Journalists Freed

"BURBANK (CNS) - Former President Bill Clinton and the two journalists whose freedom he secured in a 20-hour visit to Pyongyang flew back home today at the culmination of a delicate diplomatic minuet between unpredictable North Korea and the United States.
The private plane carrying Laura Ling, Euna Lee and the former president was expected to land some time after 4 a.m. at Bob Bank Airport in Burbank, where the women were expected to be met by their families and the founder of the media venture that employs them, former Vice President Al Gore.
Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea from China on March 17 while working for San Francisco-based Current TV.
The journalists, who were working on a story about North Korean refugees at the time of their arrest, were granted a ``special pardon'' Tuesday, shortly after Clinton arrived in the country and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Ling and Lee appeared healthy as they boarded their plane in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. A doctor was aboard the aircraft that flew them back to the United States.
In a statement posted online, the families of Lee and Ling -- the sister of Lisa Ling, a USC graduate and former co-host of ``The View'' -- said they were ``overjoyed by the news of their pardon.''
``We are so grateful to our government: President Obama, Secretary Clinton and the U.S. State Department for their dedication to and hard work on behalf of American citizens. We especially want to thank President Bill Clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and Vice President Al Gore for his tireless efforts to bring Laura and Euna home. We must also thank all the people who have supported our families through this ordeal. It has meant the world to us. We are counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms.''
For Clinton, securing the release of Ling and Lee appeared to more a case of stagecraft than negotiating triumph amid signs the outcome had been pre- determined through weeks of secret diplomatic exchanges, orchestrated in part by his spouse, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
U.S. officials told reporters in Washington, D.C., that Ling and Lee told their families in July that they would receive an amnesty if the former president came to fetch them.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has long sought bilateral contacts with the United States, a goal believed to have gained even greater importance for ailing dictator Kim Jong Il at a time when he seeks to shore up his regime internally prior to an eventual transfer of power to one of his sons.
North Korea's conditions presented the administration of President Barack Obama with a dilemma -- how to gain the women's freedom, and perhaps soften North Korea's obdurate stance on its internationally condemned nuclear program, without rewarding Kim for what Washington regards as perennially bad behavior.
As part of that effort, the administration outwardly maintained an arms- length position regarding the Clinton visit, describing it as a private humanitarian mission.
Relations between Washington and Pyongyang have become increasingly tense since North Korea tested a long-range ballistic missile in April and a small nuclear device in May and announced it no longer would take part in the multiparty talks -- involving China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States -- aimed at placing North Korean nuclear facilities under international supervision."

THIS IS FROM A CITY NEWS SERVICE ARTICLE