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.
