Was the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Trump a big failure?

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The meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, which took place in Hanoi, Vietnam, culminated without an agreement

On February 8, US President Donald Trump made the announcement of the second summit to renew the dialogues with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It was hoped that at this summit, the two presidents could reach an agreement on the denuclearization issues. However, the meeting scheduled for February 27 and 28 left more formal acts than real solutions to the main problems of these two countries.

Leer en español: ¿Fue la reunión entre Kim Jong-un y Trump un fracaso?

The reasons for failure

Little or nothing served the 60-hour journey of the North Korean leader, who arrived in Hanoi in a bulletproof train that crossed all China and traveled more than 4,000km. Like the best Hollywood style, both Trump and Kim were photographed before meeting in a private media meeting on the night of the 27th.

However, it was expected that on Thursday, the two leaders would meet to discuss issues such as denuclearization, reach a possible peace agreement or even establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

President Donald Trump addressed the issue at a press conference stating that: "there were two very interesting days, even productive, but sometimes you have to retire, and this is one of those times". It is not a secret that one of the main obstacles when negotiating is denuclearization.

According to journalist Chad O'Carroll, director of the NK news media, in dialogue with La W, the reason why consensus cannot be reached on this issue is that "the closure of 3 weapons development sites under inspection was sought international, to which North Korea would be willing only to close one".

On the other hand, North Korea expected the United States to eliminate all sanctions imposed: "basically they wanted us to lift the sanctions in full, and we could not do that. "They were willing to denuclearize a large part of the areas we wanted, but we could not lift all the sanctions for that, so we had to retire", Trump said.

However, the North Korean Foreign Minister, Ri Yong-ho, contradicted the above, assuring that the North Korean government "requested a partial relief of sanctions, and not an integral one", according to statements given at a press conference, and collected by El Comercio.

Likewise, he highlighted the country's commitment to the dismantling of nuclear material production plants. However, for the United States, it is still not enough, because for the country it is necessary to destroy the Yongbyon plant, where the fuel for the atomic bombs is produced, according to the same medium.

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Try again

Despite not signing anything to reach an agreement on denuclearization, the two governments said they are willing to continue with the talks to try to reach a consensus. So much so, that in his statements before the media, Trump affirmed that Kim had promised him not to start again with ballistic or nuclear missile tests; However, he did not make an accurate statement regarding an upcoming meeting, according to Ambito.

In this way, the second summit ended without a convincing result, because it is important that the United States take the first step, because if it does not alleviate the sanctions the process will remain hindered.

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "¿Fue la reunión entre Kim Jong-un y Trump un fracaso?"