the lunch had been canceled. She said that Trump would hold a press conference at his hotel, at 2 p.m. local time. Both men drove off in their motorcades from the Metropole Hotel where the talks had been at around 1:25 p.m.
The two men previously met last June in Singapore. That historic summit ended with some backslapping and fine words, but little solid progress.
At his solo press conference, Trump answered a question about the Washington D.C. testimony given Wednesday by his former attorney Michael Cohen, labeling Cohen’s testimony as “incorrect.” “Having a fake hearing in the middle of this important summit is incredible… He (Cohen) lied a lot,” said Trump.