INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image:TheIndianSubcontinent's Laura Bicker explains why Trump is the 'biggest loser' from the summitNorth Korea's foreign minister says
Pyongyang's position will not change even if the US seeks further talks.Ri Yong-ho was speaking after a summit in Vietnam between US
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without agreement.He said they asked only for partial sanctions relief, not
a total lifting.But the Trump administration insists the North demanded a complete lifting of the measures, saying there was no clarity
about what they had to offer.After their talks broke down, Mr Trump said Mr Kim had offered to dismantle all of the Yongbyon complex, the
research and production facility at the heart of North Korea's nuclear programme, a significant proposal.But in return Mr Kim wanted all
sanctions lifted, something the US was not prepared to offer, Mr Trump added.North Korea: We asked for 'partial relief'At a late-night news
conference after the summit, Mr Ri said his country had made "realistic" proposals, including the complete decommissioning of Yongbyon,
under the watch of US observers
"This proposal was the biggest denuclearisation measure we could take at the present stage when taking into consideration the current level
of confidence between the DPRK [North Korea] and the United States."In return, Mr Ri said, the North had wanted only partial lifting of
sanctions "that hamper the civilian economy and the livelihood of our people".Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Ri
Yong-ho said an opportunity had been missed
He told reporters Pyongyang had also offered to permanently halt nuclear and
long-range rocket testing
He added that it might be hard to see an opportunity such as the Hanoi summit again."Our principal stand will remain invariable and our
proposals will never change, even if the United States proposes negotiations again in the future."Why did the summit failBy Jonathan Head,
TheIndianSubcontinent News, HanoiPresident Trump was more philosophical than defensive over the summit failure, suggesting he half-expected
And the North Korean reaction so far, from Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, has been measured
This was, to the participants, less a shock than a disappointment.US officials say the North Koreans would not define exactly what they
meant by the Yongbyon complex; the US is believed to have asked to include other hitherto unpublished nuclear facilities
Nor could the two sides agree on what denuclearisation means
US officials say they were being offered an end to testing, and partial destruction of facilities but that leaves North Korea's existing
nuclear arsenal intact.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said they had cleared away what he called "a lot of the brush" in the weeks of
pre-summit talks, but there remained gaps between the two sides they had hoped to close when the two leaders were in the same room
President Trump has shown Chairman Kim that, notwithstanding his hunger for a deal, he is prepared to walk away
But he has also shown the world that his famous deal-making skills are no match for a diplomatic problem as thorny as North Korea.US: They
asked for 'full relief'At a news conference after the summit, Mr Trump also said: "It was all about the sanctions
They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn't do that
Sometimes you have to walk and this was one of those times." Following Mr Ri's comments, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who took part
in the summit in Hanoi, reaffirmed that North Korea had "basically asked for full sanctions relief"."They were pretty expansive with respect
to what they're prepared to do at Yongbyon but there was still not complete clarity with respect to full scope of what it is they were
prepared to offer," he told reporters.The US was "anxious to get back to the table" to continue the talks, he added.On the flight back to
the US, Mr Trump reassured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in that talks with the North would
continue, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.Later she wrote on Twitter: "President Obama refused to walk away from a bad deal
President [Trump] refuses to make the same mistake with Iran, North Korea, or anybody else
President Trump will always put the safety of the American people above politics."The main sticking pointsAnother contentious point included
the network of facilities that extend beyond Yongbyon
Last month, Stephen Biegun, the US state department special representative for North Korea, said Pyongyang had committed in pre-summit talks
to destroy all the nation's plutonium - and uranium-enrichment facilities, dependent on unspecified US measures in return.Those
unspecified US measures appear to have been complete sanctions relief, which Mr Trump would not offer
The US president also suggested in his news conference that Mr Kim had offered only the destruction of Yongbyon and not North Korea's
entire nuclear apparatus.Image:The moment Kim Jong-un answered a question from a foreign reporterYongbyon is North Korea's only known
source of plutonium but the country is believed to have at least two other facilities where uranium is enriched
Mr Trump said when he raised the issue of a second enrichment facility apart from Yongbyon, the North Korean delegation was "surprised" by
what the US knew.The meaning of denuclearisationThe two leaders had been expected to announce progress on denuclearisation of the Korean
peninsula following their first summit in Singapore last year, and to sign a joint agreement.There is uncertainty about what exactly both
sides mean by denuclearisation
Washington has previously said North Korea must unilaterally give up its all of its nuclear weapons and destroy all of its nuclear
facilities before there can be any sanctions relief, but that condition is known to be a sticking point for the North Koreans
Image copyrightEPAImage caption
Journalists had expected a joint agreement to be signed in Hanoi, but the talks broke
down
It is thought Mr Kim views denuclearisation as a mutual arrangement in which the US withdraws its military presence on
the Korean peninsula.Asked at the news conference on Thursday what he meant by denuclearisation, Mr Trump said: "To me it's pretty
obvious, we have to get rid of the nukes"
He said the US delegation "had some options and this time we decided not to do any of the options"
