North Korea preparing to release US detainees: activist

North Korea is preparing to release three U.S. detainees ahead of President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to an activist who spoke to the AFP.

South Korean activist Choi Sung Ryong, who is connected with sources in the North, told the outlet that the three Korean-American detainees, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Sang Duk and Kim Hak Song, are staying in a hotel outside of Pyongyang. Choi said the U.S. and North Korea were reportedly close to reaching a deal on the captives’ release.

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According to Choi, the three detainees were being separated, but were “going on tours, receiving medical treatment and eating good food.”

Diplomatic sources in Pyongyang told the AFP that it was possible the three detainees had been moved ahead of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit, in which Trump and Kim are expected to discuss nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.

U.S. officials have been pushing the detainees’ release as recently as newly appointed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to North Korea early last month. 

Trump confirmed that the U.S. was working for their release last month. 

“We have been talking about them. We are negotiating now,” the president said. 

The U.S. lashed out at Pyongyang last year after American student Otto Warmbier was released from North Korea with significant brain damage, and died days after he returned to the U.S. Warmbier’s parents announced last month that they had filed a lawsuit against North Korea for their son’s death.