NORTH KOREA: Jailed American journalists return home

EUNA LEE, LAURA LING PARDONED

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il issued a “special pardon” for two jailed American journalists and ordered their release at former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s request, North Korean media reported Wednesday. The move to free reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee reflected North Korea’s “humanitarian and peaceloving policy,” the Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch from Pyongyang early Wednesday.

It was unclear when Clinton and the women would leave the country. The report said the Clinton visit was taking place Tuesday and Wednesday.

Former US President Bill Clinton has met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during an unannounced visit to the country, state media have announced.

Mr Clinton went to Pyongyang to discuss the fate of jailed US journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. He is the highest-profile American to visit since his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, in 2000.

Analysts say Mr Clinton may also try to ease the deadlock over the North’s nuclear ambitions. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Mr Clinton had “courteously” conveyed a verbal message from US President Barack Obama, although the White House said that Mr Clinton had not carried a message from Mr Obama.

Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the freedom of Americans Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in “hostile acts.”

His landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by North Korea or the U.S., comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, foes during the Korean War of the 1950s, over the regime’s nuclear program.

North Korea in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance.

Clinton’s meeting with Kim would be the notoriously reclusive North Korean leader’s first with a prominent Western figure since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke a year ago, sparking questions about the future of the nation he controls with absolute authority.

Critics say that Mr Clinton’s trip will be exploited for maximum propaganda value by Pyongyang. However, although Bill Clinton’s arrival was covered by North Korea’s evening television news, it was not until after apparently more newsworthy items, such as the improving quality standards at a biscuit factory.

This is not the first time a senior US statesman has gone to North Korea to negotiate for the release of American citizens. In 1994, then-congressman Bill Richardson – now governor of New Mexico – helped negotiate the release of Bobby Hall, one of two pilots of a US army helicopter shot down after straying into North Korea.