North Korea Releases 3 US Detainees From Labor Camps, Negotiating Return
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Peace Process Rolling
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Date: May 01, 2018 01:30PM
A head of the planned meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and an unprecedented thaw in the relationship between North and South Koreas, Pyongyang decided to release the three Korean-Americans detained in the country's labor camps Tuesday.
Choi Sung-ryong, a representative of the families of the prisoners, told South Korean news outlet Naver: "We talked with a source in North Korea today. North Korean authorities released Kim Dong-cheol, Kim Sang-deok and Kim Hak-seong, who were in jail at the labor correction center in early April, and they are currently in a ‘course’ where they are treated and educated at a hotel outside Pyongyang.”
Choi added that the source revealed North Korea was negotiating with the United States about the best way to get the detainees back home. One of the ways involved was releasing them back on the day of the Trump-Kim summit, although no specific date has been finalized yet for the meeting.
Newly appointed National Security Advisor John Bolton told Fox News on Sunday: "If North Korea releases the detained Americans before the North-US summit, it will be an opportunity to demonstrate their authenticity."
Dong-chul is a South Korea-born American pastor who was arrested and detained by North Korea in 2015 on the charge of spying. He was sentenced to 10 years hard labor in 2016. Hak-song and Sang-duk were both working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, when they were detained last year on suspicion of "hostile acts."
After being released from the labor camp, the three men were undergoing “ideological education such as receiving health treatment” because they were believed to have “deteriorated” during their imprisonment.
://www.ibtimes.com/north-korea-releases-3-us-detainees-labor-camps-negotiating-return-2676816