SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea is expected to release three US detainees as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Wednesday, an official at the South’s presidential office said according to the Yonhap news agency.
Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang to discuss preparations for a summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump on the North’s nuclear weapons.
But the three Korean-Americans detained in the North is a significant domestic political issue and Trump hinted last week of imminent news after sources said they had been relocated ahead of a possible release.
Yonhap cited a Blue House official as saying: “We expect him to bring… the captives.”
Kim Dong-chul, a South Korea-born American pastor, has been detained in the North since 2015 when he was arrested for spying. He was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labor in 2016.
Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang-duk — or Tony Kim — were both working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, founded by evangelical Christians from overseas when they were detained last year on suspicion of “hostile acts”.
Six South Koreans are also being held — three Christian missionaries and three defectors originally from the North — with Seoul also pushing for their release.
© Agence France-Presse