Trump welcomes Americans freed by North Korea

President Donald Trump early Thursday morning welcomed three Americans freed Wednesday by North Korea and expressed hope about the outcome of the upcoming summit between the two countries’ leaders. The president and first lady Melania Trump briefly boarded the plane to privately welcome the men after they landed at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington, D.C. After speaking to the president, the men walked out to the cheers of U.S. service members on the tarmac. The released prisoners included Kim Dong Chul, who began a 10-year sentence with hard labor in April 2016. North Korean officials detained the other two men, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, last year on anti-state charges, but they had yet to face any formal charges. “Frankly we didn’t think it was going to happen, and it did,” Trump told reporters as he thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their release. “The true honor is going to be if we have a victory in getting rid of the nuclear weapons.” In a joint statement from the men released by the U.S. State Department, they thanked the administration for securing their release. “We thank God, and all our families and friends who prayed for our return,” the men said. Their release comes after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongchang earlier this week to discuss the upcoming summit with Trump. The president announced Wednesday that the summit, scheduled for later this month or early in June, will not take place at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. The White House has declined to release other details about the meeting.