North Korea frees three US detainees ahead of Trump summit
KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/File / KCNAKim Dong-chul, a South Korea-born American businessman, is one of three US citizens who were detained in North Korea
North Korea has freed three American detainees, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, hailing a diplomatic victory ahead of a planned summit with Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang granted the three men "amnesty," a US official said, and they are now on their way back to the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Two of the men, agricultural expert Kim Hak-song and former professor Tony Kim were arrested in 2017, while Kim Dong-chul, a South Korea-born American businessman and pastor in his 60s, was sentenced to 10 years' hard labor in 2016.
"I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health," Trump tweeted.
The White House said all three men were able to walk unassisted onto a US Air Force plane that carried them and the secretary of state out of North Korea.
A second plane, with more robust medical equipment, waited for them at Yokota Air Force Base, just outside Tokyo.
AFP / SAUL LOEBUS President Donald Trump says the time and location for his historic summit with Kim Jong Un will be announced within three days
"All indications are their health is as good as could be given they been through," said Pompeo.
The family of Tony Kim voiced their gratitude to "all of those who have worked toward and contributed to his return home" -- and specifically thanking Trump for "engaging directly with North Korea."
"Mostly, we thank God for Tony's safe return," the family said in a statement. "We ask that you continue to pray for the people of North Korea and for the release of all who are still being held."
Trump meanwhile described the release as "a gesture of good will" and said he would be on hand when Pompeo's three "guests" land at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington at 2:00 am (0600 GMT) Thursday.
AFP / Gal ROMAUS citizens freed by North Korea
Trump acolytes declared the release an unbridled political victory, evidence, Vice President Mike Pence said, that "strong leadership and our America First policies are paying dividends."
The men's release appears to pave the way for a much-anticipated summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim, scheduled to take place within weeks.
Trump spoke with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in following the release, telling him he expected it would positively affect the summit, according to the Blue House.
Seoul echoed that sentiment, with Moon's press secretary predicting it would be a "very positive factor" for the talks' success, according to a statement cited by Yonhap news agency.
- Summit details to follow -
Trump says a time, date and location have been decided for that historic summit, although US officials say is still some fine-tuning to be done.
The president told reporters the administration would announce the details "within three days" but said it would not be at the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea.
Other possible locations include Singapore.
POOL/AFP / Matthew LEEUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seen arriving in Pyongyang on May 9, 2018
The meeting will discuss North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapons program, which may soon give Pyongyang the capability of striking the continental United States.
Trump has demanded that North Korea give up its nukes, while Kim has offered few indications about what he is willing to concede or what he will demand in return.
North Korea has often insisted that the United States withdraw support for South Korea, where 30,000-plus US military personnel are stationed.
Since coming to office Trump has embarked on a campaign of "maximum pressure" on the North Korean regime.
A series of provocative North Korean missile tests have been met with US sanctions and a tougher Chinese stance on cross border trade.
Officials in Washington believe the punitive economic measures have prompted fuel shortages in North Korea and increased tension inside the regime.
North Korea official Kim Yong Chul, who met Pompeo in Pyongyang, insisted the country's openness to talks was "not the result of sanctions that have been imposed from outside," but a change in regime focus.
"We have perfected our nuclear capability. It is our policy to concentrate all efforts into economic progress in country," he said.
CIA nominee Haspel vows spy agency will not reinstate torture
AFP / MANDEL NGANGina Haspel testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on her nomination to be the next CIA director
Gina Haspel, Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA, vowed Wednesday that the spy agency will not engage in torture of detainees under her watch, even if ordered by the president.
Facing opposition over her role at a secret CIA prison in Thailand in 2002 where Al-Qaeda detainees were waterboarded, Haspel made clear she would not support such activity in the future if she is confirmed as CIA director.
"Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program," she told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"In retrospect it is clear... that CIA was not prepared to conduct a detention and interrogation program."
But Haspel refused to condemn the 2002-2005 program, during which scores of Al-Qaeda suspects were captured, whisked to "black sites" at secret locations around the world, and subjected to brutal interrogations that for some included repeated waterboarding.
Pressed on why she did not object at the time, Haspel said she and colleagues were following orders.
She also said the program as a whole produced "valuable information" that helped disrupt more plots after the September 11, 2011 attacks, though would not say whether that was a result of waterboarding and other severe techniques.
"Like all of us who were in the counter terrorism center and working at CIA and those years after 9/11, we all believed in our work.
"We had been charged with making sure the country wasn't attacked again, and we had been informed that the techniques in CIA's program were legal and authorized by the highest legal authority in the country and also the president."
"I think we did extraordinary work. To me the tragedy is that the controversy surrounding the interrogation program... has cast a shadow over what has been a major contribution to protecting this country.
- 'Higher moral standard' -
Haspel said that the CIA is now bound by the Defense Department's Army Field Manual, which specifically forbids torture like waterboarding.
"I support the higher moral standard that this country has decided to hold itself to. I would never, ever take CIA back to an interrogation program," Haspel told the panel.
"I support the law. I would not support a change in the law," she said.
Democrats worry that Trump and top aides are not opposed to the use of outlawed techniques in interrogations, and Trump has appeared to extol Haspel's record in the program.
Pressed over whether she would resume an interrogation program, and allow torture, if ordered by Trump, she said she would not.
"My moral compass is strong. I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal. I would absolutely not permit it."
"America is looked at all over the world as an example to everyone else in the world, and we have to uphold that. And CIA is included in that," she added.
- Haspel 'excelled' in espionage -
In her first appearance ever before the broader public, Haspel, 61, was greeted by protestors in the Senate chamber branding her a torturer and demanding senators reject her.
In her testimony, she bared some details about a 33 year career at the spy agency, almost all of it spent in clandestine operations.
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / CHIP SOMODEVILLACIA Director Nominee Gina Haspel Testifies At Senate Confirmation Hearing
After growing up around the world as the daughter of a member of the US airforce, she was drawn to the CIA by the excitement it offered, and picked up the techniques of being an undercover operative very quickly after she joined in 1985.
"I excelled in finding and acquiring secret information that I obtained in brush passes, dead drops, or in meetings in dusty back allies of third world capitals," she said.
"I recall my first foreign agent meeting was on a dark, moonless night with an agent I'd never met before. When I picked him up, he passed me the intelligence and I passed him extra money for the men he led."
"It was the beginning of an adventure I had only dreamed of."
While a number of Democratic senators said they would still not support her as CIA director, is appeared that she had enough support to be approved by the panel and then the entire Senate in votes expected over the next two weeks.
She said she was proud of having broken through barriers to women rising in the agency's ranks, and defended her qualifications to be the United States' top spy.
"I don't need time to learn the business of what CIA does. I know CIA like the back of my hand. I know them, I know the threats we face, and I know what we need to be successful in our mission."
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