US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched-down in Pyonyang this morning to news that North Korean President Kim Jong-un had released three US prisoners.

He’s expected to fly out of the country with them aboard his aircraft after his talks with the North Korean leader conclude.

Pompeo is making his second visit to North Korea in less than six weeks. He said the two countries had already agreed on a date and location for the unprecedented summit, though he stopped short of providing details.

“We think relationships are building with North Korea,” President Trump said in a televised address earlier this morrning. “We will see how it all works out. Maybe it won’t. But it can be a great thing for North Korea, South Korea and the entire world.”

President Trump also has expressed hope that three Americans held there will soon be released. Trump had said it would be a “great thing” if the three American detainees were freed.

Their release signals an effort by Kim to set a more positive tone for the summit, which is being planned for late May or early June, following his recent pledge to suspend missile tests and shut Pyongyang’s nuclear bomb test site.

While Kim has given up the last of his American prisoners, whom North Korea has often used as bargaining chips with the United States, the release could be aimed at pressuring Trump to make concessions of his own in his bid to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal, something it has not signalled a willingness to do.

DEAL IN THE BALANCE
“Plans are being made, relationships are building,” Trump said of the planned summit during remarks otherwise focused on his decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“Hopefully, a deal will happen. And with the help of China, South Korea and Japan, a future of great prosperity and security can be achieved for everyone,” Trump added.

Pompeo made a secret visit to North Korea over the Easter weekend, becoming the first US official known to have met Kim, to lay the groundwork for the planned summit. The meeting occurred before Pompeo’s Senate confirmation as secretary of state.

Trump suggested that dropping out of the Iran nuclear accord, which he has frequently denounced as a bad deal, would send a “critical message” not just to Tehran but also to Pyongyang.

“The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them,” Trump said.

But critics of Trump’s decision to leave the Iran deal say it could undermine his credibility in North Korea’s eyes, fuelling doubts whether he would abide by any nuclear agreement.

NEIGHBOURS SEEK AGREEMENT
East Asia’s major powers meet in Tokyo on Wednesday to search for common ground on North Korea, while Washington’s top diplomat was also expected in Pyongyang, as a breakneck diplomatic dance gathers pace.

With the focus on the North exposing differences among its neighbours, the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China will be seeking a lowest-common-denominator agreement in the wake of a historic summit last week between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in.

Japan, which has by far the most hard line position of the North’s neighbours, has been left watching from the sidelines, uneasy at the pace of events and at what it sees as an unwarranted softening towards Pyongyang.

In announcing the three-way summit, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he hoped to “thoroughly discuss how we can have North Korea walk on a right path, resolve the abduction, missile and nuclear issues and create a bright future.” The historical kidnapping of at least a dozen citizens by North Korean spies remains an emotive issue in Japan.

Abe is likely to push for continued pressure on Pyongyang, including for “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”, Japanese media have reported.

South Korea’s President Moon, however, is expected to bat away such demands. An official in his office last week said Seoul wanted the three countries to simply endorse the Panmunjon Declaration signed by Kim and Moon last month in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.

In an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun published Tuesday, Moon said he hoped for “Japan’s active support and co-operation on the future road toward the settlement of permanent peace on the peninsula, as well as for the success of the US-North Korea summit meeting.”

KIM MEETS XI
Earlier Tuesday, Kim held talks with China’s Xi Jinping — their second meeting in six weeks — in which the North’s leader reiterated a commitment to denuclearisation.

Kim’s unannounced trip to the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian highlights efforts by the Cold War-era allies to mend relations that cooled as Beijing supported UN sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Beijing, long the North’s sole ally and economic buttress, has appeared eager to remain a key player in negotiations over Pyongyang’s weapons program.

In comments published on North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, Kim said “he would advance hand-in-hand with the close Chinese comrades in the long historic course of achieving peace and prosperity in the Korean peninsula”.