2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

Asia Pacific> Asia News> Content
Wednesday, May 09, 2018, 22:30
Trump: Pompeo brings 3 freed Americans back from DPRK
By Agencies
Wednesday, May 09, 2018, 22:30 By Agencies

In this file photo released by the US government on April 26, 2018, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-un, right, shakes hands with Mike Pompeo, now US Secretary of State, in Pyongyang. (HO / US GOVERNMENT / AFP)

WASHINGTON/PYONGYANG – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is bringing three released US citizens back from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), US President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday. 

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 

Donald Trump, US President

"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," Trump tweeted.

Saying that the three "seem to be in good health," Trump added they would land at Andrews Air Force Base at 2:00 am.

The US leader said he will be there to greet them. The three men had been detained in the DPRK for months. 

Trump also tweeted "Date & Place set" during Pompeo's second visit to Pyongyang, indicating the time and place for his expected meeting with DPRK leader Kim Jong-un had been decided on as Pompeo had a "good meeting” with Kim Jong-un.  

US media earlier reported that Pompeo had arrived in Pyongyang Wednesday to hold talks with Kim.

The three Americans are: Korean-American missionary Kim Dong-chul; Kim Sang-duk, also known as Tony Kim, who spent a month teaching at the foreign-funded Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) before he was arrested in 2017; and Kim Hak-song, who also taught at PUST.

Until now, the only American released by DPRK during Trump's presidency has been Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old university student who returned to the United States in a coma last summer after 17 months of captivity and died days later.

READ MORE: Doctors say US student freed by DPRK has brain damage

Warmbier's death escalated US-DPRK tensions, already running high at the time over Pyongyang's stepped-up missile tests.

Pompeo's visit comes a day after Kim made his second trip to China in less than two months, meeting President Xi Jinping and discussing the ongoing international talks over DPRK's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

During the visit, announced only after it was over, Kim told Xi he hoped relevant parties would take "phased" and "synchronized" measures to realize denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Separately, Trump and Xi discussed developments on the Korean peninsula and Kim's visit to China during a phone call on Tuesday morning, the White House said.

'SHOW SINCERITY'

Also on Wednesday, the official DPRK media asked the US to show "etiquette and sincerity" as a dialogue partner.

In a commentary, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) criticized the US for saying the DPRK's commitment to denuclearization was the "result of maximum pressure." 

"This nonsense is a sophistry that can be made only by those with the Cold War way of thinking and such rude remarks may reverse the situation in the peninsula," the article said. 

ALSO READ: DPRK says US ruining mood of detente ahead of summit

The KCNA said the Washington Post had written that the present climate in the peninsula was attributable to DPRK leader Kim and was the result of his self-confidence. 

The article also referred to President Trump, along with other world leaders, welcoming the Panmunjom summit between Kim and President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in April.

"This shows that the recent north-south summit and the Panmunjom Declaration are an epoch-making event guaranteeing peace and security in the peninsula and the region, and meet the interests of the US," the article said. 

Share this story