Tag: Hanoi

When President Donald Trump stunned the world last year by agreeing to hold a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un—the first-ever meeting between an American president and a North Korean head of state—it felt like a punch in the gut to South Korean conservatives. Hard-liners on North Korea, they were already roiling from corruption scandals that had brought down President Park Geun-hye with massive protests in 2016 and led to the election of President Moon Jae-in. Now, after Trump’s abrupt decision late last month to walk out of talks with North Korea during his second summit with Kim, he has pulled the rug out from under South Korean liberals, most of all Moon. South Korea’s president, who has pushed for diplomacy with the North, was all set to celebrate what he thought would be a successful summit in Hanoi. Instead, Trump’s moves on North Korea have roiled South Korea’s politics even more. ...

Aa Aa Summit breakdown High hopes in Hanoi come crashing down as US President Donald Trump walks away from Kim Jong Un. The summit between the US and North Korean leaders ended without a deal after Kim insisted that the US lift all sanctions on the country. The main goal of the summit was to shut down one of North Korea's biggest nuclear plants. While the summit in Hanoi didn't achieve this, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to reaching such an agreement, saying: "Speed is not important to me. What is important is that we do the right deal." Nuclear fears From North Korea and Iran to Pakistan and India — are we in a new era of nuclear proliferation? After the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi ended with no promises of denuclearisation, some have begun to worry that nuclear weapons may once again become a pressing threat. As the US and Russia have pledged to withdraw from the INF treaty, global worries have only grown. Hitting a bad note After 15 years of participation, Ukraine has made the decision to step aside from this year's Eurovision Song Contest amid a controversial contractual disagreement with its nominee. Watch Thursday's full Raw Politics episode by clicking on the player above.

President Donald Trump defended North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un when confronted Thursday about American college student Otto Warmbier, who died days after he was repatriated from the pariah state with brain damage. “He tells me he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word,” Trump said of how he could continue calling the young dictator “my friend.” Trump said he has talked to Kim about Warmbier, and that Kim “feels very badly.” “I don’t believe that he would have allowed that to happen. It just wasn’t to his advantage,” Trump added. “Those prisons are rough, rough places and bad things happen.” The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, was touring North Korea when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda sign. He was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor. North Korean officials have said Warmbier suffered a brain injury after contracting botulism, a form of poisoning, but U.S. doctors found no evidence of the condition. After Warmbier’s death, Trump vowed to press North Korea on its abysmal human rights record. But as Trump has sought to seal the denuclearization of North Korea in talks with Kim, the issue has been relegated to the back burner. Human rights was not on the agenda at either of the summits, although in Singapore Trump briefly said the meeting wouldn’t have happened without Warmbier.