Trump - Kim summit ends without agreement

President Donald Trump’s Hanoi summit with Kim Jong Un meant to demonstrate his diplomatic gamble with North Korea is working, instead ended with no joint agreement after Kim insisted all US sanctions be lifted on his country.

That was a bridge too far for the US President, who said Kim offered to take some steps toward dismantling his nuclear arsenal but not enough to warrant ending the debilitating sanctions regime on the country.

"Sometimes you have to walk," Trump said during a news conference following the conclusion of the summit, which broke up earlier than planned. "This was just one of those times."

But it was evident from early in the summit that Trump was seeking to tamp down expectations, repeating he's in no rush to strike a deal even as North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program.

"I've been saying very much from the beginning that speed is not that important to me," Trump said earlier Thursday at the summit's outset. "Speed is not important to me. What is important is that we do the right deal."

Trump cast the lack of a deal as only a short-term disappointment, even though he'd hoped to come into the talks to be able to point to a new, concrete pathway toward denuclearization. A major agreement struck in Hanoi may also have pushed aside embarrassing headlines about Trump’s former lawyer Michel Cohen testifying the President is a racist conman.

The President, who said scheduling Cohen's testimony during his summit was a "terrible thing," instead suggested the inconclusive talks with Kim were another step in a long process toward convincing the young leader to abandon his nuclear program.

The personal chemistry that Trump has cultivated -- and loudly trumpeted -- with the young despotic leader remains intact, the President insisted.

And the summit ended amicably, without either man storming away.

"It was a very friendly walk," Trump said.

Source: Post Originally appeared in CNN politics.