Trump thanks Kim Jong Un for releasing 3 U.S. prisoners
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trump said it would be held in a few weeks time1 president donald trump welcomed three former u.s. prisoners at a military base near washington on thursday thanking north korean leader kim jong un for their release and sounding upbeat on a planned summit between the two sides1 frankly we didnt think it was going to happen and it did trump said after thanking kim for releasing the men1 were starting off on a new footing. this is a wonderful thing that he released the folks early1 trump said he believed kim wanted to bring north korea into the real world and was hopeful of a major breakthrough at their planned meeting1 i think we have a very good chance of doing something very meaningful trump said1 my proudest achievement will be this is part of it when we denuclearize that entire peninsula1 trump and kim engaged in a bellicose exchange of rhetoric last year over north koreas development of nuclear missiles capable of reaching the u. s. in defiance of un security council resolutions1 tensions began to ease coinciding with the norths participation in the winter olympics in south korea in february1 details of the planned summit have yet to be announced but one u.s. official said singapore had emerged as the most likely venue1 trump and his wife melania boarded the plane for about five minutes before the men stepped out shaking hands with the president and waving to waiting media and military personnel1 a white house spokeswoman said the three former prisoners would be taken to walter reed national military medical centre in nearby maryland for further medical evaluation1 they are korean-american missionary kim dong-chul detained in 2015 and sentenced in 2016 to 10 years hard labor kim sang-duk also known as tony kim who spent a month teaching at the foreign-funded pyongyang university of science and technology pust before he was arrested in 2017 and kim hak-song who also taught at pust and was detained last year1 i was treated in many different ways but overall i had to do much labor and when i became ill i received some treatment kim dong-chul said via a translator1 the three had earlier given their thanks in a statement released by the state department as their plane stopped over in alaska1 we would like to express our deep appreciation to the united states government president trump secretary pompeo and the people of the u. s. for bringing us home the men said1 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 world1 north korean state media said they were arrested either for subversion or hostile acts against the government1 until now the only american released by north korea during trumps presidency was otto warmbier a 22-year-old university student who returned to the united states in a coma last summer after 17 months of captivity and died days later1 the release of the last u.s. detainees in north korea appeared to signal an effort by kim to improve the tone for the summit and followed his recent pledge to suspend missile tests and shut a nuclear bomb test site1 a u.s. official speaking on the condition of anonymity said singapore had emerged as the likeliest location for the planned summit after trump ruled out holding it at the heavily fortified demilitarised zone between north and south korea.reutersnan1