Trump boasts ‘America is respected again’ as he lauds North Korea hostage release and the end of the ‘disastrous’ Iran deal as Pence says President is ’embracing his role as leader of the free world’

Speaking at a rally in Indiana Thursday, Donald Trump said Thursday that America is respected around the globe again as a result of his leadership
‘President Obama, paid $1.8billion for hostages. We didn’t pay for them!’ the sitting president said of his own administration off the back of the release of three Americans imprisoned in North Korea arriving home
Trump also talked up the economy, telling a rowdy audience ‘we making America proud. We are rockin’
Vice President Mike Pence was also at the rally and told the crowd: ‘What the world saw this week is an American president who embraces his role as leader of the free world’

Donald Trump said Thursday that America is respected around the globe again as a result of his leadership as he celebrated the release of three detainees from North Korea at a rally in Indiana.

Trump said his approach to dealing with North Korea is ‘leading to some very big things’.

The U.S. president continued: ‘And I think that Kim Jong-un did a great service to himself, to his country by doing this.

‘I’ll be meeting with Kim Jong Un to secure a future of peace and prosperity for the world and the relationship is good.’

He added: ‘America is being respected again.’

Riding high from the prisoner release, Trump mocked former President Barack Obama for what amounted to a ransom payment to Iran during his administration to ensure the safe return of five detainees from Tehran.

‘Obama, President Obama, paid $1.8billion for hostages,’ Trump said of a settlement that Obama’s government paid out only if the prisoners were released. ‘We didn’t pay for them!’ the sitting president said of his own administration.

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Donald Trump said Thursday that America is respected around the globe again as a result of his leadership as he celebrated the release of three detainees from North Korea at a rally in Indiana

‘President Obama, paid $1.8billion for hostages,’ Trump said of a settlement that Obama’s government paid out. ‘We didn’t pay for them!’ the sitting president said of his own administration

Trump was greeted to the crowd of 7,500 supporters in Elkhart, Indiana, with chants of ‘U S A’

Trump also talked up the economy, telling a rowdy audience ‘we making America proud. We are rockin’

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Trump told his supporters that it had been suggested to him that the cancel the campaign event after a 4.30am return to the White House from Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland.

‘And I said, ‘You just don’t know the people of Indiana. I don’t have the courage,’ ‘Trump joked.

Vice President Mike Pence joined Trump at the airport early Thursday morning and also flew with him to Indiana the very same evening. The former governor of the state, Pence was also in high spirits.

‘It was humbling for me to be there,’ the VP said of his Thursday morning excursion with the president. ‘And it never would have happened without the strong, clear resolute leadership of President Donald Trump.’

Pence said, ‘What the world saw this week is an American president who embraces his role as leader of the free world.’

‘He is a man of his word. He is a man of action. And how about all the action this week,’ Pence said to cheers. ‘This president took action on Iran. We saw progress on North Korea, and the new American embassy will open in Jerusalem.’

Vice President Mike Pence joined Trump at the airport early Thursday morning and also flew with him to Indiana the very same evening. The former governor of the state, Pence was also in high spirits. They are seen together on stage at the rally

Trump also warned of the potential consequences of Democratic wins in the midterms in November that threaten to derail his agenda in Congress

Trump also warned of the potential consequences of Democratic wins in the midterms in November that threaten to derail his agenda in Congress. He branded Joe Donnelly a ‘swamp person’

Pence told the crowd: ‘He is a man of his word. He is a man of action. And how about all the action this week.’ He’s pictured above on stage with his wife Karen

Trump also talked up the economy, telling a rowdy audience that the ‘great news keeps rolling in.’

He says he doesn’t think ‘we’ve ever done better as a country.’ He says, ‘We making America proud. We are rockin.’

And he blasted the Iran deal calling it ‘disastrous’ and ’embarrassing’ after announcing this week his decision to pull the US out.

‘I hope to be able to make a deal with them,’ Trump said. ‘A good deal, a fair deal.

‘We cannot allow them to have nuclear weapons.’

He said his administration is imposing harsh and strong sanctions on Iran and he took a swipe at the ‘fake news media’ in the process.

‘You remember everybody in the fake news, when they were saying he’s going to get us into a nuclear war? And you know what gets you into nuclear wars, and you know what gets you into other wars? Weakness.’

Trump told his supporters that it had been suggested to him that the cancel the campaign event after a 4.30am return to the White House from Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland. ‘And I said, ‘You just don’t know the people of Indiana. I don’t have the courage,’ ‘Trump joked

The president and vice president and their spouses were up at the crack of dawn to welcome the three Americans imprisoned in North Korea back to the U.S. Crowds at the Indiana rally later in the day are seen above, with Trump on stage

Trump also warned of the potential consequences of Democratic wins in the midterms in November that threaten to derail his agenda in Congress. He branded Joe Donnelly a ‘swamp person’.

‘Now if Joe Donnelly, Sleepin’ Joe, and the Democrats get back into power, remember what I said, they will raise your taxes. … They will destroy your jobs, and they are going to knock the hell out of your borders.’

Trump says Donnelly will ‘do whatever Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi tell him to do’ and ‘say one thing in Elkhart,’ and then support the ‘radical, liberal agenda.’

Before the rally, Donnelly’s campaign said the senator had voted with Trump 62 percent of the time ‘because he works for Hoosiers, not any politician or political party.’

Trump’s political advisers see the rally as a way to project party unity following a bruising primary.

Trump said he’s making strides like never before, but that can disappear if voters elect ‘fools’ into office.

He said his ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign slogan ‘wouldn’t work out too well’ when he starts campaigning in two years and for 2020 his slogan will be ‘Keep America Great’ because ‘we’re doing so well.’

Trump’s political advisers see the rally as a way to project party unity following a bruising primary

Pence said, ‘What the world saw this week is an American president who embraces his role as leader of the free world’

He says he doesn’t think ‘we’ve ever done better as a country.’ He says, ‘We making America proud. We are rockin’

The president and vice president and their spouses were up at the crack of dawn to welcome the three Americans imprisoned in North Korea back to the U.S.

Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim received a hero’s welcome with the president and first lady clapping and cheering as the men walked down the steps with their arms in the air and giving triumphant ‘V’ signs signifying both peace and victory.

Then Trump said the words most observers thought no American president would ever utter: ‘We want to thank Kim Jong-un.’

The detainees’ first steps back on American soil came hours earlier, in Alaska, when the plane carrying them home stopped to refuel.

‘These are great people. Frankly, we didn’t think this was going to happen, but it did. It was important to get these people out. This is a special night for these three really great people,’ Trump said in Maryland.

At his Indiana event, Trump said he made sure the detainees were ‘welcomed home the proper way’ that morning.

At his Indiana event, Trump said he made sure the detainees were ‘welcomed home the proper way’ that morning. Trump is pictured arriving at the Indiana rally

At his Indiana event, Trump said he made sure the detainees were ‘welcomed home the proper way’ that morning. Trump walks toward members of the media after greeting the three American citizens Kim Hak-Song, Kim Dong-Chul, and Kim Sang-Duk, who were detained in North Korea

President Donald Trump greeted Kim Dong-chul as Tony Kim, center, and Kim Hak-song, right, looked on Thursday morning

Trump and the first lady boarded a plane to welcome the men home after they were freed by North Korea and arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland

Kim Dong-chul, speaking about his time in North Korea, said: ‘We were treated in many different ways. For me, I had to do a lot of labor. But when I got sick, I was also treated by them’

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  Trump also thanked Kim Jong-un for freeing ‘the folks early,’ calling it ‘a wonderful thing’ and adding he believes the North Korean despot ‘really wants to do something’ and bring the hermit kingdom ‘into the real world.’
  
  He said: ‘We’re starting off on a new footing. I really think we have a very good chance of doing something very meaningful, and if anybody would’ve said that five years ago, 10 years ago, even a year ago, you would’ve said, ‘That’s not possible.’
  
  ‘My proudest achievement will be when we denuclearize that entire [Korean] peninsula,’ he added.
  
  The freed trio were joined by a translator who relayed their sentiment that being home felt ‘like a dream’ and that the men were ‘very, very happy’ to be freed. They later gave President Trump a round of applause.
  
  Kim Dong-chul, speaking about his time in North Korea, said: ‘We were treated in many different ways. For me, I had to do a lot of labor. But when I got sick, I was also treated by them.’
  
  A giant American flag flew between two Maryland fire trucks as the plane landed, giving the men a heroes’ welcome after the president had promised the world there would be ‘quite a scene’ when they arrived.
  
  The three men were released Wednesday after up to three years of imprisonment and hard labor when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Pyongyang following a meeting with Kim to formalize final plans for a Trump-Kim summit in late May or early June.
  
  He added that the talks between his administration and the North Korean government have ‘never been taken this far.’
  
  While Trump said North Korea’s Kim Jong Un ‘was excellent to these three incredible people,’ Vice President Mike Pence hinted in an ABC interview they had endured harsh conditions.
  
  Pence said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told him that at a refueling stop in Anchorage, ‘one of the detainees asked to go outside the plane because he hadn’t seen daylight in a very long time.’
  
  Donald Trump and Melania welcomed three Americans imprisoned in North Korea back to America to cheers and applause
  
  Trump shook hands with former detainee Kim Dong-chul (center) upon his return with Kim Hak-song and Tony Kim (both behind) in extraordinary scenes
  
  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, warmly embraced former North Korean detainee Tony Kim upon tthe plane’s 2:00 a.m. arrival at a Maryland air base
  
  Trump said he will not disclose whether he will have any personal conversations with Kim as they prepare for their historic summit in the coming weeks.
  
  But he did admit it was possible that ‘one day’ he may visit Pyongyang, should peace talks continue to go well.
  
  A North Korean official came to the hotel shortly after to inform Pompeo that Kim had granted amnesties to the three and that they would be released at 7:00 p.m. local time, according to a senior U.S. official present for the exchange.
  
  Carl Risch, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, and a doctor went to another hotel to pick up the men and bring them to the airport, the official said.
  
  They finally left custody at 7.45 p.m., and by 8.42 p.m. they were flying home.
  
  As soon as the plane cleared North Korean airspace, Mr Pompeo called Mr Trump to inform him of the releases – with the men all apparently in good health.
  
  Even before Mr Pompeo’s plane had touched down for a stopover at Yokota Air Base in neighboring Japan, the president announced to the world on Twitter that the ‘3 wonderful gentlemen’ were free.
  
  President Donald Trump tweeted after the reception to say: ‘On behalf of the American people, WELCOME HOME!’ A video showing the welcome was attached
  
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    In a statement released by the State Department, the former detainees expressed their ‘deep appreciation’ to the U.S. government, Trump, Pompeo and the American people ‘for bringing us home.’
    
    The three were the latest in a series of Americans who have been detained by North Korea in recent years for seemingly small offenses and typically freed when senior U.S. officials or statesmen personally visited to bail them out.
    
    The last American to be released before this, college student Otto Warmbier, died in June 2017, days after he was repatriated to the U.S. with severe brain damage.
    
    Warmbier was arrested by North Korean authorities in January 2016, accused of stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor. His parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, accusing the government of torturing and killing their son.
    
    Who are the Americans freed by North Korea today?
    
    Kim Dong Chul
    
    Kim Dong Chul is pictured in tears while he was held by North Korea in 2016
    
    A naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Korea, Kim Dong Chul was seized in North Korea on October 2, 2015 and accused of spying.
    
    Though a resident of Virginia – he became an American citizen in 1987 – Kim had lived with his wife in Yanji, China since 2001.
    
    He worked just across the North Korean border in the Rason-Sonbong special economic zone, where he ran a hotel services company. He was also a pastor.
    
    Very little was known about his status until a CNN news crew interviewed him during their visit to Pyongyang in January 2016.
    
    He told reporters during a news conference organized by the dictatorship two months later that he was a spy, explaining that he ‘apologized for trying to steal military secrets in collusion with South Koreans’ and called his own actions ‘unpardonable.’
    
    The North accused him of receiving a USB drive and various papers containing nuclear secrets during a meeting with a defector from the regime.
    
    After a one-day trial in April, he was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for his supposed espionage.
    
    But previous victims of the regime have explained that they were forced to make similar public declarations of their guilt after being tortured, despite being innocent.
    
    Kim Hak-song
    
    Kim, who is in his mid 50s, was born in Jilin, China, and educated at a university in California
    
    Kim Hak-song, also known as Jin Xue Song, had been working for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), undertaking agricultural development work with the school’s farm.
    
    He was arrested at a 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 a university in California, CNN reported, citing a man who had studied with him.
    
    He said Kim returned to China after about 10 years of living in the U.S., where he is a citizen.
    
    PUST was founded by evangelical Christians overseas and opened in 2010, and is known to have a number of American faculty members.
    
    Pupils are generally children from among the North’s elite.
    
    It is not known whether Kim was sentenced for his supposed ‘hostile acts.’
    
    Kim Sang-duk
    
    Kim is a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China, close to the Korean border
    
    Korean-American Kim Sang-duk – known as Tony Kim – was arrested in April 2017 at Pyongyang’s main airport as he tried to leave the country after teaching for several weeks as a guest lecturer, also at 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.
    
    He graduated from the University of California Riverside in 1990 with a master’s degree in business administration.
    
    South Korea’s Yonhap news agency has reported Kim as being 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 was detained with his wife at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang on April 22, 2017 while waiting for a flight.
    
    Police later arrested Kim but did not explain why. His wife was allowed to leave the country.
    
    PUST said the arrest was not related to his work at the university.
    
    In a Facebook post, Kim’s son had said that his family has had no contact with him since his arrest.
    
    Kim will soon become a grandfather.
    
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