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Kim Sang Duk, Kim Hak Song and Kim Dong Chul could be released at any moment.
THE UNITED STATES is awaiting confirmation of the possible release of three Korean/Americans imprisoned in North Korea for various charges against the state.
The three men are identified as Kim Sang Duk and Kim Hak Song, both of whom were arrested and charged last year; and Dim Dong Chul, who was arrested in 2015.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said the agency can’t confirm the validity of reports regarding the three American prisoners in North Korea, but noted the safety and security of Americans is the department's top priority.
Nauert said it would be a great “gesture of goodwill” if North Korea did release them, also reiterating the President’s commitment to returning Americans unjustly held overseas.
"I can’t confirm the validity of the reports current out about their release," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, adding such a move would be seen as a "sign of goodwill" ahead of a President Trump-Kim Jong Un summit.
The three men, who have reportedly have been moved from their prison to a hotel in the North Korean capitol, Pyongyang, are:
Kim had been working for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) undertaking agricultural development work with the school's farm, according to the Straits Times.
He was arrested at Pyongyang railway station in May 2017 on suspicion of committing "hostile acts" against the government, as he was boarding a train headed for his home in Dandong, China.
Kim, who is in his mid-50s, was born in Jilin, China, and educated at the University of California-Riverside, CNN reported, citing a man who had studied with him. He became a U.S. citizen in the 2000s but never forgot his roots. "He was a very diligent, hardworking man determined to help people in North Korea," his friend David Kim told CNN.
PUST was founded by evangelical Christians from the United States and opened in 2010, and is known to have a number of American faculty members. Pupils are generally children from the North's elite.
KIM SANG DUK
Also known as Tony Kim, he was arrested in April 2017 at the capital's main airport as he tried to leave the country after teaching for several weeks, also at the Christian-funded PUST.
Kim is a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China, close to the Korean border. Its website lists his speciality as accounting.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports Kim is in his late 50s and said he had been involved in relief activities for children in rural parts of North Korea. It cited a source who described him as a "religiously devoted man." He supposedly had been volunteering at an orphanage.
In a Facebook post, Kim Sang Duk's son said since his arrest his family has had no contact with him.
KIM DONG CHUL
A South Korea-born American businessman aged in his 60s, he was sentenced to 10 years' hard labor after being arrested on charges of subversion and espionage in April 2016.
He was initially arrested in October 2015, after he reportedly received a USB stick containing nuclear-linked data and other military information from a former North Korean soldier.
In an interview with CNN in January 2016, Kim said he was a naturalized American living in Fairfax, Virginia. He said he once ran a trading and hotel services company in Rason, a special economic zone near the North's border with China and Russia.
A month before his trial, Kim had also appeared at a government-arranged news conference and apologised for attempting to steal military secrets in collusion with South Korea. The South Korean spy agency has denied involvement.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a developing story. Check back later for possible updates.)
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