{"id":45031,"date":"2018-05-09T21:38:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T21:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/09\/americans-were-freed-1-hour-before-flight-out-of-pyongyang\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:27:23","slug":"americans-were-freed-1-hour-before-flight-out-of-pyongyang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/05\/09\/americans-were-freed-1-hour-before-flight-out-of-pyongyang\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans were freed 1 hour before flight out of Pyongyang"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PYONGYANG, North Korea \u2014 After months of anticipation and drama, the release of three American detainees by North Korea played out amid high-stakes diplomacy and was only sealed about an hour before the U.S. secretary of state was wheels-up from Pyongyang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three men, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, walked on their own from a van and onto the plane of top diplomat Mike Pompeo<\/a>. It was the culmination of Pompeo\u2019s 12-and-half-hour visit to the North Korean capital, which included a 90-minute meeting with leader Kim Jong Un.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to his hotel from that meeting, Pompeo had given reporters a fingers-crossed sign when asked if there was good news about the detainees. A North Korean official came to the hotel shortly after to inform Pompeo that Kim had granted amnesties to the three and that they would be released at 7 p.m. local time, according to a senior U.S. official present for the exchange. Carl Risch, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, and a doctor went to another hotel to pick up the men and bring them to the airport, the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They finally left custody at 7:45 p.m., and by 8:42 p.m. they were flying home.<\/p>\n\n\n\t