“Sometimes You Have To Walk”: Hanoi Summit Collapses As Trump Balks At Demands For Sanctions Relief

Even arm chair observers probably understood long before the Hanoi summit had even been scheduled that the gulf between the American and North Korean positions on denuclearization was probably too wide to overcome (after nearly a year of talks, the two sides are no closer to a deal). Yet, President Trump had apparently hoped that the pomp and circumstance of another historic summit would soften Kim Jong Un up. But despite all the talk about North Korea being “ready to denuclearize” and both leaders hyping up the possibility that a deal would be struck, alas, no deal was forthcoming, and Trump is now headed back to Washington empty handed.

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Talks between the two world leaders broke down Thursday afternoon as President Trump abruptly walked away from the table and canceled a planned lunch and signing ceremony (it’s still not clear what the two leaders had hoped to sign, though scheduling the ceremony before a deal had been struck did seem risky). With the talks in disarray, Trump moved up a news conference where he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took questions from the press.

Trump told reporters that he had asked Kim to commit to full denuclearization before the US agreed to sanctions relief, and that “he was unprepared to do that.”

 

Trump told reporters that the talks collapsed after the North refused to yield from its demand that the US completely remove all of the U.S.-led international sanctions – including the sanctions approved by the UN security council –  in exchange for the shuttering of the North’s Yongbyon nuclear facility. Trump and Pompeo refused to make a deal without the North committing to giving up its secretive nuclear facilities outside Yongbyon, as well as its missile and warheads.

According to Trump, the talks ended amicably enough, with a commitment to keep the talks alive, and Kim also promised that he would not resume nuclear and missile tests – the basis for the detente between the two countries – and Trump said he would take Kim at his word.

Trump added that he’d “much rather do it right than do it fast.”

“It was about the sanctions,” Trump said. “Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that. They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for that.”

“I’d much rather do it right than do it fast,” Trump added, echoing his remarks from earlier in the day, when he insisted that “speed” was not important. “We’re in position to do something very special.”

In a brief digression, Trump offered his take on Michael Cohen’s marathon testimony before the House Oversight Committee, saying he was surprised Cohen didn’t go “100%” and lie about Trump colluding with the Russians (Cohen said he had no evidence of collusion).

Trump insisted that, when it comes to the subject of denuclearization, “you always have to be willing to walk.”

In response to a question about Otto Warmbier, the American student who died shortly after being released from a North Korean prison, Trump said he believed Kim didn’t understand what happened to Warmbier until after it had happened.

finished off the talks by suggesting that it might be “a long time” before another summit. 

Despite the breakdown, the leader of South Korea said that, while it was unfortunate no progress had been made on denuclearization, he planned to offer new proposals for inter-Korean engagement following the high-stakes nuclear summit. Moon’s announcement is planned for a Friday ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of a 1919 Korean uprising against Japanese colonial rule. That ceremony will likely include plans for economic cooperation, according to Fox.

While the market impact in South Korea was largely muted, the cost of insuring the country’s sovereign debt edged higher after the summit collapsed.

The upshot, of course, is that Trump’s failure in Hanoi probably doesn’t bode well for a deal with China, as Beijing has clearly not given its blessing for North Korea to proceed. Also, Trump has demonstrated to the markets that he can walk away, even when he so desperately wants a deal, which should please China hawks like Lighthizer.

Watch the full press conference below (Trump starts speaking at around the 30-minute mark):

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2GV18mH Tyler Durden

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