A planned working lunch between President Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un canceled, and the joint signing ceremony too was cancelled.
The preliminary negotiations between Trump and Kim went over time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters waiting to cover the lunch that it had been called off.
She said that negotiations would be wrapping up in the next 30 minutes after which Trump will return to his hotel for a press conference at 2 p.m. local time.
She declined to comment when asked several times about the signing ceremony, which was originally scheduled for 2 p.m.
The White House later said no joint agreement was reached between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their second summit.
Her statement reads, “No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future.”
Sanders added that, “President Donald J. Trump of the United States and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had very good and constructive meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28, 2019."
Trump's press conference should reveal what went wrong during their bilateral meeting.
South Korea’s stock market dipped suddenly after the news of potential difficulties at the summit broke out, but it quickly recovered some losses.