Freed journalists leave North Korea with Bill Clinton; long-term effects questioned

While family and friends cheered the return to California of jailed Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee and hailed former President Bill Clinton for negotiating their pardon today from a 12-year prison sentence in North Korea, analysts say there could be long-term diplomatic repercussions from Clinton’s high-level talks.

The journalists from the San Francisco-based media outlet co-founded by Al Gore, Clinton’s vice president, were sentenced in June to a dozen years in a North Korean labor camp after being convicted of illegally entering the country while reporting a story near its border. In July, the journalists told a family member that “we broke the law” when they were arrested in March.

Quietly, the Ling family asked Clinton for help, and Gore feverishly worked his international contacts behind the scenes. After meeting with Clinton today, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered the women pardoned and released.

“We are so grateful to our government: President Obama, Secretary (of State Hillary Rodham) Clinton and the U.S. State Department for their dedication to and hard work on behalf of American citizens,” the journalists’ families said in a joint statement from Los Angeles, where they awaited the women’s return. “We especially want to thank President Bill Clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and Vice President Al Gore for his tireless efforts to bring Laura and Euna home.”

A statement from Current TV today said, “Our hearts go out to (the journalists) – and to their families – for persevering through this horrible experience.”

While the journalists’ co-workers and supporters celebrated their release this evening at Lee’s alma mater, San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, the former president’s mission drew criticism from some concerned about the long-term implications to U.S. foreign policy in the region.

The harshest critique came from John Bolton, the former Bush administration U.N. ambassador, who said: “It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists.”

Even though Clinton’s mission was described as “private” – albeit blessed – by the Obama administration, Clinton’s wife is the secretary of state, the president’s chief foreign affairs adviser.

Just last month, Secretary of State Clinton warned North Korea that its longtime allies were turning against it and that its aggressive behavior would not be “rewarded.” She has said that discussions about the jailed journalists were separate from conversations about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

However, analysts say it was likely that many topics were discussed between the two men this week.

“The administration can call it a private mission or whatever it wants to call it, but it’s more important how it will be perceived in the region,” said Nicholas Szechenyi, an expert on U.S.-East Asian relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has been involved in high-level negotiations with North Korea in the past, told CNN today that Clinton’s visit sets a “more positive tempo” for the two countries to start talking.

“We want to talk to the North Koreans,” Richardson said. “You don’t want a country with four or five nuclear weapons shooting missiles out there without some kind of international dialogue.”

Among other possible effects of Clinton’s visit, according to Szechenyi and other analysts:

Kim Jong Il could boost his standing with his citizens by boasting that the nation’s nuclear saber rattling got results – a meeting with a former U.S. president. That’s important as the ailing leader is trying to set up one of his sons to be his successor.

If Russia and China perceive Tuesday’s actions to be a major thaw in North Korea-U.S. relations, they could ask the international community to lift sanctions against the communist state.

U.S. allies Japan and South Korea might feel isolated if they perceive the United States to be opening up bilateral talks with North Korea.

Will other nations where U.S. citizens are now detained now expect a visit from a former U.S. president?