Bill Clinton Secures Release of Euna Lee & Laura Ling on Pyongyang Trip

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5 August 2009 :: staff

During a brief mission to the North Korean capital Pyongyang, former US president Bill Clinton secured the release of two jailed Korean-American reporters, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Lee and Ling had been sentenced to 12 years hard labor for allegedly violating North Korean law by filming without state permission. Clinton met personally with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, who is reported to be in ill health, and there is speculation the visit could create an opening for US-DPRK dialogue on a range of issues.

It likely included the goal of arranging the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, but also of providing some insight into what the US might require in order to advance a meaningful range of humanitarian aid to the isolated country. The White House has stressed throughout that there was no direct communication from Pres. Obama to the DPRK government, and that Mr. Clinton’s trip, which included top-ranking current and former aides as well as Secret Service protection, was “a private mission”.

Speaking to a crush of journalists and supporters, Laura Ling fought back tears while expressing gratitude to all those involved in securing their release:

30 hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment, we could be sent to a hard labor camp. Then we were told we were being taken to a meeting. We walked through the doors, and there before our eyes stood President Bill Clinton… Euna and I would just like to express our deepest gratitude to Pres. Bill Clinton and his wonderful, amazing, not to mention, super-cool team…

Ms. Ling also said that upon seeing the former president, “We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here, home and free”. Ling, the sister of American television journalist Lisa Ling, spoke at a ceremony surrounded by family and dignitaries, including former Pres. Clinton and former VP Al Gore, who runs the media company, Current TV, where the two reporters work.

Clinton’s visit has been touted as a private mission, but an opportunity to re-open dialogue with the reclusive “rogue” state, especially on negotiations about its pursuit of nuclear weapons and international demands that it cease development of technologies related to building and deploying those weapons. The US administration of Pres. Barack Obama, however, said it is incumbent upon North Korea to verifiably recommit to nuclear disarmament, in order to further such dialogue.

Pres. Obama told the press today that “We have said to the North Koreans there is a path for improved relations, and it involves them no longer developing nuclear weapons and not engaging in the provocative behaviour they have been engaging in”. Conservatives have assailed the trip as capitulation to state terror and have said the deal gives too much “ransom” for the release of hostages, while critics of that view say the same conservatives now angered by Clinton’s winning release by way of a personal visit and brief dialogue, supported and defended Pres. Reagan’s dealing thousands of deadly missiles to Iran in exchange for hostages in the Iran-Contra affair.

The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial today, by Stephen Yates and Christian Whiton, charging that “The two prior U.S. administrations engaged in prolonged discussions with Pyongyang and provided aid in return for false promises to end its nuclear program. Mr. Clinton’s visit has continued the pattern of rewarding Pyongyang for bad behavior.” It is not clear that the visit rewarded the North in any substantive way, but as the possibility of dialogue begins to open up, it must be considered that direct, bilateral dialogue may not be the most effective means of persuasion.

Yates and Whiton argue that a strong international nuclear planning group is needed, to ensure that nuclear deterrence is targeted, credible and multilaterally applicable. This is not contrary to existing security policy, and the Obama administration has signaled its preference for engaging Pyongyang through the established program of six-party talks, involving regional allies of the US and China, which while sharing close economic ties to the US is a major supporter of the North Korean regime.

Adam Nagourney, writing for the New York Times, suggests that the trip has shown an important domestic political development, the increasing harmony between the most visible and influential families in Democratic party politics. Bill Clinton greeted his former vice president Al Gore, upon returning two journalists who work for Gore’s Current TV channel, is married to Pres. Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mr. Obama is pushing aggressive advances in carbon-emissions reductions and healthcare reform, the policies that Clinton and Gore have long championed, while reviving their administration’s cost-cutting “Reinventing Government” program and expanding the AmeriCorps volunteer service. And it has been reported that Clinton’s trip was the product of a request by former VP Al Gore to intervene in order to secure the release of the two captive reporters. This reunion is, in some ways, the most visible collaboration between the two men since early in Clinton’s second term as president.

Convergence of views and interests among the Clintons, the Gores and the Obamas, means an increased likelihood of establishing a unified national party strategy for the 2010 and 2012 elections, and a more effective means of lobbying the public on key issues of policy and reform. Observers are already speculating that conservative ire over Mr. Clinton’s diplomatic errand may be linked to fears of what an Obama-Clinton-Gore alliance could mean for their chances at chipping away at the sizable Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Pres. Obama must now seek a strong and united front among allies, including Russia and China, in confronting the North Korean security risk head-on. There are rumors of behind-the-scenes diplomatic contacts aimed at arranging a unified approach to the resolution of this crisis and the planning for future negotiations based on demands the US is prepared to make, now that Ling and Lee are safely home. Such reports remain unconfirmed, and no date is set for a next round of binding negotiations.

An anonymous State Department official is cited by the AFP as having revealed that former president Bill Clinton’s visit was requested by North Korea as early as 24 July, and that Mr. Clinton wanted to make sure there was a verifiable pledge to release the journalists before he took the trip. In light of those revelations, it is thought the North was, rather than seeking concessions from the US, seeking a high-profile political figure to carry their own diplomatic message to Washington. No report as yet reveals what, if anything, DPRK ruler Kim Jong-il or his aides requested Mr. Clinton convey to Pres. Obama after his return to the US.