North Korea frees American detainees

WASHINGTON — United States President Donald Trump celebrated the return Thursday of three Americans freed by North Korea and suggested their release heralded a potential breakthrough toward the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

With the former detainees by his side on a dark airbase tarmac, Trump said during a made-forTV ceremony that it was a “great honour” to welcome the men back to the U.S., but he added that “the true honour is going to be if we have a victory in getting rid of nuclear weapons.”

Vice-President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, other top officials and first lady Melania joined Trump in the highly scripted celebration in the wee hours of Thursday morning at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. The men — Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim — had been released amid a warming of relations between the adversaries.

Trump thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for releasing the Americans and said he believes Kim wants to reach an agreement on denuclearization at their upcoming summit.

Shortly before 3 a.m. the president and first lady boarded the medical plane on which the men had travelled. The group then emerged at the top of the airplane stairway, where the men held up their arms in an exuberant display.

The White House carefully choreographed the event, inviting reporters to witness the return.

The highly public display stood in stark contrast to the low-key and very private reception that the State Department had envisioned, in keeping with a tradition of trying to protect potentially traumatized victims from being thrust into the spotlight so soon after their ordeal.

North Korea had accused the three Korean-Americans of antistate activities. The arrests were seen as politically motivated.