LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Two American journalists  freed by North Korea tearfully reunited with their families in  the United States yesterday while Washington tried to play  down talk of a breakthrough with Pyongyang.

Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, reporters for an American  cable television venture arrived at Burbank airport near Los  Angles aboard a private jet with former President Bill Clinton,  who secured their release after meeting over dinner with North  Korea’s reclusive and ailing leader, Kim Jong-il.

President Barack Obama said he was “extraordinarily  relieved” at the women’s return but insisted the way for North  Korea to improve relations with the United States was to give  up nuclear weapons and stop its belligerent behaviour.

Clinton’s dramatic visit was the first high-level U.S.  contact with North Korea in nearly a decade.

Despite the mission’s success, the drama underlined the  fine line Washington treads to avoid rewarding Pyongyang after  repeated military provocations while trying to coax it into  giving up its ambitions of becoming a nuclear-weapons power.