Ms Ling, 32, a Chinese-American, has reported on drug wars in Mexico and native tribes in Brazil and is the younger sister of Lisa Ling, an award-winning TV journalist. Her father, Doug Ling, told reporters that he brought up his daughters as a single father and that both of them were sometimes “too adventurous” in covering news around the world. “I worry quite a bit. But I’m not losing any sleep over it,” he said. “Because I’m more or less used to it.”
Dan Rather says:
1. N. Korea is testing the Obama Administration. They don't want to get lost in the shuffle of this new Administration.
2. N. Korea is eager to call attention to themself to what they call the unfairness of previous U.S. Administrations. So the journalists have become bargaining chips for N. Korea.
3. Bill Richardson is trusted in N. Korea. They want to get some attention from him or Al Gore. They want some engagement from the U.S.
4. N. Korea is furious because the United Nations is considering putting more sanctions on them because they launched a rocket a couple of months ago. Also, they don't like that Secy. of State Clinton is talking about putting them back on the U.S. terrorist state list.
Embedded video from CNN Video
Embedded video from CNN Video
updated 3 hours, 55 minutes ago
Story Highlights:
1.President Clinton on mission to negotiate release of Euna Lee, Laura Ling
2.Reporters for Al Gore's Current TV accused of plotting smear campaign
3.Visit comes amid tension over North Korea's nuclear program
4.Clinton unlikely to have made trip without likelihood of success, analyst say
(CNN) -- Former President Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in North Korea on Tuesday, North Korea's state-run news agency reported.
Clinton arrived in Pyongyang earlier in the day on a mission to negotiate the release of two American journalists who have been held in the reclusive communist nation since March, the White House confirmed.
Clinton "courteously conveyed a verbal message" to Kim from President Obama, North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied that Clinton was carrying any message from the Obama administration.
Kim and Clinton had "an exhaustive conversation" that included "a wide-ranging exchange of views on the matters of common concern," KCNA reported.
Earlier in the day, Gibbs confirmed Clinton was on a "solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans," but gave little detail on his itinerary .
"We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission," Gibbs said.
KCNA did not disclose the purpose of the visit in its three-line dispatch. However a source with detailed knowledge of Clinton's movements told CNN late Monday that he was going to seek the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture launched by Clinton's Vice President Al Gore.
Yang Hyong Sop, the vice president of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, and Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister, met Clinton, KCNA reported.
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.
Since 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.
Video: What may lie behind the pick of Bill Clinton
Embedded video from CNN Video
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.
updated 4 minutes ago
Story Highlights:
1.NEW: "Clinton expressed sincere words of apology," statement says
2.NEW: North Korea says Laura Ling, Euna Lee have been released
3.Reporters for Al Gore's Current TV accused of plotting smear campaign
4.Visit comes amid tension over North Korea's nuclear program
(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.
