Trump: Three US detainees released from North Korea
May 9, 2018
The White House has described their release as a "positive gesture of good will." Analysts believe North Korea is trying to shore up support for sanctions relief as it shifts from its "weapons phase" to development.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Advertisement
US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that State Secretary Mike Pompeo had successfully secured the released of three American citizens detained in North Korea.
The president said Pompeo was on his way back to the US from Pyongyang with the three released prisoners, adding that the former detainees appeared "to be in good health."
Who are three US citizens released by North Korea?
Kim Hak-song, who is in his mid-50s, was working at Pyongyang's University of Science and Technology (PUST), specializing in agricultural development, at the time of his arrest. Born in Jilin, China, Kim went to university in California and continued to live in the US for 10 years. He subsequently moved back to China before going on to work in Pyongyang. He was arrested in May 2017 on suspicion of planning to commit "hostile acts" against the government.
Kim Sang-duk, who also goes by the name Tony Kim, is a former professor at China's Yanbian University of Science and Technology, close to the Korean border. The university website lists his speciality as accounting. South Korea media reported that Kim, who is reportedly in his 50s, had taken part in relief work in North Korea's rural areas and also taught at PUST. He was arrested at Pyongyang airport in April 2017 for committing "criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn" North Korea, according to the North's official news agency. It remains unknown what specific crime Kim is supposed to have committed.
Kim Dong-chulis a South Korea-born American businessman and pastor in his 60s. He was arrested in October 2015 after allegedly receiving a USB stick containing confidential military information and nuclear secrets from a North Korea soldier. He was charged in April 2016 with subversion and espionage, and sentenced to 10 years' hard labor. In 2016 he told CNN he had previously run a hotel services company in North Korea's special economic zone of Rason, located near the border with China and Russia.
The parents of US tourist Otto Warmbier, who died after being imprisoned in North Korea, say he was tortured. His case is an extreme example when compared to other US citizens who have been held captive by Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
'Crimes against the state'
In 2016, US student Otto Warmbier was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster as a "trophy." He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "crimes against the state." In June 2017, he was returned by North Korea to the US in a coma and died a week later. What happened to him in captivity is a mystery. His death prompted a ban on US citizens traveling to North Korea.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/MAXPPP
'Subversion and espionage'
Kim Dong Chul, a South Korea-born US citizen, was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years hard labor for "subversion and espionage" after North Korean officials said he received a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from a South Korean source in North Korea. Chul was arrested while visiting the special economic zone of Rason. He remains imprisoned and his condition is unknown.
Image: Reuters/KCNA
'Trying to overthrow the regime'
In 2013, North Korea sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years hard labor for "crimes against the state." He was arrested while on a tour group in the port city of Rason. A North Korean court described Bae as a militant Christian evangelist. He was allowed to talk to the media once, and said he was forced to work eight hours a day and was in poor health. Bae was released in November 2014.
Image: Reuters/KCNA
'Rash behavior' and 'hostile acts'
In 2013, US citizen Matthew Miller was arrested when he arrived in Pyongyang and reportedly tore up his US passport, demanding asylum in North Korea. He was later sentenced to six years of hard labor on charges of espionage. The court said Miller had a "wild ambition" to experience prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea's human rights situation. He was released in 2014.
Image: Reuters/KCNA
'Criminal involved in killing civilians'
In 2013, Merrill Newman an 85-year-old Korean War US Army veteran, was detained for one month in North Korea. Arrested as he was departing, he was accused of "masterminding espionage and subversive activities." He was freed after he expressed "sincere repentance" and read a statement that said he was "guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against the DPRK government and Korean people."
Image: Reuters
Freed by a diplomatic gesture
US journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were captured in 2009 after briefly entering North Korea to report on refugees. After a month in confinement, they were sentenced to 12 years hard labor for "illegal entry and "hostile acts." Two months later, after former US President Bill Clinton met with former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, the two women were pardoned and freed.
Image: AP
6 images1 | 6
A 'gesture of good will'
The White House said in a statement that it viewed the release of the three American detainees as a "positive gesture of good will" leading up to the Trump's historic summit North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The family of Tony Kim, one of the three released American citizens, said they were grateful for his release and thanked Trump for engaging with the North Korean regime.
Commenting after the release, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said: "I think there is reason for some optimism that these talks could be fruitful."
But South Korea said that while the move has a "positive effect" ahead of the planned talks between Trump and Kim, it was still calling on Pyongyang to release six South Korean detainees "in order to reinforce reconciliation."
North Korea is hoping that the summit will lead to sanctions relief and greater access to international trade. Analysts at the Washington-based 38 North think tank believe Pyongyang is turning to economic development after finishing its "weapons phase."
According to US officials, there has been "substantial progress" on setting up the Trump-Kim meeting. Media reports in South Korea and the US have suggested that the meeting will likely take place in Singapore towards the end of May or June.
The truth and myths of the Kim dynasty
The Kim family has ruled North Korea for the last seven decades, with state-run propaganda praising Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un as godlike figures. DW looks at the rulers behind the myths.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
A young leader
Kim Il Sung, the first and "eternal" president of North Korea, took power in 1948 with the support of the Soviet Union. The official calendar in North Korea begins with his birth year, 1912, designating it "Juche 1" after the state's Juche ideology. He was 41 when, as shown here, he signed the 1953 armistice that effectively ended the Korean War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Hero worship
In the years and decades after the war, Pyongyang's propaganda machine worked hard to weave a mythical narrative around Kim Il Sung. His childhood and the time he spent fighting Japanese troops in the 1930s were embellished to portray him as an unrivaled military and political genius.
At the 1980 party congress, Kim announced he would be succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Ruling to the end
In 1992, Kim Il Sung started writing and publishing his memoirs, entitled "Reminiscences: With the Century." Describing his childhood, the North Korean leader claims that he first joined an anti-Japanese rally at 6 years old and became involved with the independence struggle at 8.
The memoirs remained unfinished at Kim Il Sung's death in 1994.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/JIJI Press
In his father's footsteps
After spending years in the top tiers of the regime, Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death. Kim Jong Il's 16-year rule was marked by famine and economic crisis in an already impoverished country. However, the cult of personality surrounding him and his father, Kim Il Sung, grew even stronger.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/KCNA via Korean News Service
Rising star
Historians outside North Korea believe Kim Jong Il was born in a military camp in eastern Russia, most likely in 1941. However, the leader's official biography claims it happened on the sacred Korean mountain Paektu, exactly 30 years after his father, on April 15, 1942. A North Korean legend says the birth was blessed by a new star and a double rainbow.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Family trouble
Kim Jong Il had three sons and two daughters with three different women. This 1981 photo shows Kim Jong Il sitting besides his son Kim Jong Nam, with his sister-in-law and her two children in the background. Kim Jong Nam was eventually assassinated in 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Grooming a successor
In 2009, Western media reported that Kim Jong Il had picked his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, to take over as the head of the regime. The two appeared together at a military parade on 2010, a year before Kim Jong Il passed away.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Yu
Together
According to Pyongyang, the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011 was marked by a series of mysterious events. State media reported that ice snapped loudly at a lake on the Paektu mountain during a sudden snowstorm, with a glowing message appearing on the rocks.
After Kim Jong Il's death, a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of him was erected next to the one of his father (l.) in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Mysterious past
Kim Jong Un mostly stayed out of the spotlight before his ascent to power. His exact age is disputed, but he is believed to have been born between 1982 and 1984. He was reportedly educated in Switzerland. In 2013, he surprised the world by meeting with former NBA star Dennis Rodman in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A new cult
Like the leaders before him, Kim Jong Un is hallowed by the state's totalitarian regime. In 2015, South Korean media reported about a new teacher's manual in the North that claimed Kim Jong Un could drive at the age of 3. In 2017, state media said that a monument to the young leader would be build on Mount Paektu.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Kctv
A Kim with a hydrogen bomb
Altough Kim took power at a younger age and with less of a public profile than his father and grandfather, he has managed to maintain his grip on power. The assassination of his half-brother Kim Jong Nam in 2017 served to cement his reputation abroad as a merciless dictator. The North Korean leader has also vastly expanded the country's nuclear arsenal.
