Thank you, Mr. President for freeing three Americans from North Korea

Kudos to President Trump and his administration for the breakthrough: Three Americans are free from the prison that is North Korea, a meaningful achievement on its own terms that just might suggest better things to come from Kim Jong Un.

We mustn't get ahead of ourselves, though.

North Koreans have taken and released Americans many times before, including 11 times under the presidency of Barack Obama.

This time, stars might, just might, be aligned. That's because of an aggressive shift of posture by Trump, which has led to forthcoming high-stakes talks, along with a new climate of friendliness between Kim and South Korea's Moon Jae-in.

The just-freed men — Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song — were captured in October 2015, April 2017 and May 2017, respectively. The first is a businessman accused of espionage; the second, a university professor; the third, an agricultural expert.