US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that North Korea "basically" wanted the removal of all sanctions in exchange for an unclear commitment to dismantle its main nuclear facility.

Pompeo's account of this week's summit in Hanoi between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un contradicts that of the North Koreans.

After the summit was cut short Thursday without an agreement, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho accused the US of declining an offer to permanently shut down the North's main Yongbyon nuclear facility in exchange for partial sanctions relief.

"They were pretty expansive with respect to what they are prepared to do at Yongbyon but there was still not complete clarity with respect to full scope of what it is they were prepared to offer," Pompeo told a news conference in Manila, according to Reuters.

He said North Korea had "basically asked for full sanctions relief".

Trump told a press conference in Hanoi after the summit that the North Koreans had asked for the removal of all sanctions. (Yonhap)