3 Americans could soon be back in U.S.
SEOUL — President Trump added to speculation that North Korea may make a goodwill gesture before his planned summit with leader Kim Jong Un when he tweeted of a possible update soon on the status of three detained Americans.
Trump tweeted Wednesday: “As everybody is aware, the past Administration has long been asking for three hostages to be released from a North Korean Labor camp, but to no avail. Stay tuned!”
Of the three Americans currently known to be held in North Korea, two were arrested after Trump took office — meaning the Obama administration would not have sought their release.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, suggested on Thursday afternoon that Trump was including Otto Warmbier among the three hostages the president had referred to in his Twitter post. Warmbier, an American college student, was detained in North Korea in January 2016. He was flown back to the United States last June in a vegetative state and died at a hospital in Ohio shortly after.
Here’s a brief look at the three detained U.S. citizens:
⏩ Kim Hak-song was arrested on May 6, 2017 for alleged anti-state activities. He worked in agricultural development at an experimental farm run by the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. The university is the only privately funded college in North Korea and was founded in 2010 with donations from Christian groups.
⏩ Tony Kim, also known as Kim Sang-duk, was detained on April 22, 2017 at the Pyongyang airport. He taught accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. He was accused of committing unspecified criminal acts intended to overthrow the government.
⏩ Kim Dong-chul has been held in North Korea since October 2015. The South Korean-born U.S. citizen is the only one of the three who was detained during the Obama administration. The former Virginia resident was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor after being convicted of espionage. He reportedly ran a trade and hotel service company in Rason, a special economic zone on North Korea’s border with Russia.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim discussed the three Americans last month when Pompeo visited North Korea.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said the release of the Americans would be a “demonstration of their sincerity” in the lead-up to the summit.
Press Secretary Sanders said she “couldn’t confirm the validity” of reports about the hostages’ release, referring to a Thursday interview during which Rudy Giuliani — who recently joined the president’s legal team — said the three Americans would be released “today.”
Asked if Giuliani was authorized to discuss foreign policy on the Trump administration’s behalf, Sanders said: “Not that I’m aware of.”