Trump, Pence offer hero’s welcome to three Americans freed by North Korea
Three Americans held captive for more than a year in North Korea arrived at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington well before dawn Thursday to a hero’s welcome featuring President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and first lady Melania Trump.
Shortly before 3 a.m., in pitch black skies, a U.S. government plane made its approach to the runway with Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song, having been preceded by a jet carrying Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A large American flag suspended by two fire engine cranes was arranged on the tarmac, which was lit by banks of spotlights.
The plane carrying the three Americans pulled up in front of the giant flag. The president and first lady boarded the plane, while Pence, his wife, Karen, and Pompeo waited on the tarmac. Then Trump emerged followed by the three men, two of whom raised their arms in triumph and relief as they exited the plane.
The men, dressed in sports coats and slacks, with button-down shirts, walked down the staircase slowly but without assistance. And after the three shook hands with the other U.S. officials, Trump led the group toward the assembled media to make remarks.
“We want to thank Kim Jong Un, who was really excellent. . . . The fact we were able to get them out so soon was a tribute to a lot of things including a certain process that is taking place right now,” Trump said.
“This is a special night for these three really great people,” he added, “and congratulations on being in this country.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Kim Dong-chul told reporters that if felt “like a dream. We are very, very happy.” Asked how they were treated in North Korea, he replied: “We were treated in many different ways. Me, I had to do a lot of labor, but when I got sick, I was also treated by them.”
The arrival of the men was the culmination of a whirlwind 20 hours since the three were freed in a dramatic diplomatic moment that White House officials described as a “positive gesture of goodwill” from Kim Jong Un’s regime ahead of his planned summit with Trump.
Pompeo, who spent 13 hours in Pyongyang on Wednesday and met with Kim for 90 minutes, flew the men to a U.S. military base in Japan, where the three were transferred to another plane to ensure complete medical care. Officials have said initial exams showed them to be in relatively good health.
Trump’s decision to greet them in the middle of the night illustrated the political importance the president has attached to their release as a sign that his high-stakes diplomatic gambit with the North is paying dividends. But top administration officials, including Pence, reaffirmed Wednesday that the United States will maintain pressure on the North in pursuit of the goal of dismantling its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Asked if the release of the men changed how he plans to negotiate with Kim, Trump said: “No not at all. We very much appreciate he allowed them to go before the meeting.”
The summit between Trump and Kim is expected to take place in mid- to late June, possibly in Singapore, though the White House has not confirmed the details.
“We’re starting off on a new footing,” Trump said. “This is a wonderful thing that he released the folks early. That was a big thing, very important to me and I really think we have a very good chance of doing something very meaningful.”
To a question about Kim’s motivation, Trump said of the authoritarian leader: “I think he did this because I really think he wants to do something and bring that country into the real world. I really believe that.”
The president and his wife arrived at Andrews aboard Marine One shortly before 2:30 a.m. and they joined the Pences, who had arrived about 30 minutes earlier, in the airport hangar to await the arrival of Pompeo and the three Americans.
Dozens of reporters and television cameras were assembled to capture the triumphant moment as the White House opened the event to the press corps. The news of their release had led the evening news Wednesday on all three major broadcast networks.
Trump sought to credit his North Korea strategy for helping free the men. “This is what people have been waiting for for a long time. Nobody thought we could be on this track in terms of the speed,” he said. “So, I’m very honored to have helped the three folks.”
But the president insisted that “the true honor is going to be if we have a victory in getting rid of nuclear weapons.”
Although Trump has tried to cast the freeing of the Americans as an unprecedented feat, North Korea released two Americans to Obama administration officials in 2014. Two American journalists were released in 2009 to a U.S. delegation led by former president Bill Clinton.
The three Americans released Wednesday were scheduled to depart Andrews for Walter Reed medical center for further evaluation.
In a joint statement released by the State Department, they said: “We would like to express our deep appreciation to the United States government, President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, and the people of the United States for bringing us home. We thank God, and all our families and friends who prayed for us and for our return. God Bless America, the greatest nation in the world.”
One of the Americans, Kim Dong-chul, a former Virginia resident in his mid-60s, had been living in China and working in a special economic zone in the North for a hotel services company when was detained in October 2015.
Tony Kim, 59, an accountant, and Kim Hak-song, an agricultural consultant, were affiliated with Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, and both were detained after Trump took office.
The men were accused of espionage and committing hostile acts against the North Korean government, charges the United States called baseless.
No other Americans are known to be held in North Korea against their will. Japan has said the cases of at least 13 citizens abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s remain unresolved, and dozens of South Koreans are presumed to have been arrested, detained or abducted by the North over the years.
Trump offered words of support to the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died several days after being released by North Korea in a coma after 17 months in captivity. The president called him a “great young man who really suffered” and offered his “warmest respects” to Warmbier’s parents, who Trump called his friends.
The president declined to answer a question about whether he has spoken with Kim Jong Un, and he did not rule out a visit to North Korea in the future.
“It could happen,” Trump said.
It was clear that Trump was basking in the glow of the moment and, ever mindful of production value, he couldn’t help but take credit for something else.
“It’s very early in the morning,” he told reporters. “I think you probably broke the all-time in history television rating for three o’clock in the morning. That I would say.”
President Donald Trump, from left, greets Tony Kim, Kim Hak Song, seen in the shadow, and Kim Dong Chul, three Americans detained in North Korea for more than a year, as they arrive at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Thursday, May 10, 2018. First lady Melania Trump also greet them at right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
FILE – This combination of two file photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaking during a roundtable discussion on tax cuts in Cleveland, Ohio, May 5, 2018 and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, talking with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Panmunjom, South Korea, April 27, 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in North Korea on Wednesday, May 9, 2018, to finalize details of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, Korea Summit Press Pool via AP, File)
FILE – In this May 3, 2018 photo, people watch a TV news report on screen, showing portraits of three Americans, Kim Dong Chul, left, Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song, right, detained in the North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. President Donald Trump says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is on his way back from North Korea with three American detainees, saying they “seem to be in good health.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
FILE – In this April 29, 2016, file photo, Kim Dong Chul, center, a U.S. citizen detained in North Korea, is escorted to his trial in Pyongyang, North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has left North Korea with three American detainees, one of them Kim Dong Chul, who were released ahead of an upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the U.S. president said in a tweet Wednesday.(AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon, File)
FILE – This 2016 file photo provided by the family of Tony Kim, shows him in California. Kim and two other Americans detained in North Korea for more than a year are on their way back to the U.S. with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, May 9, 2018, in the latest sign of improving relations between the two longtime adversary nations. (Tony Kim family via AP, File)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is greeted by senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chul, director of the United Front Department, which is responsible for North-South Korea affairs (left), and Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, on his arrival in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il later and secured the release of three American prisoners ahead of a planned summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Matthew Lee, Pool)
In this Wednesday, May 9, 2018, photo provided on Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the North Korean government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a photo during a meeting at the Workers’ Party of Korea headquarters in Pyongyang, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
A U.S. government plane holding the three Americans detained in North Korea sits on the tarmac at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport waiting to be refueled Wednesday, May 9, 2018, in Anchorage, Alaska. Freed after more than a year in prison, the three Americans flew homeward from North Korea late Tuesday toward a big middle-of-the-night celebration featuring President Donald Trump – the latest sign of improving relations between longtime adversaries in the buildup to a historic summit between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, leaves the White House in Washington, early Thursday, May 10, 2018, to greet three freed Americans detained in North Korea for over a year, who are arriving at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)