Originally published on the CGS blog on August 5, 2009.
On the morning of August 5, former President Bill Clinton returned from North Korea around 6:00 a.m., along with Euna Lee and Laura Ling, two American journalists who had been confined and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory while researching a report on women and human trafficking.
During his diplomatic visit to North Korea, former President Clinton met with North Korean President Kim Jong-Il after an invitation by the White House to negotiate for the release of Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling. He won their freedom after issuing an official apology on behalf of the two journalists. His visit marks a great diplomatic success in a time of difficult relations between the U.S. and North Korea, after North Korea tested its second nuclear device in May and performed a series of missile launchings. Although relations between the two countries have become increasingly complicated, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that the freedom of the captured American journalists is separate from the issue of nuclear weapons. However, given former President Clinton’s knowledge of and interest in North Korean nuclear activity, “it would be someplace between surprising and shocking if there wasn’t some substantiative discussion between the former president…and Kim Jong-Il,” said Robert L. Galluci, who negotiated with North Korea in the Clinton administration.
