Summit 'date, place set'

• China, Japan, S Korea highlight unity amid North Korea moves

US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that three Americans held in North Korea have been released and are on their way back home.

"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.

He added that Pompeo had a "good meeting" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and said a "date & place set" for a meeting between the two leaders.

The President said Pompeo and his "guests" will be arriving at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at 2:00 am ET, presumably today, where he will greet them.

The Americans, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, have been held in North Korea for months.

While Kim Dong Chul has been in North Korean custody since before Trump was elected, the other two detainees were arrested last spring, after Trump's inauguration.

Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song, who were arrested in April and May of 2017, respectively, were both accused of carrying out "hostile acts" against the Kim Jong Un regime. Both worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

The family members of the two educators have said their loved ones are innocent. Shortly after Kim Hak-song was detained, his wife said in an interview with CNN that her husband is an agricultural expert and was teaching rice-growing at the university, trying to help North Koreans feed themselves.

An official with knowledge of the negotiations previously told CNN that the North Koreans decided to free the Americans two months ago, and that North Korea's foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, had proposed their release during his visit to Sweden in March.

Meanwhile, China, Japan and South Korea yesterday agreed to cooperate in seeking the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying recent positive momentum must be matched by "concrete action" by North Korea.

Leaders of the three Asian powers, whose ties have been strained by territorial and historical disputes, also touched on economics in the face of US trade pressure on China and Japan, reported Reuters.

Abe praised efforts by Moon and China to engage North Korea and said further efforts on denuclearisation were essential.

"We must take the recent momentum towards denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula and towards peace and security in Northeast Asia, and, cooperating even further with international society, make sure this is linked to concrete action by North Korea," Abe told a news conference after the meeting.