Donald Trump thanks Kim Jong-un as US prisoners return from imprisonment in North Korea
Donald Trump thanked Kim Jong-un as he greeted three US citizens on their return from North Korea where they had been held captive.
The US president was pictured with Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim as they touched down at Joint Base Andrews near to Washington.
The trio gave peace signs to reporters and waved their hands after the Boeing C-40 carrying them arrived at 2.42am on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who secured the prisoners' release in Pyongyang the day before, was also greeted by Mr Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Expressing gratitude to Mr Kim, the president said: "We're starting off on a new footing. This is a wonderful thing that he released the folks early.
"That's a big thing - very important to me."
The return of the prisoners is widely seen as a goodwill gesture by Mr Kim ahead of his meeting with the US president.
Its date and location is yet to be confirmed, but Mr Trump has hinted that the details will be released soon.
Speaking at the airbase, Mr Trump said: "We very much appreciate that he allowed them to go before the meeting.
"It was understood that we would be able to get these three terrific people during the meeting and get them home after the meeting.
"He was nice in letting them go before the meeting - frankly we didn't think this was going to happen.
"It was a very important thing to all of us."
Kim Dong Chul, 64, had been serving a 10-year hard labour sentence since 2015, Tony Kim had been detained since April last year, and Kim Hak Song since May last year.
The release follows a historic meeting between Mr Kim and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in two weeks ago.
This increased hopes that the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is a real possibility.
Touching upon the upcoming US-North Korea summit, Mr Trump said he believed there was a "very good chance" of doing something "meaningful" between the two countries.
For years the US and North Korea have endured a stunted relationship over the latter's attempts at building nuclear weapons, which the US will not accept at any cost.
Only a matter of months ago, Mr Trump and Mr Kim threatened each other with outright destruction, through their relationship appears to have reached a turning point.
"I really think he [Kim] wants to do something. I think he did this because he wants to do something and bring their country into the real world," Mr Trump said of the developments.
"I think that we're going to have a success."