To have assumed last weekend’s working-level discussions between U.S. and North Korean negotiators would result in a groundbreaking diplomatic achievement would have been a fool’s errand, but very few anticipated that the dialogue would collapse so quickly.

Days after news of the impasse first broke, it’s difficult to determine why the U.S.-North Korea talks in Sweden ended so abruptly after only eight and a half hours.

Both sides have issued completely conflicting statements, further muddying the waters. North Korean chief negotiator Kim Myong Gil strongly condemned the U.S