https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/10/politics/trump-north-korea-thaw/index.html

By Kylie Atwood and Vivian Salama, CNN

Updated 8:30 AM ET, Mon February 10, 2020

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump has told top foreign policy advisers that he does not want another summit with Kim Jong Un before the presidential election in November, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Trump's last meeting with the North Korean dictator took place almost exactly a year ago, and both leaders walked away empty-handed. Since then diplomacy -- aimed at achieving the denuclearization of North Korea -- has floundered, and as Trump focuses on his re-election campaign his appetite to engage on the issue has waned, according to the sources.

Trump expressed his frustration late last year after the first working-level talks between the two countries for 8 months fell apart in October, sources explained. US negotiators believed they were making progress during the talks in Stockholm until the North Koreans claimed they broke down because the US had come "empty handed."

One official familiar with the administration's efforts with North Korea bluntly described the negotiations as "dead." The US government has completely stopped issuing special circumstance permits for travel to North Korea, this person added.

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