2 reporters reunited with families, Obama 'deeply involved' in release+

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5 Kyodo - Two American journalists who had been detained in North Korea for more than four months for illegally entering the country were reunited with their families Wednesday at the foot of the plane ramp upon their arrival at an airport on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The chartered plane carrying Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, as well as
former U.S. President Bill Clinton who won a special pardon from North Korean
leader Kim Jong Il for the two women, arrived at 5:50 a.m. local time after
leaving Pyongyang earlier in the day.
A tearful Ling said before more than 100 reporters who gathered at the airport
that she and her co-worker at Current TV knew when they saw Clinton in North
Korea that ''the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end,'' and
expressed gratitude to the former president and others who made the release
possible.
Following the arrival of the two journalists, U.S. President Barack Obama said
in Washington, ''We are obviously extraordinarily relieved,'' while Al Gore,
former vice president and Current TV co-founder, said the Obama administration
has been ''deeply involved in this humanitarian effort.''
''Kim Jong Il issued an order of the chairman of the (North Korean) National
Defense Commission on granting a special pardon to the two American journalists
who had been sentenced to hard labor in accordance with Article 103 of the
Socialist Constitution and releasing them,'' the official Korean Central News
Agency said.
During their talks, Clinton and Kim agreed that the two countries should settle
''pending issues'' between them through dialogue. Clinton conveyed a message
from Obama ''reflecting views on ways of improving'' bilateral relations,
according to KCNA.
In Washington, however, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Tuesday denied
that Clinton had conveyed a verbal message from Obama to Kim. ''That's not
true,'' Gibbs told reporters.
Gibbs also said Clinton told the North Korean side that the international
community will respond positively if Pyongyang releases people abducted from
Japan and also South Korean detainees.
KCNA said Clinton ''expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the
hostile acts'' committed by Ling and Lee against North Korea after intruding
into the country from China on March 17 while they were working on a story for
Current TV.
In June, North Korea's top court sentenced the two journalists to 12 years'
hard labor for illegally crossing the border and committing a ''grave crime''
against the country.
Pyongyang believes Clinton's visit ''will contribute to deepening the
understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral
confidence,'' KCNA said.
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.
The families of Ling and Lee said they were ''overjoyed'' by the pardon in a
statement posted on their website.
''We are so grateful to our government: President Obama, Secretary (of State
Hillary) Clinton and the U.S. State Department for their dedication to and hard
work on behalf of American citizens,'' the statement said.
''We especially want to thank (former) President Bill Clinton for taking on
such an arduous mission and (former) Vice President Al Gore for his tireless
efforts to bring Laura and Euna home.''
Along with freeing the two journalists, Clinton's mission raised hope that
dialogue with Kim could reverse an escalation of tensions sparked by
Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests in defiance of the U.N. Security Council.
North Korea quit the six-party talks on its denuclearization in April to
protest a U.N. Security Council statement denouncing its rocket launch, which
was widely seen as a disguised missile test.
Pyongyang has indicated it will seek bilateral talks with the United States to
solve the nuclear standoff, while repeating its refusal to return to the table
of the six-party talks with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United
States.
Washington has maintained that the six-party framework is the appropriate way
to engage with North Korea.
In mid-July, a U.N. sanctions committee imposed a new set of sanctions on North
Korea based on Resolution 1874, which the Security Council adopted June 12 in
response to Pyongyang's second nuclear test May 25.
Clinton, whose wife is U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is the second
former U.S. president to visit North Korea, after Jimmy Carter in June 1994.
During that visit, which was meant to help resolve the nuclear crisis at the
time, Carter held talks with the now-deceased Kim Il Sung, then leader and
father of current leader Kim.
==Kyodo