President Trump meets with Kim Jong Un

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was "unprepared" to meet US demands.

"We didn't get to something that made sense for the United States of America. I think Chairman Kim was hopeful that we would. We asked him to do more. He was unprepared to do that. But I'm still optimistic," he said.

Pompeo went on to say the negotiations will take time.

"I think as we continue to work on this days and the weeks ahead we can make progress so that -- we can achieve what it is that the world wants which is to denuclearize North Korea and reduce risk for the American people and the people around the world," he said.

Responding to a question about whether it was North Korea's desire to see the back of sanctions which derailed talks, Trump said it was.

"Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn't do that," he said.

"We haven't given up anything," Trump added, saying he looked forward to future talks with North Korea. "They have tremendous potential, unbelievable."

"He wants to denuke, he just wants to do areas that are less important than what we want," Trump said of Kim.

He added that ultimately the breakdown of the summit "was about sanctions."

Trump said Kim promised he would not do future nuclear or rocket testing.

"He has a certain vision and it's not exactly our vision, but it's a lot closer than it was a year ago and I think eventually we'll get there," Trump said of the North Korean leader. "For this particular visit we decided that we had to walk."

Trump acknowledged that "there is a gap" between the two sides and said Kim appeared willing to denuclearize certain portions of his country "that are less important than we want."

President Trump said he had a "really productive time" during discussions with North Korean leader Kim.

But he added it "wasn't a thing to be signing anything" today.

"He's quite a guy, quite a character," Trump said of Kim. "We had some options but at this time we decided not to do any of the options."

"Sometimes you have to walk," the President added. "This was just one of those times."

Watch below: Trump, Pompeo discuss why the summit ended

President Trump is speaking at a news conference following the abrupt end of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

He opened his remarks by discussing the situation with India and Pakistan.

Ahead of President Trump addressing the press after his meetings with North Korean leader Kim ended without agreement, a South Korean government official told CNN “we’re as perplexed as the world now.”

“The whole world was waiting for an agreement and so were we,” the official added.

The South Korean stock market fell on the news of the summit’s early end, closing down 1.8%.

President Trump will hold a news conference soon after his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were cut short.

The White House said Trump and Kim could not reach an agreement during their extensive talks Thursday.

"No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future," press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Follow us here for the latest or watch the conference live in the video player at the top of the page.

Former State Department spokesman and CNN analyst John Kirby said the “talks had to have broken down at some point,” adding it was likely “to do with the very large gap of expectations on both sides.”

“On one hand, that’s disappointing obviously because it would behoove everybody to move forward with some sort of framework for negotiations,” he said. “That said, I’m not inclined to fault the President for being willing to walk away -- there is some strength in that.” 

He added that “many people were expecting him to just give away the farm going into this summit. That he didn’t do that and was willing to walk away shows how big the gap was, but it also tells you he was not willing to deal for the sake of dealing, and that’s encouraging.”

The White House says no joint agreement was reached between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their closely watched second summit.

“No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in a statement.

Sanders added: “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."

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After their planned working lunch was called off, amid speculation a signing ceremony may not be taking place today either, the motorcades for both President Trump and North Korean leader Kim are now en route back to their hotels.

South Korean stocks continued to fall after the apparent change in summit schedule between the two leaders.