Trump, Kim Jong Un nuclear summit ends abruptly with no deal reached

US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un abruptly cut short their second summit Thursday without reaching an agreement, a stunning collapse of talks that caused both leaders to leave their Vietnam meeting early and cancel a planned signing ceremony.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the leaders had a “very good and constructive meeting” and discussed ways to advance denuclearization and economic driven concepts.” She said their teams looked forward to meeting “in the future,” but offered no specific time frame.

Both leaders motorcades roared away from the downtown Hanoi summit site within minutes of each other after both a lunch and the signing ceremony were scuttled. Trump’s end-of-summit news conference was moved up and White House aides said he would address the sudden change in plans.

The breakdown came just hours after Trump and Kim appeared to inch toward normalizing relations between their still technically-warring nations as the American leader tamped down expectations that their talks would yield an agreement by the reclusive country to take concrete steps toward ending its nuclear program.

Furthering the spirit of optimism, the leaders had seemed to find a point of agreement moments later when Kim was asked if the U.S. may open a liaison office in North Korea. Trump declared it “not a bad idea” and Kim called it “welcomable.” Such an office would mark the first U.S. presence in North Korea.