A White House official says that three Americans detained in North Korea will be a factor in any talks between U.S. officials and their North Korean counterparts as they discuss a future summit.

Reuters reported that Matthew Pottinger, the White House National Security Council director for Asian affairs, made the remarks to reporters on Tuesday.

The official said the fact that there are three Americans who are being unlawfully held in North Korea is something that is on the minds of all Americans serving in the administration right now.

He said he is not going to talk about how that factors in but it certainly factors very much into future interactions between the two governments.

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