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N. Korean leader pardons U.S. journalists
This is not surprising. As expected - USA probably made a deal with the Devil in order to get them released so I wonder what that deal was. Knowing Obama and his gutless style - chance is.... the public including his own party will not be very happy about it.
(CNN) -- North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned and released two U.S. journalists, state-run news agency KCNA said Wednesday.
The announcement came after former U.S. President Clinton met with top North Korean officials in Pyongyang to appeal for their release.
"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it," the news agency reported. "Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view.
"The meetings had candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them."
The report said Clinton then conveyed a message from U.S. President Obama "expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."
It added, "The measure taken to release the American journalists is a manifestation of the DPRK's humanitarian and peace-loving policy.
"The DPRK visit of Clinton and his party will contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence."
DPRK is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the nation's official name.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture launched by Clinton's Vice President Al Gore, have been held since March.
Lee and Ling were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.
Because the United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, efforts to resolve the issue have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state. VideoWatch what may lie behind the pick of Bill Clinton »
Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration had dropped its request for Ling and Lee to be released on humanitarian grounds and instead was seeking amnesty, which implies forgiveness for an offense.
This change in language is an important distinction that could move North Korea to release the women without feeling that its legal system has been slighted, analyst Mike Chinoy said.
"I suspect that it was made pretty clear in advance that Bill Clinton would be able to return with these two women; otherwise it would be a terrible loss of face for him," said Chinoy, an Edgerton senior fellow on Asia at the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, California. "The bigger, broader and more important question is what else could be on the agenda. Will Clinton be carrying a letter from Barack Obama for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il? Will he meet Kim Jong-Il?"
Clinton's mission comes as the United States and its allies in the region are trying to push North Korea back into stalled nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea conducted its second nuclear bomb test in May and has conducted several missile tests since then. The United Nations responded by tightening and expanding sanctions.
The two nations were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War and had no regular contacts before a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea agreed at that time to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but abandoned that accord and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.
Clinton had considered visiting North Korea in 2000 near the end of his second term as president. His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, had gone to Pyongyang in early 2000 to meet with Kim, now widely reported to be ill.
This is not surprising. As expected - USA probably made a deal with the Devil in order to get them released so I wonder what that deal was. Knowing Obama and his gutless style - chance is.... the public including his own party will not be very happy about it.
