for the north koreans, they heard it exactly the way they wanted it. . >> jack, thank you very much. thank you, tom. >>> we'll get back to the breaking news from north korea in a moment. first, jack cafferty joins us with the cafferty file. >>> remember the recession. some of the sharper financial minds out there think that the worst recession in decades may be ending soon. economist murial rubini thinks recession will end at the end of this year. he is worth listening to. his prediction isn't all rosy. he says there is a chance the economy will begin to recover only to drop back into a recession by late 2010 by 2011 because of growing government debt, among other things, a so-called double dip recession. former federal reserve chairman, ad an greenspan says, he is pretty sure we have seen the bottom of this thing and that economic growth may pick up at a faster rate than what experts are predicting. recovery depends on the housing market. other positive science include recent reports on improving home and automobile sales along with gdp numbers that sh

she also issued an apology to the north koreans. she may not call it an apology, but she basically said "we're very sorry this happened." so i think there were a lot of demands coming from the north koreans. i mean, this is a very serious thing here holding these two journalists. everybody is very happy they were released. but there was a lot of back channel going on and i know evan knows a lot more about that than i do. >> rose: i'm going to get to that. but what is the take on what we gained from clinton's conversation with kim jong il? >> well, they met for about an hour and a half and they had that v.i.p. state dinner. so they certainly didn't talk about just the release of these journalists. i mean, that was pretty much a done deal before he went over there. they wouldn't have gone over there if he didn't believe he was coming back with those journalists. i think president clinton probably had a lot of personal opinions, he probably talked about denunuearization and what he feels about that. he probably talked about what the no

the north koreans saw him as "the big guy." the big guy came, he got what he came for, we'll have to see where it goes from here. there's no question in my mind the north koreans hope this will lead to a whole new area, an era in negotiations. >> larry: jill dougherty, do you concur? >> i do concur that that's the hope. but i don't necessarily think that it is going to happen. because there is a division in these two things, there is a personal story of these two journalists and then there's the other story, and that is getting north korea to come back to the six-party talks, not just talking directly with the united states, but doing what the administration wants, which is coming back and talking with the other countries in these six-party talks. and the north koreans so far are -- it seems willing and ready to talk immediately to the united states, but not to the other countries and that's the problem. >> larry: there you see president clinton greeting them as they arrive on the plane, get set for the flight to l.a., they'll

the family of the two american journalists who faced what we are sure harsh conditions in the north korean prison camp for months. months. the visit of president clinton to north korea is something the north koreans wanted for a long time. over a decade. so they were able to save face and at the same time the americans were able to secure the release of these women. >> reporter: as i say we are looking live at the burbank airport, the charter jet that brought president clinton back for the two journalists. the officer we see going in an out of the jet from what i understand are border patrol officers going in there, make sure -- here we see other people emerging. this is a far away shot. can't exactly tell who they are but some of the people who accompanied them on the jet and again, hear with josh logan as we wait for them to emerge, their their families who are waiting to see them and the women were employed by current tv and their boss, former vice president al gore is also there at the hangar as part of the homecoming party. josh, you were saying this is something that north korea want

in july the women called their families and said the north koreans wanted bill clinton. he wasn't even on the white house list. some said for good reasons. after some of his comments about candidate obama during the 2008 campaign. >> give me a break. this whole thing is the biggest fairy tale i have ever seen. >> reporter: al gore told the white house the north koreans wanted clinton. president obama gave the go-ahead. >> the white house reached out as they said to my husband to ask him if he would be willing to do that. >> reporter: now a team of rivals one better, president obama and two clintons. the final step if bill clinton were to go would it be a done deal? the north koreans messaged yes. the wheels were in motion. and those wheels were pretty fancy. a private 737 owned by clinton friend and hollywood producer, and former clinton chief of staff, john podesta went along to file the paperwork of the pardon in a north korean court.

north korean news says the women were issued a special pardon. es with a visit to north korea by former president bill clinton. he's been meeting today in pyongyang with the communist leadership working to secure the freedom of the two journalists. north korea accused the reporters of illegally crossing into the country on march 17th. they were convicted this spring of engaging in hostile acts and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. >> now to the bigger picture on this, why did the north korean regime agree to let the two women go and when will they make it back home? former president clinton has been on the ground in north korea for about 20 hours now. as we get the report from north korean news, the journalists have been released. we also have a statement, let's bring in msnbc chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell. before you tell us what you've been able to get, we have this statement from the family members, and it says in part the families of laura ling and euna lee are overjoyed by the news of their pardon. we are so grateful

if the north koreans revert to bad behavior again. they can say, it really had nothing to do with this humanitarian mission. >> and here they come to the microphone, laura ling. >> 30 hours ago, euna lee and i were prisoners in north korea. we feared that at any moment, we could be sent to a hard labor camp. and then, suddenly, we were told that we were going to a meeting. we were taken to a location. and when we walked through the doors, we saw, standing before us, president bill clinton. [ applause ] we were shocked. but we knew instantly in our hearts, that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. and now, we stand here, home and freed. euna and i would just like to express our deepest gratitude to president clinton and his wonderful, amazing, not to mention supercool team, including, john podesta, doug band, justin cooper, dr. roger band, david stroud, minji kwan, and the united states secret service, who traveled halfway around the world and then some, to secure our release. we'd also like to thank president obama

north korean relations have been tense for months, as talks over the north's nuclear program have been at a stand still, and the north koreans have conducted an underground nuclear test, and test fired a number of long and medium range missiles. this evening the north korean news agency announced former president clinton and his party had left the country. the report did not say if the two american women were on the flight. joining me now to discuss today's developments: dennis wilder, senior director for east asian affairs on the national security council staff during the second bush administration. he's now a visiting fellow at the brookings institution. and selig harrison, director of the asia program at the center for international policy. he frequently travels to north korea. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> why now? why at this time? what's known about what brought this about? >> well, i think for some time now the obama administration has been trying to find a way to get the journalists out. i think the north koreans after the new u. n. sanctions, after some experience w

administration had ft off but to mov beyond that fo reasons that are still unclear, t we can specula, the north koreans decided that that wa notood enough. and so almo literly from the moment the president's handas lifted up fromhe bible, the north reans were alrea acking in a very uncomfortable and a very confrontatial direction. and many of us on the outside of the administration s this happeng, reached outto the north koreans and asked em to reain from thisort of rhetic and fro these sort of actions. well before the missile tests, well bore there was any hint of a nuclear test things were already heading in bad direction. so we de a major effort. "w meaning all of us on the outside whare concerned about this relationship, to try to get the north koreans move back to abetter place and to await the rmation of the w administrati's north korea pocy. and when th was in place, the assured our north korean countearts that we could get movi on a posive tra. for lots of reasons, the rth reans opted not to dohat. opted r a more confrontatiol and hoile approach. d i think that over the course of the last sever

he sat in the room with the north korean leader. he can tell the obama administration now about kim jong il's physical health, about his mental abilities. was he the man calling the shots? in other words, is he still the man in charge of north korea? and that will be vital information in what is still going to be obviously a very difficult relationship as we move forward. shepard: on a side note, there is obviously a serious nuclear disturbance, negotiation, going on with north korea. and today the top nuclear negotiator for north korea greeted president clinton at the plane. >> very interesting. there appear to be two series on that. one is that kim jong il, at the very least, by sending his top nuclear negotiator to greet president clinton, wanted to create the illusion of linkage between the fate of the two women and the nuclear negotiations. the other is simply that this man has been dealing with americans for more than a decade. he speaks very good english. he was very simply the best person to go and greet president clinton. a

it promps the north koreans to do the opposite of what the u.s. wants. korea that it leads to a change in their behavior and some evidence that negotiations can produce a change. that's why i'm convinced that finding a way forward to talk offers at least a better chance, no guarantees, of making some headway where sanctions are almost certain to just produce more tension in a crisis atmosphere. >> john, i will bring your attention to something that was written in the "washington post "by john bolton he wrote this, despite decades of bipartisan u.s. rhetoric about not negotiating with terrorists for the release of hostages it seems that the obama administration not only chose to negotiate, but to send a remember foer president to do so." what do you think this kind of message is sending to the rest of the world? >> well, first off, in anything related to north korea, there will always be a group that supports that action and a group that is against that action. but with respect to the way that the way this trip was framed. the administration went to great

. >> most north korean experts would say this is part of the kind of play book north korea likes to do. you ratchet up the tensions, you find a face-saving way out. the real test will be how does the obama administration take advantage of this potential opportunity. and whether or not north korea is willing to engage in a substantive way that will actually lead to real progress. >> rose: and then the case of a "newsweek" reporter journalist who lives in iran and was covering the iranian elections when he was detained on june 21. he's still in prison and we'll talk about that with "newsweek's" editor john meacham spl >> what's so disappointing is we for six weeks have respectfully ask that he... that iranian law be followed. they are not following their own due process. the other thing that's unfortunate is iran clearly wants to be part of the family of nations they want to be taken seriously. they want to be part of the world community. but this is not the way one acts if one wants to do that. >> rose: we conclude with part one of a two part conversation with general tony zinni, a dist

the north koreans have acted in the way you have described. i could go into great and gorie detail about all the things they have done. the record is very clear. what this does is remove a major obstacle. it removes a major cloud over the relationship and it removes a barrier to the sorts of consultations and discussions that i hope will follow at some point in the coming weeks. this gesture by the united states, which i support, i hope that this gesture will convince the north koreans that there is another path that stthey should and could be going down. it is a path of cooperation that will require them to reverse a number of the steps they have taken and get back to where we were, such as implementing these agreements. >> can you stick around? we have jill dougherty back. we have to get a break in and pay some bills. a lot of americans are wondering, what is the hurdle that keeps this country from wanting to be, kim jong-il, a good citizen of the world, if nothing else, maybe not perfect, he could be imperfect like the rest of us, it seems

in any event, it was, in fact, the north koreans who suggested in mid july that if former president clinton would travel to north korea, he could get their release. at that point, former vice president al gore reached out to clinton to take his temperature, would he be willing. of course, his natural first question is this going to be a successful mission? there was a thorough vetting of this, what the officials called due diligence. they really wanted to make sure that the north koreans were serious and they pursued that through a variety of channels, some of which they wouldn't reveal to us and quite fascinating right there but i think they used the word direct, there is some communication going on with the north koreans. >> that is through the u.n. ambassador, i'm told, sway direct -- direct channel with the north korean u.n. ambassador in new york. the other point, fascinating that bill clinton does something to help the obama administration. we talk about team of rivals, a savannah. normally we think of hillary clinton and barack obama because they ran against each other but in fact, t

critics, however, say the united states is rewarding north korean bad behavior and the white house and senate majority leader harry reed blasting americans who exercised their constitutional rights to protest against the president's health care plan. we'll have that special report. >>> sand president obama has become the country's talker in chief in his first six months in office. some say president obama is overexposed. that's the subject of our "face-off debate" tonight. >>> north korea today declared it will free two imprisoned american journalists. north korean's leader kim jong-il gave journalists a special pardon after former president bill clinton visited pyongyang. the north korean news agency saying president clinton issued what it called a sincere apology for the journalist's actions on

the journalists had apologized to the north koreans for crossing over. laura lingapt -- laura ling's sister said yes, they did cross over into north korea. >> do we have any sense of the conversation that went back and forth? >> i can't imagine bill clinton smiling for those three hours, can you? one of the things they talked about was his feelings on denuclearization, "hey, kim jong il, that's not really a good idea," and i think theres with a little freelancing over there for him. but for the administration, there was the twister game all week, "oh, it's a private mission, it's a private mission, we had nothing to do with it," even though they were heavily involved in this. john: you talk about the smiles. we know that bill clinton loves the public stage. he loves victory. he loves winning. he knew that when he went over there he was going to get what he wanted. yet when you saw that picture -- he had an absolute stone face when he sat next to kim jong il. how hard was it for him to keep from smile something >> it probably wasn't that hard for him stand

, said to have wandered into north korean territory. they were accused of, in essence, acting as spies in the early going. there was a trial. they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. they have been there for months. fast forward to today. and just this morning former president clinton arrived in north korea to try, as it was described to us to negotiate their release. it was widely believed that there was no way a former president of the united states, the current husband of our own secretary of state, would go over there with anything left in doubt. and sure enough, now at 13, now 14 minutes past the hour of 3:00 on the east coast, we have just gotten word that following president clinton's meeting with the dear leader these pictures were released from the north korean government, euna lee and laura ling have been pardoned. judge napalitano, not completely out of the realm of pockets. but i want to go with jonathan hunt first what have we learned? >> we're getting breaking now's out of the pentagon now and our own jennifer griffi

north korean officials saw the plane off as it departed. the release came after a day of talks, including a meeting between clinton and the north korean leader, kim jong-il. kim's first with a western figure since reportedly suffering a stroke nearly a year ago. it has been a dramatic chapter in the lives of these women, who were granted a pardon by kim jong-il. the two were sentenced to 12 years hard labor, when they were arrested for crossing illegally in march, whilst reporting under cover. there were calls from the obama administration to release the women. back home, the families are eagerly awaiting their return to los angeles. and spoke of the relief at the news of their relief. >> one of the few times that something positive happened to me. besides having the two girls. >> the best day of your life, did you say? >> yes. one of the best days in my life. >> reporter: the success of this visit could pave the way for the two countries to begin talks on other, thornier issues, such as north korea's nuclear program and recent missile test

even after bill's visit there they still want the -- would that include china of course and the north koreans don't want to see that. we'll have to see that as it evolves but -- and also it's very interesting -- it will be interesting domestically to see how north korea and the kims, if you will, the father and son, ultimately work all of this out. >> it's all about family this week. >> it is. >> father and son and husband and wife. nikhil, what did america have to give to get these journalists back. >> didn't have a lot to give. they certainly gave concessions, if you will, when you think of the fact that kim jong-il has got a big propaganda hit out of this. there was question about his health. he's now proved to the world that he's alive. that's something. >> and that was a big question. >> and that was a big question. he got a big propaganda boost in his own country. the front page of the north korean paper had five pictures of kim jong-il with bill clinton. it wasn't until you got to page three that you had a little blurb that mentioned that the journalists had been freed. and finally, yo

. >> what are the north koreans doing out in new mexico? ry clinton has maintained the tough policy in north core wry ya, no more concessions for you guys' bad behavior every time they offer something. bill goes there and scoops off this atention with a sort of very ugly opening and now the north koreans reciprocate going to new mexico to see richardson? isn't this the province of the secretary of state and the united states? if she is the first spokesman and the leader in foreign policy? >> well that is the perfect segue. give you a moment to rebut because we are now going to new mexico and we have exclusively an interview with bill richardson who has just come out of that meeting? >> let me just remind everybody here. president clinton went as a private citizen to north korea. he very effectively handled that and able to win the release of those two women from north korea but not the same as their foreign policy. >> he said, they asked me to go. what are you talking about? >> let's try to clear some of this up with who better to go to now

reporter: the white house says that clinton did not carry a message from president obama to the north koreaneader. contrary to reporters by state media. >> this was a private mission that we weren't going to comment on. while the former president was on the ground in north korea and as a result of that, i don't have anything more to add on this at this time. >> reporter: however, the former president's visit comes in the midst of an international standoff between washington and pyongyang, over north korea's nuclear program. north korea has expressed a strong interest in one-on-one negotiations with the obama administration. but it says it won't return to the so-called six-party talks involving north korea, china, japan, south korea, russia and the u.s. >> they've gotten themselves trapped into increased isolation. that's not helpful to their -- to them ultimately. we, on the other hand, need to stop them from making nuclear weapons and missiles and tests them. and the only way to do that is to engage with them much more deeply than we've ever tried to do. >> this is not the first time that a

but were the two journalists set up by the north koreans, from the very beginning? and christian activists who work near the dangerous border now say the north koreans had their sights on capturing foreign journalists and the two women, they say, may have fallen into the trip, john bolten, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and fox news contributor joins us now, thanks for joining us on this sunday. >> good morning. >> eric: do you believe it was a trap set by the north koreans and they talk about wanting a foreign prize and why would they do that? >> well, it is certainly a very interesting story, we'll have to learn more about it. but the background is that there is a lot of human trafficking across the north korean-china uneasy bord knees border and refugees trying to escape and finding themselves effectively in slavery situations and there is a lot of activity up around there, and this idea that the north koreans might be able to capture foreigners engaged in it and journalists as these two ladies apparently were trying to cover the story. certainly ad

we also know once bill clinton got on the ground, the north koreans tweeted -- and yes, the north korean government does tweet. it tweeted all about bill clinton. there was no mention of the journalists. they had gotten the person they had wanted which was bill clinton. shepard: what more are we learning about the other players here, jen? >> john podesta, you remember, he was the chief of staff of bill clinton. he is a lawyer. he went along. he, we're told, had to argue before a north korean court for the women's release, and there was a doctor on board to check on the women's health but we're also told that the doctor forgot his passport and the u.s. military had to provide him one en route. shepard: a lot of troubles from that building with the north korean government. the overall relationship, how is it affected? >> well, secretary of state clinton offered today if the north koreans want to come back to six-party talks, they are welcome, but it's not clear whether the north koreans will take that up. in fact, the biggest thing that will probably come out of this is the intel that we w

their release came after a face-to-face meeting between former president bill clinton and north korean leader kim jong il. the white house today described it as a private humanitarian mission for mr. clinton and secretary of state hillary clinton insisted u.s. policy on north korea and its nuclear program will not change. bill whitaker begins our coverage tonight. >> reporter: as the plane carrying journalists laura ling and euna lee and former president bill clinton approached the airport in burbank, anticipation was obvious on the faces in the gestures of the women's family members. as the plane taxied into the hangar in the golden light of dawn, the excitement was best summed up by lee's four-year-old daughter hannah, holding her father's hand, skiping to the stairway for the moment they had waited almost five months to see. >> ladies and gentlemen, please help me in welcoming home laura ling and euna lee. >> reporter: hannah hugged her mother and wouldn't let go. the two journalists, isolated for 140 days suddenly thrust before a throng of cameras. >> 30 hours ago, euna lee and i w

clinton's surprise, 20-hour whirlwind stop in the north korean capital, which included a meeting, andinner with kim. back on american soil today, ling spoke of their ordeal and its resolution. >> thirty hours ago, euna lee and i were prisoners in north korea. we feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp, and then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. we were taken to a location and when we walked in through the doors we saw standing before us president bill clinton. we were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end, and >> reporter: mr. clinton did not speak at the emotional reunion this morning, but his former vice president, al gore, did. gore is a co-founder of current- tv, which employs the two reporters. >> it speaks well of our country when two american citizens are in harm's way that so many people would just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending. >> reporter: president obama and his administration had avoided substantive comment on

over the last year by the failing health and presumably power struggle of kim jong-il and the north korean leadership. kiran? >> i want to ask you about that. in the picture, there's been so much speculation about the state of north korea's leader, his health. talk of possibly pancreatic cancer and a litany of other ailments. in these pictures, what are your thoughts on how he looks and appears standing next to the former president. >> i'm not going to speculate on his health. i'm just going to say it was obvious that he's obviously still there. he's obviously still in a position of leadership. he met with the president clinton and president clinton will have a lot more to say on how he found kim jong-il. if you speak to people who have met him, for instance, the last senior american official to do so was secretary of state madeline albright, president clinton's secretary of state, she told us she found many times she found him to be incredibly engaged, incredibly aware of the dynamics, not only north korea-u.s. relations but north korea and the rest of the world. and he's not closed off i

apparently, they did not want al gore to go over there, the north koreans. hen al gore approached president clinton and said, please, go to north korea, on this mission. the administrati was involved in some ways. the national security adviser, jim jones, spoke to president clinton. he also had a meeting about what the current situation in north korea was. and that's how this mission began. >> all right, martha. our thanks to you. we're going to take a pause for a second. we want to bring in the rest of the country for the events about to happen on this tarmac. a break. we'll return with a special report. >>> and i'm diane sawyer, with robin roberts. and we are bringing in the entire country because that is the airplane landing after a 5,935-mile trip from pyongyang, north korea, to the united states. 140 days in captivity, for laura ling, age 32. euna lee, age 36. returning with former president bill clinton. >> they were arrested march 17th, near the north korean border while reporting a story on human trafficking. and in june, they were sentenced to 12 yea

equally, china's importa in e north korean equaon as well. so find the interplay, t undeurrent of china in all of this, very intriguing. and the united states does have to reasrt itself especially if africa now. >> and then on t of at, chin owns a great dal ofur debt. >> well, and in terms of that and the united stas, theeen united states most werful weapon, maybe you have esident now who ishe son of kea, as hillary clinton meioned. and that ges -- y know that has a real resonance in terms of actually trying t affect change over there. a continent where it is ve hard to affect zmierl we're going toave to leave there beuse we have run out of time. david andelman, thank you very much. nikhil eogun, thank you ry much. time goes by too quick. >> thanks, martin. >>> finally tonigh if you thk you've ha a long week, we wanto take you t a small corner of theorld where hard wo only begins to describe what's involved foa group of menho toil on the indonesian isnd of java working in a volcano. therthey mine sulfuthat's an essential mineral new many thin

he has been favorably viewed by north koreans because of his effort to normalize relations in the mid two women will be released. north korea has repeatedly demanded that the u.s. should recognize and admit that euna lee and laura ling crossing the border into their territory were wrong. secretary of state hillary clinton did so in public but then the situation turned from bad to worse after she described the regime a child demanding attention which north korea shot back saying she is like an old person who ought to be wandering in a grocery store. everything is about pride and pace saving. to them different presidents of different views cannot be chosen by the people. for the north korean president to see that he flu to pyongyang, it gave me a good reason to let them go. >> the capital of afghanistan has been hit by a predawn missile attack less than throw weeks before presidential election there is. witnesses say as many of seven rained down with the city of kabul. other missiles were apparently aimed the other diplomatic targets and afghan government children. >> the worsening situ

after meeting with them, they pardoned them who were air forced on march 17, near the north korean china border and ordered their release. it's unclear what, if anything, north korea will receive in return, but some analysts say that the prestige of a visit from a former united states president may be enough. >> the connections and the history, all point to bill clinton being the right man at the right moment. >> i think it is highly unlikely he would go there without some signal from the north koreans in advance that this trip was going to be successful. >> ling and lee who worked for current tv were charged and convicted of illegal entry and so-called hostile acts, sentenced to 12 years in hard labor. in recent months, north korea, they have antagonized them with nuclear and missile tests. the white house press secretary, robert gibs, calls it a private mission and responded to criticism that a visit from a big name like clinton rewards north korea's prosacktive behavior -- prosrabgtive efforts. >> we hope that the north koreans would look at it the same way. >> the white house denies

from the moment the news broke that the two women were arrested, accused of crossing the north korean border. >> two american journalists detained by north korea. >> reporter: the obama administration sprang into action along with the women's employer, current tv founder al gore. the swedish ambassador who represents the u.s. in pyongyang took messages and medicine to the prisoners. u.s. diplomats met with north korea's ambassador to the u.n. gore and the state department called the families every day. hillary clinton met with them on may 11th. north korea didn't make it easy. a missile test in april. a nuclear test in may. more missiles fired on july 4th. >> i strongly condemn their reckless actions. >> reporter: then on june 8, euna lee and laura ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. but a glimmer of hope. they remained in a guest house still able to call their families. the u.s. proposed sending an envoy, most likely al gore. others on the list, new mexico governor, bill richardson, and senator john kerry. in july the women called their families and said the north koreans

the two american journalists released from a north korean prison headed home right now, flying over theh former president bill clinton in a chartered airplane. what did north korea get in return for their lives? we will be live for w. breaking details. gretchen: should we throw more program at the cash for clunkers clunkers? treasury secretary ray la hood at the touch the hour. peter: full service vegas casino now offering to fill your prescriptions while you gamble. in fact, they will let you use your casino credit for pharmacy co-pay. sweet. ( conversation ) garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go. personalize your card by uploading... your own photo at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? ♪ this is my verizon small business specialist, tom. now, i know the catering business but when i walked in here i wasn't sure what i needed. i'm not sure what i need. tom showed me how t

/north korean relations. the fact that kim jong-il was glad to receive a high-profile american visitor in the form of bill clinton was certainly interesting. there's hope that perhaps it'll be possible to resume negotiations on one level or another. >> outside of the united states, reaction was mixed. in nairobi at a conference of african leaders, secretary of state hillary clinton told reporters, she was "excited' by the news. nonetheless, she reiterated america's hard line regarding north korea's nuclear program. >> they have a choice. they can continue to follow a path that is filled with provocative actions, or they can decide to renew their discussions. >> in south korea, reaction to the news of the release of lee and ling was noticeably subdued. north korea currently detains several hundred south koreans, some of whom accidentally strayed into north korean territory. others thought to be prisoners from the war of the 1950s. >> caller: far from being encouraged by the fact that these americans were let g

forced some kind of a diplomatic break through on the north korean nuclear issue along with completing his mission of mercy. the two u.s. journalists were pardoned just hours after bill clinton arrived in north korea.white house still won't call it official. but the former president is clearly on a mission blessed by the obama administration. hillary clinton, the secretary of straight, has been demanding that north korea release u.s. journalists laura ling and euna lee sentenced by the north koreans in june to 12 years for illegal entry. in a statement, their families said they're overjoyed and counting the seconds to hold laura and yuna in our arms. free position the two was the main mission, but talks were wide ranging. and clinton got a meeting with kim jong-il. when clinton was president, former president jimmy carter went to north korea hnd helped cut a nuclear weapons ban. the deal slowly fell apart. two months ago, the north tested a nuclear with that. can clinton help now? >> possibly he'll be back with a message that says they're ready to talk to us. that's about all we can ex

clinton, we now know, spent more than three hours with kim jong il, the reclusive north korean leader. north korea says mr. clinton apologized for the journalists' conduct. the americans deny it. so what did they talk about for all that time? was there any discussion of north korea's nuclear weapon program and its missiles? >> the young obama administration has been. preoccupied with north korea. this year the north koreans have tested a nuclear missile and lobbed missiles into the sea of japan. but now we seem to have a sudden and marked change in atmosphere. mr. kim, dogged by illness and political uncertainty, looked stronger and more in control of his country than he has for a while. the question now is whether this very human story about -- will translate into an opportunity to defuse north korea's nuclear ambitions and bring that country in from the cold. >> the journalists' return has also been welcomed by president clinton's wife, current secretary of state hillary clinton. mrs. clinton is in kenya where she strongly criticize the government's failure to prosecute those respon

you're believing what the north koreans are saying that's not true. you shouldn't put words in my mouth. i'm saying this probably would have been accomplished without sending president clinton. >> we've heard reports, peter, the north korean government rejected the idea of bill richardson and john kerry. >> i have not heard that confirmed. >> i do want to move forward because we're tight on time, probably out of time. i want to ask one question. david, i'll start with you. is there a chance of this trip, though, could, in fact, maybe bring north korea back to the negotiating table when it comes to nuclear weapons? >> we don't know that because the administration did try to keep the two issues separate. to be honest with you, president clinton spent three hours with kim jong-il. he's only been -- given a very brief reading out of the white house. the white house is eager to get a full debriefing. but there are no indications, none, that any concessions were made by the americans. the hope is that this is a signal by north korea that they would like to