North Korean pardon frees two US journalists

Former US President Bill Clinton has left North Korea with two US journalists whose release he has helped to secure, the BBC reports.

Mr Clinton’s spokesman said they were flying to Los Angeles where the journalists would be reunited with their families.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been found guilty of illegally entering the North Korea and had been serving 12-year sentences for “hostile acts”, at the time when the former president come to rescue them.

The pair’s release was followed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il issuing a special pardon to the journalists after a meeting with Mr Clinton.

The New York Times quoted a senior official saying that the Obama administration carried out “due diligence” with the North Koreans to ensure if Clinton went, he would return with the two arrested journalists.

Reports from Pyongyang media have said Clinton apologised on behalf of the women and said the visit would “contribute to deepening the understanding” between North Korea and the US. The claim of an apology has however been denied by the Obama administration.

The Guardian reports that a senior US official said the two women, appearing at the Pyongyang airport, were apparently in a “good health condition”, and the pair shook their hands with Clinton when they boarded the plane.

The two American reporters, Lee, 36, and Ling, 32, were on a reporting trip for Current TV – which was co-founded by Clinton’s former vice-president, Al Gore – when they were arrested.

According to the BBC, the pair had been informed previously by the North Korean government that if they would persuade Mr Clinton to visit Pyongyang on a private trip, they will be freed from jail.

The North Korean government had agreed in advance that Clinton’s private mission would not touch on the question of its nuclear programme, though a US official acknowledged that Clinton was likely to have expressed his views on denuclearisation to Kim.

He also warned that North Korea would face deeper isolation if it continued with “provocative behaviour” such as the recent nuclear test and missile launches, the Guardian says.

Analysts say it seems that Clinton’s trip is a new start of the renewed dialogue about North Korea’s nuclear weapon programme, albeit not immediately. His visit was the highest profile visit by an American for almost a decade.

According to the Guardian, Pyongyang wants direct talks with Washington, but the Obama administration has said any bilateral discussion would have to take place on the sideline of the stalled six-nation disarmament talks, which North Korea has described as “dead”.

However, the Guardian quotes South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo Daily as saying despite the US administration’s claims, the Clinton and Kim meeting signals the start of direct bargaining.

Tadashi Kimiya, associate professor at the University of Tokyo told Reuters, “it is hard to believe the North Korea release of the two journalists is purely based on humanitarian grounds, and it probably had something to do with a package deal with the United States, to resolve the issues of denuclearisation and normalisation of ties.”