North Korea has rejected claims by US President Donald Trump that Pyongyang was demanding the lifting of all sanctions during summit talks in Hanoi on Thursday between the president and Kim Jong-un.

Mr Trump said in a press conference after the talks collapsed that he had no choice but to “walk away” without a deal because the North Korean leader insisted that all sanctions be lifted in return for progress on the question of the North’s nuclear weapons. 

In a hastily arranged news conference in the early hours of Friday morning, Ri Yong-ho, the North’s foreign minister, contradicted the president’s comments. 

“What we have asked for was partial lifting of sanctions, not in their entirety”, he…

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