President Donald Trump welcomed home three Americans freed by North Korea during the very early morning hours on Thursday.
Speaking just after 3 a.m. on an air base tarmac with the former detainees by his side, Trump said it was a “great honor” to welcome the men to the U.S. and declared their release a sign of promise toward his goal of de-nuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
Trump also thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for releasing the Americans, and said he believes Kim wants to reach an agreement on the denuclearizing. “I really think he wants to do something,” the president said.
Following Trump’s remarks, the newly-freed men boarded a bus headed for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The White House said the men would be evaluated and receive medical treatment at the Washington-area facility before being reunited with their families.