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As it happenedended1551373883

Trump-Kim summit: US president blames failure of talks on North Korea's demand for sanctions to be dropped

Follow the latest updates on the historic meeting

'Speed is not that important to me' Kim Jong Un listens as Trump says he's in 'no rush' over North Korea denuclearisation deal

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Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have cut short their talks in Hanoi, Vietnam and skipped a scheduled lunch event.

The White House confirmed the summit had ended with “no agreement reached” as the leaders headed back to their respective hotels.

The US president talks broke down over North Korea’s demands on US-led sanctions.

“Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn’t do that,” he told reporters. “Sometimes you have to walk.”

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said negotiations would continue at a future date.

Several Democrats came out acknowledging Mr Trump’s decision to walk away without a deal was the right move in this situation. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said walking away with no deal was better than agreeing to a bad deal, before adding that it was “the result of a poorly planned strategy.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed similar statements, citing his concerns about the likelihood of a bad deal forming out of the summit.

“A deal that fell short of complete denuclearization would have only made North Korea stronger & the world less safe,” Mr Schumer said.

After the summit, Mr Trump also defended Mr Kim over the tragic death of American college student Otto Warmbier, who was jailed in North Korea in December 2015 for attempting to steal propaganda material during an organised tour.The president said he does not believe the autocratic leader was aware of Mr Warmbier’s condition in the North Korean hard labour prison camp.

"He tells me he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word,” Mr Trump said.

After two years of imprisonment, North Korean authorities returned Mr Warbier to the US in a coma in July 2017. A few days later, the 22-year-old died in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman criticised the American president’s defense of Mr Kim.

“I’m very concerned that the President didn’t seem to be all that concerned about the murder of Otto Warmbier from Cincinnati,” Mr Brown told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t know how he says he likes the dictator of NK so much.”

Mr Portman insists that Mr Trump and the American people must remember Mr Warmbier and that “we should never let North Korea off the hook for what they did to him."

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Here's a clip the White House shared of Trump's meeting with Kim Jong-un:

Lucy Anna Gray27 February 2019 23:22
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As a new day begins in Vietnam, the world's attention is not on this historic meeting. At almost any other time Trump's summit with Kim Jong-un would have been an international spectacle, a grand show of diplomacy between the US and North Korea. But the trip has been upstaged. 

Michael Cohen gave an explosive testimony to the US House Oversight Committee. Trump's former lawyer called the president a "conman", and "a racist", as well as discussing a criminal conspiracy involving the president, Donald Trump Jr, and the chief financial officer of the Trump Organisation, Allen Weisselberg.

In case you missed it, you can catch up on what happened at the testimony here: 

Lucy Anna Gray27 February 2019 23:39
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Donald Trump have already had a one-on-one meeting during their second nuclear summit - but of course they're not technically one-on-one. The only other people present were their respective interpreters. 

President Trump's translator was Yun-hyang Lee, the US State Department's division chief for interpreting services, who also translated for the president at his first meeting with Kim last year in Singapore.

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 00:14
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In case you missed it, the White House barred four reporters from covering the Trump and Kim's dinner. Journalists from Bloomberg, the Associated Press, The LA Times and Reuters who are all part of the White House press pool were blocked from covering the dinner.  

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 00:31
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BREAKING: The US is no longer demanding North Korea must agree to divulge a full accounting of its nuclear program ahead of talks with Donald Trump, reports say.

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 00:39
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Current and former senior US officials say North Korea no longer needs to agree to disclose a full accounting of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs as part of talks in Hanoi, NBC News has reported. 

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 00:43
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This reported change of heart may suggest US officials think fully denuclearising North Korea is currently out of the question.

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 00:47
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North Korean state media KCNA has said the two leaders had overcome "mistrust, misunderstanding, hostility and old practices" and that "this period required lots of deep thinking, effort and patience than ever before".

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 01:02
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"We’re going to have a very busy day tomorrow." That's what Donald Trump said last night in Hanoi.

So what can we expect over the next 24 hours in Vietnam? 

The pair will have a series of meetings beginning at 9am (9pm EST, 2am GMT), followed by a 'working lunch'. A signing ceremony is then scheduled for 2pm local time (that's 2am ET, 7amGMT), although we still don't know what they'll be signing.

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 01:21
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Not that we'd ever dream of patronising you, but just in case you're getting a little confused with timings, Hanoi is 7 house ahead of the UK. That means 12 hours ahead of EST. That means it's fairly early in the morning in Vietnam, with Trump and Kim due to have their next meeting imminently.

Lucy Anna Gray28 February 2019 01:32

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