![The Hanoi summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump in less than 3 minutes. [Image source/Washington Post YouTube video]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2019/3/31/660x290/b_502x220x82/the-hanoi-summit-between-kim-jong-un-and-donald-trump-in-less-than-3-minutes-image-sourcewashington-post-youtube-video_2238629.jpg "The Hanoi summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump in less than 3 minutes. [Image source/Washington Post YouTube video]")
U.S. President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the first time in Singapore in June 2018. The main point on their agenda was denuclearization from the US side and sanctions relief from the North Korean side. The Singapore summit helped bridge some gaps and Kim Jong-un agreed for denuclearization. However, its implementation was slow and in order to streamline the process, there was a second summit planned in Hanoi. It literally blew up and the leaders parted ways within minutes.
CNBC reports about Reuters coverage on the disastrous effort to find a solution.
It seems there was a piece of paper involved and it soured the atmosphere. Donald Trump handed over the paper that dealt with the nuclear weapons and bomb fuel of North Korea to Kim Jong-un. In it, Trump clarified his position vis-a-vis his concept of denuclearization. John Bolton, White House national security advisor, confirmed the existence of such a document in an interview he gave to the media after the summit.
Dotard played!
— Norman De Sola (@de_solamM) March 31, 2019
When talks in Hanoi collapsed last month, Trump reportedly handed North Korean leader Kim a piece of paper with a blunt call for the transfer of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and bomb fuel to the U.S. https://t.co/EHVX2Efhdm vía @HuffPostPol
Revival of the Libya model
The disagreement was on the apparent hardline “Libya model” of denuclearization proposed by John Bolton.
He has been proposing it since 2004 and North Korea rejected it repeatedly. In the opinion of analysts, harping on it repeatedly might have had an adverse effect on Kim who might have seen it as insulting and provocative. Donald Trump had said the question of a "Libya model" would arise only if a deal did not materialize.
How did the nuclear summit blow up? ‘The Hanoi document was presented in what U.S. officials have said was an attempt by Trump to secure a “big deal” under which all sanctions would be lifted if North Korea gave up all of its weapons’ https://t.co/SBKXYh3zbP
— Matt Brown (@abcmatt) March 30, 2019
It seems the Singapore summit might also have failed because Bolton wanted to stick to the denuclearization model employed by the US in Libya.
CNBC says when Pyongyang threatened to cancel the Singapore summit, Donald Trump hastened to clarify in May 2018, that he was not pursuing a "Libya model." He also assured that he wanted to have an agreement that would protect Kim. North Korean officials accused their US counterparts of "gangster-like" demands and went to the extent of saying Pyongyang could suspend talks and might even rethink its strategies on missile and nuclear tests.
South Korea might step in
According to Stuff NZ, the failure of the Hanoi summit led to strained relations between the North and South Korea. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will try to get the summit back on course. He plans to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House and discuss possibilities of renewing talks with North Korea. He could convince President Trump to have a fourth summit with the Kim Jong-un. Moon’s objective is to evolve a peace formula for the Korean peninsula.
