5/9/2018

MIKE POMPEO/NORTH KOREA/PRISONERS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump welcomed three Americans who had been held prisoner in North Korea back home on Thursday [5-10-18], thanking its leader Kim Jong Un for their release and sounding upbeat about a planned U.S.-North Korea summit.The former prisoners, freed after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang for a second meeting with Kim in less than six weeks, landed at around 2:40 a.m. (0640 GMT) at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. Trump and his wife, Melania, boarded the plane for about five minutes before the three men stepped out, shaking hands with the president and waving to media and military personnel…Trump said he believed Kim wanted to bring North Korea ‘into the real world’ and had high hopes for their planned meeting, which would be the first between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader.”

-Roberta Rampton, David Brunnstrom, “Upbeat Trump welcomes U.S. prisoners released by North Korea,” Reuters, May 9, 2018 7:57 pm