In mid-March, two American journalists — Laura Ling and Euna Lee, employees of Current TV (a politics and youth-oriented news channel), led by former US vice-president Al Gore — were arrested inside North Korea while working on a story on the China-North Korea border.
In June, a North Korean court found them guilty of illegally entering the country and sentenced the two journalists to 12 years of hard labour.
Yesterday, former US president Bill Clinton landed secretly in North Korea in an unmarked private jet. He dined with the hardcore communist nation’s pariah leader Kim Jong-il, secured the administration’s pardon, and today landed back in the US with the freed journalists!
Bill Clinton meets North Korean leader
Freed US reporters welcomed home
Any keen observer of international diplomacy would have instantly noticed the extraordinary nature of the sequence of events. One, no top American leader has visited Pyongyang in close to 10 years. And here is none other than Bill Clinton making that visit. Two, no American leader would dare make the mistake of even talking to Kim. And here’s Clinton dining with the Communist leader. Three, forget a top American leader exchanging pleasantries with Kim, here’s Clinton apologizing on behalf of the two journalists.
Laura Ling, second left, and Euna Lee, right, two American journalists who were arrested in March after allegedly crossing into North Korea from China, are joined by former President Bill Clinton, and former Vice President Al Gore at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. Lee and Ling, the two American journalists freed by North Korea, returned home to the United States on Wednesday for a jubilant, emotional reunion with family members and friends they hadn't seen since their arrests nearly five months ago. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Here it would be pertinent to remember what North Korea managed to do when it had the custody of the two journalists: in May-end, they conducted a nuclear test, and followed that up with a series of missile launches. There were the usual rhetoric of protests from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the US. But the fact is, Kim got away with them.
The grapevine is that North Korea launches missiles when they need money! They deftly club that with some current situation, and get western nations to pay up. Not quite a charitable observation. Whether true or not, it indicates how North Korea and the West, especially the US, are balanced on the international power equation.
The two journalists are free. But the fact that North Korea got someone as high-ranking as Bill Clinton to fly into Pyongyang, dine with their leader, and seek the leader’s pardon is quite an achievement, by any stretch of imagination.
The inherent complications were clearly evident in the way secretary of state Hillary Clinton denied that her husband had apologized on behalf of the journalists.
I won’t be surprised if Kim wanted Hillary or even Obama to come to North Korea and apologize. That would have been obviously impossible. The choice of Bill Clinton was a good bargain: from North Korea’s point of view, Clinton is a highly visible leader ranked in publicity along with President Obama, he is probably more internationally well known than some incumbent secretaries or senators. From the US point of view, Clinton is not part of the administration. In fact, the White House had promptly disassociated with the trip saying Clinton was on a private visit.
Was there a quid pro quo? Or, was Kim genuinely sympathetic to the women and was so moved by Clinton’s gesture and apology that he granted them freedom? Or, did Kim use the journalists as bargain chips to extract concessions from the world’s most powerful nation?
We wouldn’t know, at least in the near future; for one simple reason that North Korea has little stake in international media scene. If there was a deal, maybe, some day an American journalist would blow the lid.
Aug 6, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Anything is possible. Maybe Kim was genuinely sympathetic to the women journalists. And if there was a deal to free them, eventually giving Kim the upper hand and a safe way of getting away with blackmail, let’s not forget that the women are safe. That’s what matters.
Whether a future journalist will blow the lid has little bearing on the current result. What if the suspected deal had not happened and the two women had been sent to the gallows? In that case, an honest diplomat would wish for a secret but embarrassing meeting with Kim to free the prisoners — but it would be too late.
The question is not about a deal between the US and North Korea: the question is how would countries respond if the two women were to rot in a prison for the rest of their life?
Aug 7, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Pradeep, this was a visit brokered by the administration and Al Gore after Ling and Lee conveyed during a phone call home that the Dear Leader was willing to release them if Bill Clinton came to Nth K as an envoy and sought their release.
The administration scoped the possibilities comprehensively using the Swedish government who continue to have diplomatic relations with the dear leader and had been instrumental in securing good treatment for the journos while they waited to leave for the labour camp.
Obviously Hillary was in the know as was Clinton while this was done. When it was established that such an effort could secure their release Bill Clinton agreed on condition that it was in the first instance billed as a personal humanitarian trip. Et voila, the two young women were freed.
Obama’s policy of soft handling of old foes may have come in for a lot of flak but time and again it is proving to be successful. What is extraordinary here is how the white house was willing to take a back seat and allow Clinton to get the job done.
Aug 7, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I agree with Pradeep. I think Kim had no intention to punish the two journalists. If Kim wanted to meet a top US guy, he had his way. Freeing Ling and Lee is a smokescreen. Hope Clinton secured more than just the release of the two women from North! It’s only then we can say the job is done.
Aug 7, 2009 at 1:12 pm
One that is striking is that Daniel Pearl couldn’t be saved. Probably it indicates how easier it is deal with an established authority than an unofficial one.
Aug 7, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Re:
Yes, that’s right. Established authorities have at least some amount of sanity if not 100% sane. But random groups of terrorists are like animals in the wild. Negotiating with them is a confusing task.