Trump hails release of American citizens: Yonhap

By Lim Chang-won Posted : May 10, 2018, 09:59 Updated : May 10, 2018, 09:59

[Yonhap News Photo]


WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that three American detainees have been released from North Korea and that the date and venue of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been set.

"I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health," Trump tweeted. "Also, good meeting with Kim Jong Un. Date & Place set," Trump said.'

Trump said Pompeo and the detainees will be arriving at Andrews Air Force Base at 2 a.m. Thursday. "I will be there to greet them. Very exciting!" Trump said.

The North's release of the three Korean Americans, who have been held for as long as two years and seven months, is a goodwill gesture designed to show Trump ahead of the summit that the North is serious about improving relations with the U.S. The three men -- Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-chul -- were detained in North Korea on charges of espionage or "hostile acts" against the regime.

North Korea has previously used American detainees as leverage to force the U.S. to deal with the regime. The two countries have not established formal diplomatic ties. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the North in August 2009 in a private capacity to bring home two American journalists detained in the country.

Another former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, made a trip to Pyongyang in August 2010 to win the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a U.S. citizen who was held in the communist state for about seven months. In November 2014, James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, made a secret visit to the North to bring home two detained Americans, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller.

Most recently, then-top U.S. nuclear envoy Joseph Yun visited Pyongyang in June to win the release of American college student Otto Warmbier. He was found in a coma and died shortly after returning home.
(Yonhap)
 
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