The fallout from the collapsed peace summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un continued today as the North Korean dictator was given the red carpet treatment in Hanoi.
Kim tried to brush off the disappointment of yesterday’s sudden breakdown of the talks, smiling broadly as he embraced Vietnam’s president Nguyen Phu Trong and accepting a bouquet while a military band played.
His tour of Hanoi — which Pyangyong has called a “goodwill visit” — began hours after North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho blamed Washington for wasting an opportunity that “may not come again”.
The US president said the North had demanded a full removal of sanctions in exchange for shutting its key Yongbyon nuclear facility.
As he was flying back to Washington, Ri told reporters at a late-night news conference that North Korea would not bend to America’s demands.
“This is the biggest denuclearisation step we can take based on the current level of trust between the two countries,” he said. “It’s hard to say there will be something better than what we offered. We may not have such an opportunity again.
“We need such a first step on the road to complete denuclearisation. Our fundamental stance will never change and even if the US seeks further talks, our position won’t change.”
The North Koreans claimed they had asked only for partial relief in exchange for disabling the nuclear complex.
North Korean vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui told the same briefing that Kim “might lose his willingness to pursue a deal”.
A senior US official said the North Koreans “basically asked for the lifting of all sanctions”.
Yongbyon is North Korea’s only known source of plutonium but it is believed to have at least two other facilities where uranium is enriched.
Mr Trump raised the issue of a second enrichment facility.
On the flight home he reassured Japanese premier Shinzo Abe and South Korean president Moon Jae-in that talks with the North would continue.
