A joint agreement widely expected to break the nuclear deadlock between the United States and North Korea waited to be inked by their leaders. But the signing ceremony was cancelled abruptly as US President Donald Trump walked away, citing demands from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for sanctions against the regime to be “lifted in their entirety” as the reason. Dr Graham Ong-Webb of RSIS said the first round of Trump-Kim talks, held in Singapore last June, were “shaky to begin with” and did not lay a strong foundation for future negotiations.