Two American journalists freed by North Korea after months of detention told today how they had had no idea that they were about to be released until they were taken to a meeting with Bill Clinton.
Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were speaking after flying into California's Burbank Airport with the former US president, who flew into Pyongyang on a surprise rescue mission yesterday and met North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
The two women are reporters for an American cable television venture co-founded by Mr Clinton’s former vice president, Al Gore, and were arrested in March after crossing illegally into the North from China for a report on the trafficking of women. Both where sentenced to 12 years hard labour.
Ms Ling raised her arms in the air as the two women descended from the plane for a tearful reunion with their families inside the airport hangar. Mr Clinton was received with a round of applause and an embrace from his former deputy.
Taking to the microphone for a homecoming declaration, Ms Ling said: "Thirteen hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared at any moment that we could be sent to a hard labour camp.
"Then suddenly we were told we were being sent to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked in through the doors we saw, standing before us, President Bill Clinton.
"We were shocked. But we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here, home and free."
Ms Ling thanked all those, known and unknown, who had campaigned for their release. "We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," she said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest hours."
During Mr Clinton's visit, the White House had insisted that it was a private initiative by the former president, but President Obama welcomed the release of the two journalists and extended praise to both Mr Clinton and Mr Gore.
Speaking on the White House lawn just before leaving on a trip to Indiana, Mr Obama said the administration is "extraordinarily relieved” that the pair has been set free. He said he had spoken to their families once the two were safely aboard a plane out of Pyongyang and said he also spoke with the former president.
He added: "The reunion we’ve all seen on television, I think, is a source of happiness not only for the families but also for the entire country."
US officials have insisted however that North Korea was not promised any rewards for their release and there was no link to nuclear non-proliferation talks – a point reinforced by Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, on a visit to Nairobi.
"We have always considered that a totally separate issue from our efforts to re-engage the North Koreans and have them return to the six-party talks and work for a commitment for the full, verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," she said.
"The future of our relationships with the North Koreans is really up to them. They have a choice," she added
In a statement released by his New York office as the plane touched down, however, Mr Clinton made it clear that he had been asked to visit North Korea not just by Mr Gore and the reporters' families but by the White House.
Yesterday's encounter in Pyongyang marked the highest-level contact between the United States and the reclusive communist state since Mr Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.
In photographs of the meeting released by North Korean media, Mr Kim was smiling and looked in reasonable health after speculation he was seriously ill after a suspected stroke last year.
"Regardless of what the US administration says, the Clinton and Kim meeting signals the start of direct bargaining ... It’s a matter of time when US-North bilateral talks begin," South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo daily said in an editorial.
Source:The times
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