North Korea Releases 3 American Political Prisoners In Advance Of Historic Summit

Willa Frej
Updated

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departed North Korea on Wednesday with three Americans the country had been holding in captivity, another sign that relations between the U.S. and North Korea are warming in advance of a first-of-its-kind nuclear summit.

President Donald Trump announced the prisoners’ release on Twitter, noting that they appeared to be in good health and applauding Pompeo’s “good meeting” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pompeo tweeted an hour later that he was “delighted to bring home” the three liberated Americans.

Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang was timed with Trump’s declaration that the U.S. would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. His meeting with Kim follows the North Korean leader’s second secret trip to China.

Kim Hak-song, Kim Dong-chul, and Kim Sang-duk, who is more commonly referred to as Tony Kim, were due to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base at 2 a.m Thursday, according to Trump’s tweets.

“I will be there to greet them,” Trump tweeted. “Very exciting!”

In a statement following the announcement, Tony Kim’s family thanked Trump for “engaging directly with North Korea.”

“We are very grateful for the release of our husband and father, Tony Kim, and the other two American detainees,” the family wrote. “We ask that you continue to pray for the people of North Korea and for the release of all who are still being held.”

Hak-song, who had been doing research at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, was detained in May 2017 and accused of “hostile acts.” Dong-chul, accused of spying, was arrested in 2015 but sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in April 2016. Tony Kim, who had been living in North Korea with his wife, taught for a time at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. He, too, was accused of “hostile criminal acts” against the regime and was detained in April 2017.

Trump hinted last week that the release could be imminent, tweeting that people should “Stay tuned!” There was no elaboration until Pompeo’s departure from Pyongyang on Wednesday.

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Trump’s unconventional approach to launching a dialogue with the reclusive North Korean regime consisted of wrangling with both the South Koreans and the Chinese to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table. Pompeo also made a secret trip to North Korea prior to his confirmation, while he was still CIA director.

Trump and Kim plan to meet either this month or next in a location that has yet to be determined. Despite the fanfare surrounding the significance of such a meeting, experts have expressed caution that Kim will commit to meaningful steps toward denuclearization.

“The fact that we have the opportunity to change direction here and go in a more peaceful one and having it occur so quickly is good news,” said John McHugh, an Atlantic Council board director and former secretary of the U.S. Army. “But the lesson there is that we could very rapidly, if the upcoming summit is a failure, return to that [earlier] posture, which was an extraordinarily dangerous one.”

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met last week in another historic gathering, jointly committing to ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. The two leaders also agreed to officially end the Korean War after 65 years.

Hayley Miller contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.