Freed Reporters Describe N. Korea Ordeal

2 U.S. Journalists Endured Meals of Rice with Rocks, Four Months of Isolation

(CBS/AP)  Updated 6:38 p.m. Eastern.

Two American journalists held captive in North Korea since March endured meals of rice with rocks, more than four months of isolation and the constant fear they would be sent to a gulag.

Facing sentences of 12 years hard labor, they were allowed only sporadic contact with each other, let alone the outside world. Then, suddenly this week, they were brought into a meeting with none other than Bill Clinton, who helped win their release and flew home with them for a tearful reunion with their families.

Behind the Scenes: Katie Couric reports on Clinton's
carefully orchestrated mission to North Korea.

"We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," an emotional Laura Ling said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours and it is what sustained our faith that we would come home."

Ling and Euna Lee sobbed and embraced their husbands and Lee's 4-year-old daughter, Hana, in the sleek hangar of a Burbank airport after a 9½-hour flight from Japan. It was the last stop following their release from North Korea after an unusual diplomatic rescue mission headed by the former president.

In a voice shaking with sobs, Ling recalled how their time in captivity came to an abrupt end after she and Lee were summoned to a meeting and found the former president standing there.

"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," she said.

While questions swirled about the delicate negotiating dance that led to their release, Ling only talked about their gratitude to be free and their desire to quietly get reacquainted with their families.

Neither woman offered details of their treatment in North Korea, which has a reputation for a brutal government and has struggled through famine. But Ling's sister later told reporters that her sister was "a little bit weak" and it would take some time for her to gather her wits and speak about her captivity.

Family members found it challenging to hear the few details they have received, she added.

She said the captives saw each other for only a couple days after their detention.

"They actually were kept apart most of the time. ... On the day of their trial, they hugged each other and that was it," Lisa Ling said outside her sister's home in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

She said the family had four telephone conversations with her sister during her captivity. During one of them, Laura Ling asked them to write to Lee "and tell her that I'm thinking about her and I love her."

Lisa Ling said her sister was craving fresh food and a sushi dinner will be on the agenda soon.

"She's really, really anxious to have fresh fruit and fresh food. ... There were rocks in her rice," Lisa Ling said. "Obviously, it's a country that has a lot of economic problems."

They were held in a guest house and had not yet been sent to the labor camp because of medical concerns, the sister said. Laura Ling suffers from an ulcer, while Lee has lost 15 pounds since being detained. Ling had been seen regularly by a doctor, her sister said.

Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, are reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV. They had been working on a story about the trafficking of women when they were arrested in March, and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. The pair were granted a pardon Tuesday, following talks between Clinton and North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

They arrived at Bob Hope Airport at dawn aboard a Boeing jet owned by Steve Bing, a multimillion-dollar film producer, friend of Clinton's and contributor to Democratic causes.

After the emotional reunion, Ling and Lee left quickly with their families, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. To follow? Official government de-briefings, including by the State Department, and what the women say they long for most: some quiet time with their families.

Lee, who emerged first, wept and hugged her daughter, held her hands as she talked to her and then scooped her up. Both were crushed in an embrace from her husband, Michael Saldate.

Ling threw up her arms in joy before descending the plane's stairs and embracing her husband.

"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea," she said in prepared remarks on behalf of both women. "We feared that any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp."

Clinton was hugged by Gore as he stepped off the plane. He didn't speak, but his office later issued a statement saying he was happy the long ordeal was over.

"Hana's been a great girl while you were gone," Gore told Lee. "And Laura, your mom's been making your special soup for two days now."

He also thanked the State Department for its help in the release.

"It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm's way, that so many people will just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending," he said.

The release amounted to a successful diplomatic foray for the former president, who traveled as an unofficial envoy, with approval and coordination from the administration of President Barack Obama. The visit to Pyongyang came at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear program.

The meeting appeared aimed at dispelling persistent questions about the health of the authoritarian North Korean leader, who was said to be suffering from chronic diabetes and heart disease before reportedly suffering a stroke last August. It was Kim's first meeting with a prominent Western figure since the reported stroke.

Questions remain about how the episode will affect relations between the U.S. and North Korea.

"Now that the American journalists are on terra firma, back in the U.S., the Obama Administration has effectively reset the dial on the U.S. - North Korean relationship," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk, from the U.N., "and it will now be up to Secretary of State Clinton to see if the former President's successful trip can transform the good will into a negotiated agreement with Pyongyang on nuclear disarmament."

The North Korean U.N. Mission told CBS News last week that the government of Kim Jong Il wanted direct negotiations with the U.S., said Falk, "and the trip by former President Clinton, in their eyes, was one step in the direction of a direct dialogue."

Ling's sister said her family "had a sense that the government had agreed to send President Clinton" but didn't know whether the release was predetermined before his arrival.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Clinton will brief Obama's national security team on what transpired in Pyongyang.

He reiterated that Clinton did not carry a message from Obama to Kim.

"If there wasn't a message, there certainly couldn't have been an apology," Gibbs said.

[GTR5]

Two airhead bimbo wanna-be journalists trying to get a story gets caught in North Korea and expects the US to get them out free. How much is this costing the US taxpayers?

[proudmilvet]

We should have sent Sarah Palin over there the day after they we're captured. The North Koreans would have released them immediatly so they would'nt have to listen to palin talk anymore!!

[proudmilvet]

You neo-cons are truly CRAP!! 100% under the authority of YOUR DEAR LEADER: Rush Limbaugh.

[proudmilvet]

Bravo President Clinton! Bravo President Obama!

[babooph]

Fox" news" is screaming this "may be" some sort of SECRET deal favoring NK-If what "May BE" is news ,than the entire Fox staff" may be" child molestors & should be spoken about on world news-they should be required to say yes or no to the question of" will they stop molesting?"

[culturechang]

I thought they were over there documenting conditions in North Korea when arrested. Now, I learn it was about trafficking women. Nothing has been taken out of context and over-sensationalized more than that subject. They were just over fretting about prostitution.

[GTR5]

These two airhead bimbo journalists should have been left in North Korea. They went there to make a scoop and got caught and then whinned for someone to get them released. At what price did the US and the US taxpayers have to pay for this?

[hamiltongrad]

President Clinton is a real hero. Mrs. Clinton - it proves - would have made an excellent President. Perhaps she will challenge next time. I would surely support her, and people are fed up with what is now happending with too much socialism. Anyhow, we need to thank the Clintons, and we all hope that women with courage such as Mrs. Clinton will someday become number 1.

[hamiltongrad]

where is the outrage from the LEFT concerning their treatment ?

[hamiltongrad]

great job Mr. President.

Now after rejoicing, we need to find out Who sent these young women into harms way ? What role did Gore and other abusive men have in pushing to get rating for CURRENT ? We need a full investigation by the FCC.

[cbsnews_viewer]

The big issue is still Nuclear. I am going to be the devil's advocate. Saddam gave away hostages (these reporters are a whole different league). His country got conquered and he got hanged. What does North Korea want? ( communism isn't coming world-wide anytime soon, there are too many private bankers getting million dollar bonuses with tax payer money). Obama is about sanctions (which is really a low level form of warfare, but me and China have one thing in common: We don't want North Korea with Nuclear Weapons). Is North Korea going to fall under its own weight like Romania did (twenty years ago)?
We know its like a long wrestling match: the US policy makers vs. the North KoreaSanctions eventually killed Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Sanctions did not eventually kill Cuba. Can sanctions be maintained for the long term? Is this a policy of containment? What are the likely outcomes? But give me some real analysis and not the white house game (Bush/Cheney you raised it to a new art form) of talking heads that sell-us excrement/propaganda/policy driven lies.

[vittoria1]

the_majesty, Obama did not "stay out of it." This release involved months of delicate negotiations by the administration and was a team effort. Bill Clinton would not have gone to North Korea had his visit not been one of the terms set, and he certainly didn't effect this release all by himself in a few hours on the ground, because it had been agreed beforehand that the women would be released if he showed up. In other words, he did not sit down in North Korea and engage in negotiations which then bore fruit. Clinton's trip was only the most visible aspect of a lengthy process in which many people were involved, though he should certainly be commended for agreeing to make it.

[Joe_NY_15]

Rice with rocks...is that a Korean recipe....I guess they are poorer then I thought...rice with dirt is so much tastier, rocks are just too crunchy, or is that your teeth ?

[legacyabq]

Why do people insist on over-simplifying everything?

[winslowe1]

Hopefully, they will have sense enough to respect other countries' laws in the future. Probably not, though, as long as our government supports their type. Little wonder we're not well thought of by the international community.

[nellpost]

Thank you Bill, Al, Hillary, Barack, and all the behind-the-scenes folks who do so much for our country. And think about all these posters: which of them would YOU want at your birthday party?

[fleabag75]

Say and feel free whatever you wish about Clinton but then set aside your bitterness to acknowledge the fact that with him in office the stock market was high, unemployment low, we were at peace in the world, the economy was very good and above all, we had a balanced budget with a surplus. If I missed something that was important, I'm sure you all will write.

[guyfrompa46]

You really think that Obama and Clinton called he shots on this? No Korea is using this as a bargaining chip. How Naiave are you?

[zonkzilla]

"Every American that has been killed since Obama took office is on him not Bush. He increased the troop strength in Afganistan. Is that Bush's fault? I don't think so.'

Wow! Can anyone be that illogical?

[zonkzilla]

Their discription " It was horrible. We were in an area with this man and he kept looking at us like he wanted to do something, not have sex, but something. Then he tried to strip off our clothes and fondle us so we said "no, please, don't, we are married" and fortunately someone else came and told President Clinton that Hillary would kill him".

Just joking, I am proud of Clinton and Obama for getting my fellow Americans home.