North Korea

Bill Clinton meets Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang

Article published on the 2009-08-04 Latest update 2009-08-04 15:47 TU

Former US President Bill Clinton receives flowers after arriving at Sunan airport in Pyongyang on 4 August
(Photo: Reuters)

Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Pyongyang and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il on Tuesday. He will be discussing the release of two jailed American journalists - Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were sentenced to 12 years in June after reporting on North Korean refugees.

Clinton, US President from 1993 to 2001, is hoping to return with the detainees through the Chinese border.

North Korean soldiers near the village of Panmunjom on 27 July 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

The journalists were given 12 years of hard labour for illegally entering the communist state. They admitted entering the country illegally according to the North Korean news agency and were arrested by North Korean guards in March, although their families insist they had no intention of entering the country.

The pair were working for internet broadcaster Current TV, which is co-founded by Clinton’s former Vice- President Al Gore.

North Korean media say the journalists have admitted to a politically motivated smear campaign. Clinton’s wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has appealed for their release on humanitarian grounds.

Relations between North Korea and the US deteriorated following a number of a missile/rocket launches.

"It's very interesting that he was met at the airport by the main nuclear negotiator from North Korea," comments Seoul-based reporter Christian Oliver. "That suggests that the North Koreans are trying to push this into a far bigger kind of territory."

"If he starts to step into that then the whole thing becomes a lot more complicated," Oliver says.