Aju Business Daily

HANOI -- North Korea blamed the United States of spurning a "realistic" deal and dismissed what President Donald Trump explained in cutting crucial talks in Vietnam. The North's argument was more specific and calm and had no provocative remarks.

As a deal breaker, Trump pointed to North Korea's demand for the complete lifting of sanctions. "Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn't do that," he said after the two leaders walked away from the dialogue table at a Hanoi hotel.

Trump said that Kim had a different vision of denuclearization, although it's a lot closer than a year ago. "And I think eventually we will get there, but for this particular vision, we decided we had to walk, and we will see what happens."

Hours after Trump left Hanoi, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho held a news conference to put blame on to Trump, insisting Kim had wanted partial sanctions relief in his "realistic" proposals, based on the principle of confidence building and phased resolution as agreed in the first summit in Singapore eight months ago.

"What we want is not the removal of all sanctions but partial removal," Ri said in a calm voice, adding the North asked the U.S. to ease some sanctions imposed under U.N. resolutions, which were adopted in 2016 and 2017, that hinder the private economy and people's livelihoods.

The North proposed that if such sanctions were lifted, engineers from the two countries could work jointly to permanently shut down all facilities used to produce nuclear materials in Yongbyon in the presence of U.S. experts, Ri said. "This is denuclearization measures of the greatest stride we can bear at this stage, given the current level of trust between DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S."

North Korea also offered to provide a written pledge on the permanent suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests, he said, adding that North Korea saw partial sanctions relief as countermeasures as the U.S. side would still be burdened to take action in the military area.

For Pyongyang, Washington's security guarantee was a more important issue, Ri said. North Korea has insisted that it developed nuclear arsenal as a "treasured sword" to deter U.S. attacks and ensure the survival of its regime.

"It is hard to say at this stage whether a better consensus can be reached than what we have proposed," the minister said, accusing the U.S. side of insisting strongly that there should be "one more thing" than the shutdown of facilities in Yongbyon. "It became clear that the U.S. is not ready to accept our proposal."

Ri stressed that Pyongyang would not miss a hard-won opportunity for dialogue with Washington. "Our principled position will remain unchanged at all, and if the U.S. is to propose negotiations again in the future, our position will remain unchanged."

However, his deputy could not control her emotions, saying Kim might have lost his enthusiasm for bargaining with Trump. "I got the impression that (Kim) may have lost his enthusiasm for such a deal between (North Korea) and the U.S. down the road," said Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.

On his way back home on Air Force One, Trump asked South Korean President Moon Jae-in to play an "active mediating role." Moon agreed to do so, hinting at a fresh round of talks with Kim.