Human rights groups have welcomed North Korea’s release of three US nationals but are demanding the “complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement” of the regime’s network of slave labour camps and political prisons, as well as the release of hundreds of foreign citizens kidnapped to train Pyongyang’s agents.

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said the release of Kim Dong-chul, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Hak-song “is a time to rejoice and heal”.

The Washington-based organisation added, however, that it is important “to remember the nationals of Japan, South Korea and other countries who were abducted and are still held in North Korea.

“It is also a time to remember the 120,000 men, women and children held in North Korea’s political prison camps, as well as political prisoners held at other unlawful detention facilities.

“To join the international community, the DPRK must dismantle and dispose of its nuclear weapons and missiles”, the statement added.