President Donald Trump welcomed the three American prisoners that were released by North Korea Thursday morning, marking an important diplomatic moment between the two nations.
According to The New York Times, the freed prisoners, Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song, were escorted back to the U.S. by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, arriving at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington at 2:42 a.m. Thursday.
As they landed Trump and First Lady Melania Trump boarded the plane to meet the released prisoners before accompanying them to the tarmac.
“The fact we were able to get them out so soon was a tribute to a lot of things,” Trump said to a crowd of journalists. “I just want to say, this is a special night.”
“I’m very honored to have helped these great folks, but the true honor is going to be if we have a victory in getting rid of nuclear weapons,” he added, hinting to the planned meeting between the U.S. and North Korea.
“We have a meeting scheduled in a very short period of time. We have the location set. We’ll see if we can do something that people did not think was going to happen for many, many years.”
Trump later thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for freeing the hostages, but when asked if he had spoken to Kim, Trump replied, “I don’t want to comment.”
The President announced the detainees’ much-anticipated release via Twitter on Wednesday morning:
“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 that everyone is looking so forward to meeting.”
The release came during Pompeo’s second visit to North Korea this year.
In his latest trip, The Times reported that Pompeo secured the Americans’ freedom Wednesday after ensuring stronger ties with North Korea in exchange for the country’s promise to desert its nuclear weapons program.
“For decades, we have been adversaries,” Pompeo said during a lunch hosted by the North Koreans. “Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict, take away threats to the world and make your country have all the opportunities your people so richly deserve.”
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