Three Americans detained by North Korea are on their way home with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
President Donald Trump plans to greet the men when they land at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington DC at around 7am tomorrow Irish time.
The three, who were freed after Mr Pompeo met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are travelling on Mr Pompeo's plane.
"I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.
The three are Korean-American missionary Kim Dong-chul; Tony Kim, also known as Kim Sang-duk, who spent a month teaching at the foreign-funded Pyongyang University of Science and Technology before he was arrested in 2017; and Kim Hak-song, who also taught at PUST.
Who are the three US detainees held by North Korea?
Until now, the only American released by North Korea during Mr Trump's presidency has been Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old university student who returned to the United States in a coma last summer after 17 months of captivity and died days later.
I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health. Also, good meeting with Kim Jong Un. Date & Place set.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018
It comes after Mr Pompeo told North Korean officials that the US was committed to working with North Korea to achieve peace on the Korean peninsula.
"I have high expectations the United States will play a very big role in establishing peace on the Korean peninsula," said Kim Yong Chol, director of the United Front Department responsible for North-South relations.
The remarks were provided in a pool report of the meeting in Pyongchang.
In response, Mr Pompeo said the group with him was "equally committed to working with you to achieve exactly" that.
"For decades, we have been adversaries. Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict, take away threats to the world and make your country have all the opportunities your people so richly deserve," Mr Pompeo added.
It was his second visit to North Korea, having met Mr Kim last month.
The pending US-North Korea summit has sparked a flurry of diplomacy in the region, with Japan, South Korea and China holding a high-level meeting.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said concerned parties should seize the opportunity to promote denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who attended the meeting along with South Korean President Moon Jae-In, said his nation would normalise ties with North Korea if the nuclear and missile issues, along with that of the abduction of Japanese citizens, were solved comprehensively.
"We must take the recent momentum towards denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula and towards peace and security in northeast Asia, and, co-operating even further with international society, make sure this is linked to concrete action by North Korea," Mr Abe told a news conference after the meeting.
North Korea has admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens decades ago to train spies. Five have returned to Japan.
Mr Pompeo's visit comes a day after Mr Kim made his second trip to China in less than two months, meeting President Xi Jinping and discussing the ongoing international talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
During the visit, announced only after it was over, Mr Kim told Mr Xi he hoped relevant parties would take "phased" and "synchronised" measures to realise denuclearisation and lasting peace on the Korean peninsula, according to Chinese state media.
Separately, Mr Trump and Mr Xi discussed developments on the Korean peninsula and Mr Kim's visit to China during a phone call yesterday morning, the White House said.
