North Korea will release three detained Americans on Wednesday, Yonhap News Agency reports.
The United States has been demanding the North free Kim Hak-song, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Dong-chul and reports have said the two sides were close to reaching a deal on their release.
The report comes ahead of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea on Tuesday to meet with North Korean officials about the summit, including the location, timing and agenda for the meeting. Pompeo also told reporters he planned to raise the issue of the three Americans during his trip, but had no commitments for their release.
Yonhap, though, reports the three Americans will return with Pompeo.
"We expect him to bring the date, time and the captives," the official told Yonhap while speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move is an apparent goodwill gesture by the North.
The three Americans are supposedly staying in a hotel on the outskirts of Pyongyang, Choi Sung-ryong, a South Korean activist with contacts in the North told AFP in early May, adding the three were being kept separately but "going on tours, receiving medical treatment and eating good food."
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