US: Clinton to NKorea on promise of reporter release: report
Wed Aug 5 00:24:21 EST 2009
WASHINGTON, Aug 4 AFP - North Korea has told relatives of two jailed US journalists that it will release them to former US president Bill Clinton, who has arrived in Pyongyang to win their freedom, Politico.com reports.
The White House approved the mission, which had been secretly planned for weeks, the news outlet said, citing an unidentified Washington source.
The families of reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were detained in March along the Chinese border while on assignment, went to Clinton after the North Korean government told them it would release the women to the former US leader.
"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a brief statement.
"We do not want to jeopardise the success of former president Clinton's mission."
Clinton met with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il on Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency reported, after arriving in Pyongyang on the highest-profile visit by an American to the hardline communist state for nearly a decade.
A US official travelling separately with the ex-president's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, confirmed he would seek the release of the reporters, who were sentenced on June 8 to 12 years of hard labour.
The journalists worked for Current TV, a California-based news organization co-founded by former vice president Al Gore.
