Bill Clinton on Surprise Visit to N. Korea

(CBS/AP)  Last updated 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to North Korea on Tuesday amid an international standoff over the country's nuclear program and concerns about two U.S. reporters imprisoned in Pyongyang since March.

Clinton landed in Pyongyang in an unmarked jet Tuesday and was greeted at the airport by North Korean officials, including chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan and vice parliamentary speaker Yang Hyong Sop, footage from APTN Pyongyang showed. He smiled and bowed as a young girl presented him with flowers.

The unannounced visit comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea's string of nuclear and missile tests in defiance of the U.N. Security Council and calls from Washington for amnesty for the two jailed reporters.

CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk says Clinton's visit could be, in the minds of the North Koreans, equivalent to direct talks with the U.S., owing to his unique connection to the Obama administration.

CBS News reported exclusively last week on new overtures from the communist state seeking direct talks with the U.S.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who work for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV media venture, were arrested in March while on a reporting trip to the Chinese-North Korean border. They were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts."

Politico.com reported Tuesday that, according to an unnamed source in Washington, the North Korean regime has said it will hand over the two journalists to Mr. Clinton. The report claims family members asked the Obama administration to send the former president, a mission which was approved after weeks of secret planning.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - Bill Clinton's wife - requested amnesty for the women, asking that they be allowed to return to their families in California.

"Because of his history with North Korea, former President Clinton could be just the right man for the job," says Falk. (Read more from Falk on what could be one of Bill Clinton's toughest tasks yet.)

Meanwhile, CBS News security analyst Juan Zarate told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith that Mr. Clinton's visit stands to benefit both Pyongyang and Washington.

"Both sides are looking to win," said Zarate, who adds that North Korea has seemingly achieved exactly what they had hoped to by detaining the Americans and using them as pawns; "High level recognition."

Both reporters are married, and Lee has a 4-year-old daughter. Negotiations for their release are believed to have taken place behind the scenes since Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

Lee's husband, Michael Saldate, declined to comment late Monday on Bill Clinton's trip. A message left for Iain Clayton, Ling's husband, was not returned.

(AP Photo/Yonhap)

At left: Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea.

Also, a call and e-mail to Current TV seeking comment Monday weren't immediately returned.

Clinton is the second former U.S. president to visit communist North Korea; Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang in 1994, when Clinton was in office, and met with then-North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, late father of current leader Kim Jong Il.

That visit also occurred at a time of spiraling nuclear tensions - and led to a breakthrough accord between the two sides just months later.

CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports that North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator was also at the airport to greet Clinton on Tuesday - a sign that this visit may be about more than just bringing home two American women.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said Clinton's visit could serve two purposes: securing the women's release and improving ties between Washington and Pyongyang.

"I think it's not just about journalists. It will serve as a turning point in the U.S.-North Korea relations," he said.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency confirmed Clinton's visit with a brief dispatch. The report did not say who Clinton would be meeting.

In New York, the Clinton Foundation did not immediately return calls, and Gore's spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, said she could not comment. At the White House, Deputy Press Secretary Tommy Vietor said he had no comment.

The last high-ranking U.S. official to meet with Kim Jong Il was Madeleine Albright, then Clinton's secretary of State, who visited Pyongyang in 2000 at a time of warming relations. Ties turned cold when George W. Bush took office in the White House in 2001.

Since President Obama took office, Pyongyang has expressed interest in one-on-one negotiations with Washington while insisting it will not return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.

The United States says it is willing to hold bilateral talks with the North, but only within the six-nation framework.

North Korea has rapidly escalated tensions this year. It conducted a long-range rocket launch, quit the disarmament negotiations, restarted its nuclear facilities, carried out its second-ever nuclear test and test-fired a series of ballistic missiles.

As a way to pressure North Korea to return to the negotiating table, Washington has been seeking international support for strict enforcement of a U.N. sanctions resolution adopted to punish the North for its May 25 nuclear test.

There are also questions about Kim's health. Now 67, he reportedly suffered a stroke about a year ago, on top of chronic diabetes and heart disease. Kim, who rules the nation of 24 million with absolute control, is believed to be preparing to name a son as his successor.

[ladypirate2]

by glaring_falsehoods August 4, 2009 5:54 AM EDT
Dear ladypirate2: Just because the Bush administration officials you mention ----- and let us not forget the architect of the Iraq debacle, Paul Wolfowitz ------have YET to be indicted, does not mean they will not be.

The fact that they have not investigated is not for lack of evidence of war crimes. In fact, there is ample proof that the Iraq war was one of choice and not necessity, that it was based on falsified intel, and fake links between Iraq and 911. (The most damning evidence however, comes from Bush himself ------ who admitted, prior to his departure ----- that Iraq had NOTHING to do with 911.)

If you need a reason why Obama and his AG have been reluctant to further polarize the nation with what would ultimately result in a Nuremburg-like war crimes tribunal, you have no farther to look than the precipitous economic collapse Bush left our country in after 8 years of record spending, bloated no-bid defense contracts and huge sums of money the GAO has yet to account for. The fact that Wall Street was essentially left unregulated for the last 20 years, beginning with Reagan, has contributed as well. Frankly, the Obama team has been a bit busy.

But, back on point: The attorney general is still considering re-instating the office of special prosecutor to look into allegations of torture, and other violations of the Geneva convention, by the Bush administration. You may rest assured that each of the key figures in such a trial, if it is to be convened ----- Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bush, Cheney et al ----- are rightfully concerned about the possibility of such actions.

Remember, too: 150 or so countries can, under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, still invoke a war crimes tribunal at any time. Thus far, Spain is the only country which has issued arrest warrants for Bush Administration officials.

As to Bill Clinton's visit, it could work.



I stand by my statement that I told "iam4honesty". In the United States a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. At this point Bush, Rice, and Powell and others in the Bush administration are only alleged criminals because they haven't been arrested or charged with anything in the United States. They have not been found guilty in court. Neither you nor iam4honesty are their judge or their jury.

[ladypirate2]

by iam4honesty August 4, 2009 9:25 AM EDT
by ladypirate2 August 3, 2009 10:15 PM EDT
You call them criminals but have you forgotten that in America a person is supposed to be presumed innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law? Who made you their judge and jury? As I recall neither George Bush, Sr or George W. or Rice or Powell have been prosecuted or proven guilty of anything in court! There has been no trial for any of them except in your demented mind



So, basically, what you have taught us is that a criminal is not a criminal until they are convicted of a crime... you're not a bad guy unless you get caught, tried and convicted.

I guess all the years that Al Capone was doing his deeds he was just a regular guy. He only became a criminal when he was arrested.

This is a pretty clear presentation of republican morality


My dictionary's definition of criminal is a person GUILTY of committing a crime. You obviously are not an attorney or a real judge or you would know that in the United States a person is presumed innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law. That is one of the first rules of law and one of the first things that a law student learns in law school. That is why most journalists use the word alleged when reporting a story, at least the good ones do anyway, the ones that are unbiased.

Since Bush, Rice, Powell, etc haven't been arrested or charged with anything and they certainly haven't been prosecuted or found guilty in a court of law before a real judge and jury, they aren't criminals except in your mind. They are only alleged criminals. I stand by my first statement!

[mary-miami]

Clinton was a wonderful President and respected by most world leaders. I think his visit to N.Korea will do good and probably achieve the release of the two journalists.

[Questionews]

Too bad Kim isn't a woman. Bill's bedside diplomacy is world renown. The world would get a cooperative & peaceful NK & Bill would have gotten a Cleavland steamer!!

[TheMasses2009]

As far as all the comedy skits I've seen regarding Clinton and sex; I don't think the gender matters questionews.

[TheMasses2009]

I'm not sure that it matters if Clinton's recipient is a human or not either. I think he just likes sex period.

[anti-global2]

While I would like to see the so called journalists (or are they CIA) freed, I don't think we should have any relations with N. Korea. The only result is we will end up sending more American tax dollars to feed a bunch of uneducated, dirty people, and less face it we need less of these types in the world, not more.
This will just end up costing us more money, and for what, to help Chian avoid the future problem N. Korea will eventually become? We want them to be a problem for China, any probelm for China is good for us.
The whole region is filled with lying, stealing , backstabbing dirty people. Anyone who tells you China's culture should be admired is not giving you the whole story. They have been a pack of thieves for much of thier existance. We should have let the other 2/3 of the population become addicted to opium, then they weould have died out by now.
Have a nice day.

[TheMasses2009]

Yeah - ethnic clensing is the answer.

[ianlou]

Hey Bill, Please Kick Kim in the Nuts for me.
Thanks.

[Hailstorm123]

hey pythoncharley maybe you should look up a few things. Republican Party was created as a ANTI SLAVERY PARTY. they argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values. the dems are much closer to the kkk the the republicans ever were. LOOK IT UP!

[guyfrompa46]

Isn't this Hillary's job?

[harpoot]

One would think so but they need someone with a pair of stones to haggle with these monkeys.

[endurorob]

Why put so much effort into freeing a couple of women that likely broke the laws of a foreign nation. I say let them do their time.

[zonkzilla]

Talk about out of touch with reality, the right wingers still think Clinton is President and can give things to North Korea. I feel sorry for insane people, they just can't help it.