U.S President Donald Trump on Thursday welcomed the arrival of three Americans released by North Korea a day earlier in yet another conciliatory gesture ahead of the upcoming summit between the two countries.
Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song -- all Korean-Americans who were detained on charges of espionage or "hostile acts" against the communist regime -- were set free after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang for the second time in 40 days.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump greeted them at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, in a ceremony that apparently highlighted his administration's major diplomatic coup ahead of the November midterm elections.
Kim Dong-chul, a Christian missionary, was arrested on spying charges in the North's special economic zone in Rason in October 2015.
Tony Kim, whose Korean name is Kim Sang-dok, was arrested on charges of hostile acts at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport in April last year. He was about to leave the North after his stint as a visiting professor at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).
Kim Hak-song was detained for alleged hostile acts at Pyongyang Station in May last year when he was waiting to return to his home in Dandong, China. Before the arrest, he worked at PUST sharing agricultural technologies.
The reclusive state has long been suspected of using American detainees as bargaining chips in its negotiations with Washington.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet for an unprecedented summit later this month or in July, following Kim's historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in late last month.
The upcoming summit is likely to be a stiff test of Trump's ability to negotiate an end to Pyongyang's fast-advancing nuclear program, a goal that has eluded his predecessors for decades.
This is the official channel of WIKITREE, Social Network News Service in Seoul, South Korea.
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