MIKE POMPEO/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “North Korea released three U.S. citizens imprisoned for more than a year and allowed them to fly home with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, removing a source of diplomatic friction between Washington and Pyongyang ahead of a summit between the leaders of the two adversaries. The three men— Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song—flew out of Pyongyang on Mr. Pompeo’s plane, according to a Twitter message Wednesday [5-8-18] morning by President Donald Trump. The detainees ‘seem to be in good health,’ Mr. Trump wrote, adding that he would greet them at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland when they arrive at 2 a.m. Thursday [5-1018].The three Americans were all able to walk on the plane without assistance, according to a White House statement that said Mr. Trump regarded Mr. Kim’s decision as ‘a positive gesture of goodwill.’ The release contrasts with the case last year of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia undergraduate who was returned from imprisonment in North Korea in a coma and died six days later.”
-Jonathan Cheng, “Trump: North Korea Releases Three U.S. Detainees,” The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2018