With all the news over Trump's upcoming impeachment, this story completely flew under the press radar. Trump officials have continued to deny that its recent nuclear talks with North Korea ended in failure, insisting that "good discussions" were had.
Earlier, North Korea said the meeting had broken down, because the US brought "nothing to the negotiation table".
Officials from the two countries recently met in Sweden, in the hope of breaking their stalemate. However, North Korea's top nuclear envoy Kim Myong Gil spoke to reporters outside the embassy, saying "the negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off".
"The U.S. raised expectations by offering suggestions like a flexible approach, new method and creative solutions, but they have disappointed us greatly," he added. "The U.S. would not give up their old viewpoint and attitude".
The recent failure in talks came (unsurprisingly) just days after North Korea tested a new missile, a significant escalation from the short-range tests it has conducted since May. The missile - able to carry a nuclear weapon - was the North's 11th test this year. Fired from a platform at sea, it appears to be capable of being launched from a submarine, which means North Korea could potentially launch missiles far outside its territory.
Trump officials and North Korea have held two summits so far. The first one in Singapore in 2018 resulted in a vague denuclearization agreement which led to few concrete results. The second summit in Vietnam in February 2019 ended early without any agreement.
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