The North Korea-US Summit has not reached an agreement due to disagreement on sanctions, according US President Donald Trump.

Explaining with the media about why there was no agreement reached at the summit on February 28, President Trump said that the US walked away from discussions over disagreement on sanctions.

"It was about the sanctions," Trump said. "Basically they wanted sanctions lifted in their entirety and we weren’t willing to do that. We had to walk away from that particular issue”.

The US leader said he was very keen to lift sanctions on North Korea because he believed in the potential of North Korea.

"Kim is willing to dismantle the Yongbyon facility, but wanted all sanctions lifted first, I wasn’t willing to do," he said.

Trump says he and Kim did not commit to holding another summit.

Earlier, the White House confirmed that despite "good and constructive" meetings, no agreement has been reached after the extended meeting between the North Korean and US delegations on Thursday morning. 

“No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in a statement. Sanders added “President Donald J. Trump of the United States and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had very good and constructive meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28, 2019." "The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearization and economic driven concepts," she said.

  A motorcade carrying US President Donald Trump travelled through Hanoi after the abrupt ending of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Photograph: Fazry Ismail/EPA

The extended meeting between the North Korean and US delegations on Thursday morning took longer than expected and the two leaders were then seen left the hotel without having lunch together and holding a joint statement signing ceremony which had been scheduled to take place at 2:05pm.

Journalists wait at the Marriot Hotel ahead of the press conference with President Trump after the summit on February 28

Hundreds of reporters have flocked to the Marriot Hotel where a stage is being set up for Trump's press conference. 

The world’s response

Analysts around the world are reacting to the abrupt end of the negotiations in Hanoi.

“It is little wonder these negotiations broke down after Trump has spent more time in office blowing up nuclear treaties than building them,” said Akira Kawasaki of the International Committee to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ International Steering Group.

“We need a real plan rooted in the international community and treaties like the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which the Koreas could join tomorrow and begin the disarmament process with legitimacy.”

Van Jackson, author of “On the Brink: Trump, Kim, and the Threat of Nuclear War”, said that the US should have waited to hold the summit until progress had been made “at the Biegun level”, referring to the US negotiator on the Korean Peninsula, Steve Biegun.

In a statement, the Korea Peace Network, which has supported Khanna’s resolution, said “failure to reach an agreement should not be taken as a sign that diplomacy is not working.”

President Trump said at the press conference that he has not committed to a third summit between himself and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.  

Dtinews/VietNamNet/Hanoitimes