North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to meet again with President Donald Trump to continue nuclear negotiations after a two-day summit between the leaders collapsed Thursday amid discord over sanctions and conflicting accounts of Pyongyang's demands.
Kim's pledge was released Friday through North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA in a report that presented a more optimistic outlook than the regime's top diplomats gave in a rare news conference hours earlier. Kim expressed appreciation for Trump's "active efforts toward results" and called the summit talks "productive."
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho previously disputed Trump's claim that Kim had demanded a complete removal of economic sanctions — which the U.S. president said led him to break off talks. Another top regime diplomat signaled a hardening stance, telling reporters Kim may have "lost the will" to make a deal on his country's nuclear program.