President Donald Trump seems to have been less than truthful when he claimed the collapse of yesterday's denuclearization talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was because the latter insisted the U.S. lift all economic sanctions in exchange for shutting down only one North Korean nuclear plant.
In saying he walked away because Kim wouldn't do more, Trump effectively blamed Kim for the failure of the heavily-hyped talks. Trump was so confident of success, he boasted the talks would become a "signing summit" before departing for Hanoi.
North Korea is pushing back against Trump's widely covered narrative. In an extraordinary press conference called by North Korea at midnight yesterday, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho denied Kim caused the talks to fail.
Ri said the North was ready to offer in writing a permanent halt of the country's nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. He said Trump had wasted an opportunity that "may not come again."
Analysts said Ri's comments revealed the North Koreans' disappointment, but they also said there was a notable absence of threats from North Korea. It was different for Trump, however,
Trump showed no signs of resuming talks despite statements to the contrary. Instead, he seemed to threaten North Korea with some form of U.S. military action in the future as part of a broad warning to America's enemies.
"America does not seek conflict, but if we are forced to defend ourselves we will fight and we will win in an overwhelming fashion," he said.
Despite this warning, Trump alleges his relations with Kim remain warm. He did not, however, commit to having the third summit with Kim, saying a possible next meeting "may not be for a long time."
The talks' failure after so much hype on both sides promising unprecedented success denied Trump the win he wanted that would have counterbalanced the humiliation battering him at home from Michael Cohen's explosive exposes from Tuesday to Thursday in Washington D.C.
In explaining the summit's failure, Trump said: "Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn't do that."
Trump claimed Kim seemed to be willing to dismantle his country's main nuclear facility, the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, but only if all the sanctions were lifted. Kim, however, made no concessions for keeping his missiles, warheads and other weapon systems. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said North Korea also has other hidden nuclear fuel production sites around the country.