Trump-Kim Summit Ends Without Agreement

The summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam ended without a signed agreement Thursday. Neither side could come to agreement, with Kim reportedly wanting the removal of all sanctions and Trump wishing to implement more accountability on North Korea’s denuclearization efforts.

Trump claimed that while Kim had agreed to close the major nuclear site Yongbyon, he was unwilling to destroy others, including secret sites. North Korean officials pushed back on his claims, saying Kim had agreed to close other sites and had only requested partial, not full, lifting of sanctions.

The lack of a signed agreement at the end of the meeting was a disappointment for the White House, which had hoped to build on the momentum from last year’s summit in Singapore, in which Kim said he was open to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Many, however, accused the North of being disingenuous, especially after the country was revealed to have been building more nuclear weapons and missile sites even after the Singapore summit.

Trump has made peace on the Korean Peninsula a central foreign policy goal for his administration, which has largely been preoccupied with domestic issues such as immigration and investigations into alleged Russian collusion during the 2016 election. The failure of this week’s summit to achieve a further step in the denuclearization process, while a blow to Trump, is unlikely to be the end of peace talks and diplomatic efforts for rapprochement between the two countries, but will likely shift focus from the issue for now.

US-North Korea Summit Still on Schedule, For Now

The summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Km Jung Un is still scheduled to occur on June 12, though whether it will occur is still a matter of debate. Dealings with the reclusive, repressive regime have been historically fraught with deceit and broken promises, most notably promises to not develop nuclear weapons.

The meeting was previously canceled by Trump earlier this month after North Korean threats to cancel the meeting and the absence of North Korean diplomats from preparation meetings. However, a secret meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in helped to decrease tension between the two countries after North Korea criticized joint US-South Korean military drills (a reason it gave for why it may cancel the meeting). Trump backtracked, saying that the summit, to be held in Singapore, may still happen. US diplomats have continued to make preparations for the summit. However, the unpredictable nature of the North Korean government, as well as the personalities involved in the summit, could once again prevent it from occurring.

At the heart of the issue is the North Korean nuclear program which has been in development for over a decade. North Korea has missiles which can reach far beyond its own borders, threatening US allies such as Japan and South Korea as well as the US itself. President Trump was involved in a diplomatic spat with the North, calling Kim “rocket man” and saying the US nuclear arsenal was far superior than Kim’s. North Korea replied by calling Trump a “dotard.”