Peace Talks in Hanoi

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On Tuesday, February 26, President Trump landed in Vietnam for a peace conference with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to New York Times, Trump spent much of the next day in meetings with Vietnamese officials before meeting Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam for dinner. This marks the second summit meeting in the last eight months.

The summit was planned so that the two leaders could come to an agreement about nuclear weapons. According to the Washington Post, the United States would lift its sanctions on North Korea and in return North Korea would dismantle its nuclear arms program.

Unfortunately, this summit was cut short on Thursday before the two leaders were able to make an agreement. Both leaders had conflicting reasons for the summit’s abrupt end. In a video released by NBC News, Trump said he “had to walk … because the deal was not a deal that was acceptable to [him].” The Washington Post claimed that Trump said Kim proposed North Korea would close one nuclear facility in exchange for the United States lifting all economic sanctions on North Korea.

North Korea’s foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, had a different story. According to the Washington Post, he said that North Korea asked for only partial sanction relief in exchange for dismantling North Korea’s “main enrichment capabilities for fissile material.”

Trump said the two leaders left the summit on good terms. However, North Korea’s vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, said the United States lost a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” This raised doubts about whether the two sides could come to an agreement in the future.