Bill Clinton Heads for North Korea, Yonhap Reports (Update1)
By Heejin Koo
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Former President Bill Clinton headed to North Korea to seek the release of two U.S. journalists who are serving a 12-year sentence in the communist nation, Yonhap News reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
Andy Laine, a spokesman for the State Department in Washington, said on a conference call with reporters that he had “no information on those reports.” Aaron Tarver, a U.S. embassy spokesman in Seoul, said he hadn’t heard about a trip. The White House approved the mission, Politico reported.
Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to “reform through labor” in June for charges including an illegal border crossing from China. The two women were detained in March while reporting for San Francisco-based Current TV, co-founded by Clinton’s former vice president, Al Gore.
The sentencing coincided with increased tension on the Korean peninsula. North Korea tested a nuclear weapon and more than a dozen missiles this year, prompting new United Nations sanctions against the regime.
Clinton had “likely arrived” in Pyongyang, Yonhap reported at 11:23 a.m. local time. North Korea had asked in unofficial contacts through its UN mission that Clinton or a high-ranking Obama administration official visit for such negotiations, the largest South Korean news agency said.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lim Jung Taek told Bloomberg News by telephone the ministry had no comment on the reports. Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong Joo also declined to comment.
Hostages
North Korea has previously held talks over detained U.S. civilians. Evan C. Hunziker, a 26-year-old American, was held in 1996 after he swam across a river into the country from China. He was released after three months when Bill Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico, negotiated his release in Pyongyang. Hunziker committed suicide later that year.
Clinton, husband of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reached an agreement with Kim Jong Il in 1994 during his presidency to freeze the communist nation’s nuclear activities. He sent Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state, to Pyongyang to meet Kim in 2000, the highest ranking U.S. government official to visit.
That agreement fell through in 2002, after North Korea admitted it had secretly restarted the nuclear program. It kicked out international inspectors and conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.
Bill Clinton visited Seoul in May to promote cleaner energy use at major cities through the New York-based Clinton Climate Initiative.
Last Updated: August 3, 2009 22:49 EDT
Showing posts with label Euna Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euna Lee. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Source: Bill Clinton heads to N. Korea
Source: Bill Clinton heads to N. Korea
Story Highlights
United States is seeking amnesty for women instead of request for their release
The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea
The two countries were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War
North Korea is at center of impasse over its nuclear program
From Charlie Moore
CNN
(CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is headed to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists imprisoned there since March, a source with detailed knowledge of the former president's movements said Monday.
The women, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who served under Clinton. They were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea. Efforts to resolve the issue so far have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state.
Last month, Clinton's wife -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- said the United States had dropped its request for Ling and Lee to be released on humanitarian grounds and instead was seeking amnesty, which implies forgiveness for an offense.
Clinton's mission comes as the United States and its allies in the region are trying to push North Korea back into stalled nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea conducted a nuclear bomb test, its second, in May, and has conducted several missile tests since then. The United Nations responded by tightening and expanding sanctions on the North.
The two nations were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War and had no regular contacts before a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea agreed at that time to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but abandoned that accord and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.
Clinton had considered visiting North Korea in 2000, near the end of his second term as president. His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, had gone to Pyongyang in early 2000 to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -- now widely reported to be ill.
Story Highlights
United States is seeking amnesty for women instead of request for their release
The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea
The two countries were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War
North Korea is at center of impasse over its nuclear program
From Charlie Moore
CNN
(CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is headed to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists imprisoned there since March, a source with detailed knowledge of the former president's movements said Monday.
The women, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who served under Clinton. They were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea. Efforts to resolve the issue so far have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state.
Last month, Clinton's wife -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- said the United States had dropped its request for Ling and Lee to be released on humanitarian grounds and instead was seeking amnesty, which implies forgiveness for an offense.
Clinton's mission comes as the United States and its allies in the region are trying to push North Korea back into stalled nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea conducted a nuclear bomb test, its second, in May, and has conducted several missile tests since then. The United Nations responded by tightening and expanding sanctions on the North.
The two nations were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War and had no regular contacts before a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea agreed at that time to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but abandoned that accord and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.
Clinton had considered visiting North Korea in 2000, near the end of his second term as president. His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, had gone to Pyongyang in early 2000 to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -- now widely reported to be ill.
Bill Clinton heads to North Korea in bid to free journalists
2009 aug 04
From the Los Angeles Times
Bill Clinton heads to North Korea in bid to free journalists
A South Korea newspaper reports the former president hopes to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry.
By Paul Richter and John Glionna
August 4, 2009
Seoul — Former President Clinton was en route to Pyongyang in a bid to negotiate the release of two American TV journalists sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally entering North Korea, according to a U.S. official who requested anonymity and would not discuss details of the mission.
Earlier, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper cited a diplomatic source in reporting that Clinton was on his way to the North Korean capital on a chartered plane.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, on assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV, were taken into custody by North Korean officials in March near the border with China while reporting on refugees fleeing the secretive North. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
Scott Snyder, a North Korea expert for the nonprofit Asia Foundation, said Clinton's standing as a world statesman carried weight with Pyongyang.
"The North Koreans have a lot of nostalgia for the end of the Clinton administration," he said.
He said Clinton was rumored to have considered visiting Pyongyang before he left office.
"The question is going to be how could he go to Pyongyang without some assurance that they would be released," Snyder said. "For someone at his level to go without a prior assurance of some kind would be to risk a huge loss of face."
Jang Cheol-hyeon, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy and a former official at North Korea's Unification Front Department, said Clinton's visit was the best chance the U.S. has to win the reporters' release.
"He can surely bring the two journalists back home," he said.
However, it remained unclear on Tuesday what U.S. officials would have to give up to win the release of the two reporters.
Washington has said that it wants to prevent the effort from being linked to the larger dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But the outcome of that effort has been anything but certain, experts said.
From the Los Angeles Times
Bill Clinton heads to North Korea in bid to free journalists
A South Korea newspaper reports the former president hopes to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry.
By Paul Richter and John Glionna
August 4, 2009
Seoul — Former President Clinton was en route to Pyongyang in a bid to negotiate the release of two American TV journalists sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally entering North Korea, according to a U.S. official who requested anonymity and would not discuss details of the mission.
Earlier, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper cited a diplomatic source in reporting that Clinton was on his way to the North Korean capital on a chartered plane.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, on assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV, were taken into custody by North Korean officials in March near the border with China while reporting on refugees fleeing the secretive North. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
Scott Snyder, a North Korea expert for the nonprofit Asia Foundation, said Clinton's standing as a world statesman carried weight with Pyongyang.
"The North Koreans have a lot of nostalgia for the end of the Clinton administration," he said.
He said Clinton was rumored to have considered visiting Pyongyang before he left office.
"The question is going to be how could he go to Pyongyang without some assurance that they would be released," Snyder said. "For someone at his level to go without a prior assurance of some kind would be to risk a huge loss of face."
Jang Cheol-hyeon, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy and a former official at North Korea's Unification Front Department, said Clinton's visit was the best chance the U.S. has to win the reporters' release.
"He can surely bring the two journalists back home," he said.
However, it remained unclear on Tuesday what U.S. officials would have to give up to win the release of the two reporters.
Washington has said that it wants to prevent the effort from being linked to the larger dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But the outcome of that effort has been anything but certain, experts said.
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