After 140 days in a North Korean prison, Laura Ling and Euna Lee arrived back in the United States today, flying into Burbank Airport just before 6:00am PST with former President Bill Clinton: Freed journalists home in US after NKorea pardon. More here: Freed journalists arrive in U.S. from North Korea. And here: Bill Clinton and Journalists in Emotional Return to U.S.
Here's the video of their return. It was actually quite a spectacle, with family members and loved ones, including all Al Gore -- as well as a media mob -- right there in the hangar to greet them when they stepped off the plane. What an emotional reunion -- all tears and smiles. And a huuuuge sigh of relief. Laura and Euna then gave an impromptu press conference expressing their gratitude to everyone who played a role in securing their release.
While we didn't hear a lot about what was happening behind the scenes, their release actually marks months of negotiations between Pyongyang and the State Department -- negotiations that began almost as soon as Laura and Euna were detained: Talks for secret mission to North Korea began once journalists were seized, sources say.
The narrow goal: If the United States showed respect to Kim Jong Il by dispatching an emissary of significant stature to North Korea, the regime would release the two journalists. The choice of Clinton, one of many high-profile public figures who volunteered for the assignment, fit the bill.
So while it's awesome that the former Prez went to Pyongyang, met with the dictator and brought our girls home, the real credit goes to the White House officials who were working the hush hush negotiations. It was a tightly controlled, carefully orchestrated diplomatic process.
Frankly, the whole thing looked like a high-profile, face-saving photo op for Pyongyang. We now know that North Korea specifically told Euna and Laura that they would be released if Bill Clinton himself came to request amnesty for them. Within days of learning of this demand, the family members and former Vice President Al Gore approached Clinton about the mission.
Throughout Clinton's 20-hour visit to North Korea, the Obama administration insisted that it was strictly a humanitarian mission, and had nothing to do with the ongoing nuclear dispute between the two countries. Still, the hope is that Laura and Euna's release will re-calibrate U.S./North Korean relations and clear the way to resume talks to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Whatever the case, today's a good day -- Laura Ling and Euna Lee are safe and back home with their loved ones. Seriously, it's been a long time coming. I'm sure we'll all eventually hear the story of their ordeal (there's a book deal in there, no doubt). For now, welcome home.