North Korea released two jailed American journalists on Tuesday after a visit from former U.S. President Bill Clinton in the highest-level U.S. contact with Pyongyang since Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.
North Korea's KCNA news agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had issued a "special pardon" to the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV, which was co-founded by Clinton's vice president, Al Gore.
The two journalists were arrested on the North Korea-China border in March and accused of illegal entry. A North Korean court sentenced both of them last month to 12 years of hard labor for what it called grave crimes.
There were immediate questions about what Clinton had discussed with Kim beyond the fate of the two reporters during a visit that gave Kim what he craved -- direct U.S. attention and a visit from a highly placed emissary.
The news agency insisted that Clinton "courteously conveyed a verbal message of U.S. President Barack Obama expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."
The White House had denied that Clinton carried any sort of message from Obama, but Obama officials otherwise remained silent while awaiting the diplomatic negotiations to unfold.
Clinton, husband of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was the highest-level American to visit the reclusive communist state since his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, went there in 2000.
He was greeted warmly on his arrival and had what KCNA described as an "exhaustive conversation" over dinner with Kim and his top aides.
The North Koreans immediately sought to put their stamp on what they felt had happened during Clinton's visit.
"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. 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," KCNA said.
Obama adviser David Axelrod had told MSNBC that Clinton was on a "private humanitarian mission" and that "I don't think it's related to other issues."
KCNA attempted to portray the visit in terms of what was possible in the future, saying Clinton's visit would "contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence."
North Korea frees two U.S. journalists after Clinton trip
