Three Korean-Americans who were detained in North Korea for more than a year were greeted by President Donald Trump¹ beneath a giant American flag after they returned to the mainland U.S. early Thursday.

 

三位被朝鲜扣留一年多的韩裔美国人周四早些时候返回美国大陆，他们在一面巨大的美国国旗之下受到特朗普总统的欢迎。
 

 

Despite a middle-of-the-night landing, first lady Melania Trump, Vice² President Mike Pence and a host of senior administration officials joined Trump to celebrate the occasion. The men, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, had been released Wednesday amid a warming of relations between the longtime adversaries³.

 

The president and first lady boarded the medical plane on which the men traveled to take a private moment with them, then appeared at the top of the airplane stairway with the three and applauded as the men held up their arms in what appeared to be gestures of triumph.

 

"This is a special night for these three really great people," Trump told reporters as he stood on the tarmac with the former detainees. On the U.S. relationship with North Korea, Trump said, "We're starting off on a new footing."

 

In thanking North Korea's Kim Jong Un for releasing the three Americans, Trump said he believes Kim wants to reach an agreement on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. "I really think he wants to do something," the president said.

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