Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that North Korea had freed three American prisoners from detention.
The move, which was confirmed by the US President in a tweet, takes away what The New York Times describes as “a bitter and emotional obstacle” ahead of the planned summit between the president and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.
“The convictions of the trio were widely condemned as political and an abuse of human rights,” says the BBC.
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The White House say the men have been freed as a gesture of goodwill ahead of the meeting, the details of which Trump is expected to announce imminently.
Who are the freed prisoners and why were they detained?
Kim Hak-song
Kim Hak-song, a naturalised US citizen born in China, is an agricultural expert who had been teaching rice-growing at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), writes CNN.
He was originally arrested in Pyongyang on suspicion of “hostile acts” in May 2017, though the details of this charge were never specified.
However, he was ordained as an evangelical Christian pastor with the Oriental Mission Church in Los Angeles, which “could have presented problems in the atheist country”, says CNN.
Kim Sang-duk (or Tony Kim)
Kim Sang-duk, who goes by the name Tony Kim, is a 59-year-old American citizen who had been temporarily teaching an accounting course at PUST.
He was detained at Pyongyang Airport on 22 April 2017 while attempting to fly to China with his wife. He was initially held under the charge of “espionage” and a later report by North Korea accused him of attempting to overthrow the government.
The report said Kim was “intercepted for committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea not only in the past but also during his last stay before interception”.
Kim Dong-chul
Kim Dong-chul, 64, is a South-Korean-born US citizen. He was the longest-serving detainee among the three, having been arrested on 2 October 2015 on suspicion of spying, the Los Angeles Times writes.
In March 2016, the businessman appeared before reporters in a government-staged news conference, apologising for “trying to steal military secrets in collusion with South Koreans”, the New York Times wrote at the time.
He was sentenced to ten years hard labour the following month. He served around 950 days in detention prior to his release this week.
“It’s like a dream and we are very, very happy,” he said upon his return to the US.
