Tony Kim, Kim Hak-song, and Kim Dong-Chul were released from North Korea shortly after Mike Pompeo’s visit to that country ended. Three of them arrived in the United States late in the night and were greeted by Mr. President Donald Trump.
All three of them exited US government airplane, showing peace signs to the gathered crowd. Another thing that waited for them was a huge US flag hung between the two trucks to make them feel that they are home again.
Talking to the gathered press, POTUS said: “I want to thank Kim Jong-un. I think he wants to do something and bring that country into the real world. We didn’t think this was going to happen, and it did. It was very important to all of us. The true honor will be if we have a victory in getting rid of nuclear weapons.”
On Wednesday, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo flew to North Korea where he met with Kim and arranged the release of three men. One of the prisoners, Kim Dong-Chul, said: “It’s like a dream, and we are very happy. We were treated in many different ways; I had to do labor.” After landing all three of them were taken to a hospital for a health checkup.
One hour before Mike Pompeo was set to leave NK the freedom of these three men was secured. The photo of Pompeo shaking hands with Kim was published in Rodong Sinmun, which is the official newspaper of the ruling party of North Korea.
Tony Kim, Kim Hak-song, and Kim Dong-Chul were released after a short legal ceremony. For this occasion, North Korean officials also issued a statement which goes as following: “You should take care that they do not make the same mistakes again. This was a hard decision.”
The release of three men happened as a sign of goodwill from Kim Jung-un before the meeting between the leaders of NK and America.
Upon their release, three prisoners issued a joint statement: “We would like to express our deep appreciation to the United States government, president Trump, secretary Pompeo and the people of the United States for bringing us home. We thank God and all our families and friends who prayed for us and for our return. God bless America, the greatest nation in the world.”
In addition to trying to save the three prisoners, Pompeo was also in the NK in order to negotiate some of the details of the Kim/Trump meeting. The named summit will happen in the next few weeks.
After showing sign of goodwill towards the US, South Korea, and Japan are expecting the same because NK holds six South Korean citizens and eight Japanese. Seoul and Tokyo are also looking to work on their release.
Source: theguardian.com
