Two days of seemingly friendly negotiations between President Trump and Kim Jong Un in Hanoi boiled down to a deal surrounding the Yongbyon reactor and other nuclear related facilities in the immediate area.



The deal that was to be had, seemingly, was some limited sanctions relief for shuttering Yongbyon. Kim was told early on that anything serious in the way of sanctions relief was a non-starter. All indications were that these two sides were going to have a deal somewhere around this, even before the talks, and apparently that was the track they were on until the last minute.



The question then, given how many different sites are around Yongbyon, was how North Korea interpreted the offer to close the Yongbyon site. Kim responded that it included literally everything on the three-square mile facility, North Korea was offering to give up everything, all-encompassingly.



When Trump was told they were offering everything, his immediate response was that he needed “more than that.” Exactly where this more than everything demand was going to come from was never specified, and Trump “walked away.”



South Korea is trying to salvage the talks, with both sides willing to engage further. At the same time, it’s not clear what North Korea can add to their offer to sweeten the deal, and Trump’s advisors are doubting North Korea will ever meet their demands.











Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz