Vice President Pence suggested on Thursday that one of the three Americans released by North Korea may have been treated harshly in captivity when he…
Vice President Pence suggested on Thursday that one of the three Americans released by North Korea may have been treated harshly in captivity when he revealed that a detainee had been kept from daylight for “a very long time.”
“It’s heartbreaking to think of it. In fact, the secretary of state told me that when the plane refueled in Anchorage, one of the detainees asked to go outside the plane because he hadn’t seen daylight in a very long time,” Pence, who joined President Trump in meeting the three men when they arrived in the United States early Thursday, told ABC News.
“But as they came down the stairs, the joy on their faces, their appreciation for the people of the United States, for their countrymen, for the president and, frankly, their gratitude to God was deeply moving,” Pence said of their return to American soil. “The first words that they said to us we’re ‘thank you’ and then ‘thank you for your prayers.’”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo escorted the trio – Kim Sang Duk, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak Song – back to the United States after traveling to North Korea to secure their release.
Kim Dong Chul, who was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor after his arrest for “espionage” in October 2015 and was held the longest of the three, described the behavior of his captors.
“I was treated in various ways, but I had a lot of labor work,” he told reporters, speaking in Korean. “But I received some treatment when I was sick.”
But Trump, who posted “WELCOME HOME” on his Twitter account on Thursday, suggested their treatment by Kim Jong-un’s reclusive regime had been different.
“We want to thank Kim Jong-un, who really was excellent to these three incredible people,” the president said at the air base after their arrival.
Pence said he spoke on Wednesday to the family of Otto Warmbier, the American university student who died last June after being released from North Korea in a coma.
“I simply let them know that while we received this news with joy, that Otto was on all our hearts and the family was in our prayers,” Pence told “CBS This Morning,” adding “We got Otto home last year, but it wasn’t soon enough.”
The three men were taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for evaluation and treatment after their arrival at Andrews.
They will be reunited with their families after going through “an optimal period of decompression,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
With Post Wires
