North Korean officials don't show up for meeting with American negotiators, breaking summit promise

American negotiators were left checking their watches Thursday in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, only for their North Korean counterparts to never show up to the planned meeting, Bloomberg reports. It is not the first time North Koreans have stood up U.S. officials, although it does highlight the disparity between President Trump's portrait of a successful summit with Kim Jong Un and the ongoing complexities and hang-ups of negotiations.

The U.S. officials and North Koreans had planned to discuss returning remains of Americans killed in the Korean War nearly 70 years ago — one of the assurances secured by Trump at the Singapore summit. As Bloomberg puts it: "While the details are unclear, a failure to meet on the issue wouldn't bode well for broader negotiations about North Korea’s nuclear program."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has recently returned from his own middling trip to North Korea, which ended with Pyongyang calling the meetings "regrettable."

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