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Three American citizens who'd been held prisoner in North Korea were expected to arrive in Washington, D.C. early Thursday morning. They were on the plane with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He'd travelled to North Korea to finale some of the preparations for a historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The White House called the prisoners' release a gesture of goodwill by North Korea, and President Trump said he was honored by the fact that the men were coming home.
Kim Dong Chul had been in North Korea since 2015 and accused of spying for South Korea, a U.S. ally. Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song were arrested last spring as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea were heating up.
But as we've talked about this year, those tensions have called off significantly, so much so that the two countries' leaders are expected to hold their first ever face to face meeting in a matter of weeks.
The Trump administration says its maximum pressure campaign on North Korea has worked to bring the communist country back to the negotiating table.
That campaign included the international economic penalties on North Korea that the U.S. supported. But North Korea refuted that, accusing the U.S. of provoking it and threatening the dialogue between the nations. Either way, the meeting between their leaders is still on. The White House says its location will be announced in a matter of days, though President Trump says the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is no longer being considered.
