International reaction to Trump-Kim summit outcome

World Today

Donald Trump,Kim Jong UnPresident Donald Trump meets DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Despite upbeat expectations on its first day, the second summit between U.S. President Trump and People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam ended abruptly without an agreement on Thursday.

The main sticking point, according to Trump, was that the DPRK wanted U.S. sanctions to be lifted without a commitment to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. Therefore, he said, the agreement was not ready to be signed.

READ MORE: Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim ends without a deal

Below are some international reactions to the outcome of the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)

In Hanoi, DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho presented a rare and unexpected midnight news conference following the Trump-Kim summit.

Associated Press reports that during the conference, Ri Yong Ho stated the DPRK disputes Trump’s explanation for collapse of summit, saying it asked “for only partial US sanctions relief.”

Ri said DPRK had asked for lifting five of the 11 sanctions under United Nations Security Council resolutions. Those measures, he said, were particularly damaging the livelihood of the DPRK people.

Ri said Pyongyang’s position won’t change even if U.S. seeks further talks.

“Chairman Kim got the feeling that he didn’t understand the way Americans calculate” and may have “lost the will” for further negotiations.

The FM’s statements contradicted the explanation by Trump, who hours earlier told reporters that the North had demanded a full removal of sanctions in exchange for shuttering the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

Ri says the North was also ready to offer in writing a permanent halt of the country’s nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and that Washington wasted an opportunity that “may not come again.”

According to Xinhua, DPRK leader Kim is scheduled to meet with top Vietnamese leaders on Friday and leave Saturday on his armored train for the return trip, through China, to DPRK.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Ri Kil Song, vice foreign minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in Beijing on Thursday.

The United States

Though reaction from U.S. lawmakers has been spare in the hours following the abrupt end to the summit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said nuclear negotiations with DPRK will resume quickly.

Pompeo told reporters aboard his plane Thursday that his team will get back to work “tomorrow” although no new meetings have yet been scheduled.

Pompeo said progress was made between Trump and Kim at their talks in Hanoi but not enough to warrant signing any kind of agreement. The White House had scheduled a signing ceremony but abruptly canceled it along with a lunch when it became clear an agreement could not be reached.

At a press conference following the abrupt end of the summit, U.S. President Trump said that he trusts Kim’s word after the DPRK head of state said his government would refrain from conducting any nuclear or missile tests going forward.

When it came to the key sticking point of the U.S. lifting sanctions on the DPRK before Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear weapons program, Trump stated, “Sometimes you have to walk.”

Watch CGTN’s coverage of Donald Trump press conference following meeting with Kim Jong Un

 

Republic of Korea

Yonhap reports that in a telephone conversation between Trump and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon, the U.S. president asked Moon to “actively” help mediate future dialogue with Kim.

For Moon’s part, he expressed hope for progress in the future. “While saying he wished for President Trump’s continued determination and efforts to end the world’s last remaining Cold War conflict and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, President Moon said we will do all we can under the close cooperation between South Korea (the ROK) and the U.S.,” Yonhap cited the spokesman for the Blue House as saying.

Moon suggested he and Trump meet in the near future to continue their discussions, which Trump agreed to, according to Yonhap.

Yonhap also reported that the ROK’s political parties on Thursday also expressed regret over the outcome of the Kim-Trump summit.

According to Yonhap, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) expressed hopes that Washington and Pyongyang could meet again as soon as possible.

China

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the DPRK and the United States to stay committed to the goal of achieving complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and building a peace regime on Thursday afternoon.

Meeting with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Ri Kil Song in Beijing shortly after the end of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, Wang called on Pyongyang and Washington to maintain patience, continue their dialogue, and meet each other halfway, adding that China is willing to continue playing a constructive role in issues on the peninsula.

In a press conference following the summit, President Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China was a “big help” and influential in addressing issues on the Korean Peninsula.

Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he fully backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to end his summit with leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un without an agreement.

“I fully support President Trump’s decision not to make the easy choice,” Abe said following a telephone call with Trump.

“I am determined that I must meet Chairman Kim next,” he added, reiterating his desire to have a summit with the DPRK leader.

Abe said Trump, at his meeting with Kim in Vietnam, had raised the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by DPRK agents.

Abe has said Japan would not normalize diplomatic ties with Pyongyang or provide economic assistance until the DPRK gave a full accounting of all those taken and return any abductees who are still alive.

Russia

(From The Associated Press) The Kremlin says that talks at the U.S.-DPRK nuclear summit in Vietnam appear to have failed because the parties proved unwilling to compromise and make concessions.

Talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un wrapped up two hours earlier on Thursday after the parties failed to reach an agreement. Trump says the U.S. was unwilling to meet DPRK’s demand to remove all U.S.-led international sanctions in exchange for the shuttering of a DPRK nuclear facility.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow is encouraged by the fact the negotiations did not break down completely. But Peskov laments the lack of “small steps” and flexibility that could have helped to achieve some progress.

Peskov says the DPRK nuclear program is a complicated issue that is “impossible to solve in one go.”

Reporting from CGTN, Associated Press, and Xinhua