Bill Clinton negotiates release of journalists in North Korea
August 6, 2009
The two US journalists that were convicted of entering North Korean illegally and sentenced to 12 years of hard labour by that country’s government, have been released and returned to the US following an intervention on humanitarian grounds by Bill Clinton, the former US president.
President Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il during a visit that had not been publicly announced, after which Kim pardoned television journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
The two women were employed by Current TV, owned in part by former US vice-president Al Gore, and had begun serving sentences of “reform through labour” following their conviction of illegal entry and committing “hostile acts” against North Korea.
The announcement of their release was made by the official state media. Earlier, the Korean Central News Agency had reported that Kim and the former US president met and “a wide-ranging exchange of views.”
According to the report, Clinton “courteously” conveyed a message to Kim from the current US president, Barack Obama.
In the US, the White House dismissed the claim that Obama had sent a personal message to the North Korean leader.
Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s press secretary, issued a statement that said, in part: “While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment. We do not want to jeopardise the success of former president Clinton’s mission.”
Thanks to news.scotsman.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.
I’m very glad that Euna Lee and Laura Ling were released by north korea thanks to private negotiations. However we don’t know the entire story….didn’t they realize they very well could be taken prisoner by north korea? I mean, isn’t it naive to think there was no danger involved? Hence if they knew, they were taking a calculated risk, they should have expected it. Such naivette’ is amazing.