north korea pardoned them at former president bill clinton flew to pyongyang. the journalists, laura ling and euna lee, flew home to california with president clinton after spending five months in a north korean prison. laura ling described what happened just before they were set free. >> 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. >> well,ling said that meeting was with president clinton. the obama administration insist it made no deals with pyongyang to secure their release. dan lothian has our report from the white house. >> reporter: i'm just not going to get into that right now. i don't have anything more to add on this at this time. this was a private mission. >> reporter: but, in fact, the government was deeply involved from the start. >> it was an official visit. it was sanctioned by the u.s. government. it was brokered behind the scenes by the u.s. government. this is, in name only, a private visit by the president. >> reporter: a senior administration official say

there hasn'tbeen a visit to pyongyang by such a hh profile american in years. >> this obviouslys a vytive topic. we wilhope to provide some moreetail at a later point. >> aer the meeting, a sudden annocement. kijong-il ha issued a special pardon to the two imprisoned american journalists. they had been arreed on nort korea's border witchina in march. they are lauralinguna lee. they had been sentenced t12 years for spying. mr. clinton is expeed to flight out th them as soo as wednesday. mr. clinton would he learned much of kim's phycal and medicalstate. the nortkorean leader is ill and gaunt. he is said to have had a stroke. is there me at sake he? >> this could re lead to the resetting ofu.s.-north korea relationand possibly to the beginning of normization of u.s. and north kean relation this could be hu. >> nth korea's nuclr prram frightenssia and the world. they have th abity to exploda nuclear divides. the u.s., russia and china have albeen unable t persuade them to giveup their ambitions. but might there be new opening now? a clue. bill clion was medical on the tarmac by north kor

pyongyang walked out of international talks on the nuclear issue earlier this year. john reports. >> centers say new mexico is perhaps an unlikely location for a charmed offensive by one of the world's most secretive states but governor bill richardson an experienced diplomat who has visited pyongyang says he believes north korea is trying to seand clear signal. >> let's take advantage the next step should be a clear dialogue that involves the united states and north korea. >> north korea believes its gesture in releasing two journalists deserves something in return that, something is direct talks. >> that demand may prove problematic. north korea's immediate neighbors, the government here in seoul as well as tokyo, beijing and moscow won't have much truck with attempt to sideline them and washington itself has insisted that when it comes to negotiateing with pyongyang -- >> the death of its former president kim day jeong he's the man who did much to build bridges to the knot and his response to the death is being seen as another sign for optimism. another senior off

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

we just received bill clinton in pyongyang. kim jong il can say to his people, look, the world comes to us. anytime we have an issue, the united states sends a high-level envoy. so it could change the dynamic but in a negative sense for the u.s. the obama administration is pushing very hard too pressure -- to pressure the north koreans. it seems to me that this weakens their approach on the nuclear side. shepard: thank you very much for being here. we're going to continue this discussion in a moment. i do have to hit another quick commercial break. what does this mean for diplomatic relation? what does it mean in relationses with iran where three americans are held captive? and might this be the end of six-party talks? and might this force a hand toward one-on-one discussions with the united states -- which the united states seems very much against? but, it's not like we're kicking back, now, havin' a cuppa tea. gecko vo: takes lots of sweat to become that big. gecko vo: 'course, geckos don't literally sweat... it's just not ou

former president and husband of the secretary of state shocked the world when he landed in pyongyang today. the obama administration called it a private mission, unmarked plane, no government officials at his side. it was dramatic. bill clinton was granted an audience with kim jong-il, reclusive leader rarely seen since a debilitating stroke last year. to make his appeal for the release of the women, unia lee and laura ling. >> our focus is on ensuring the safety of the two journalists there in north korea right now. >> reporter: officials told nbc news tonight's pardon had been engineered during months of secret negotiations with assurances the former president would not leave empty-handed. one involved said we can only do this once. he wouldn't go unless he had a deal in hand. the go-between, al gore, former vice president, whose current tv employs the women and who personally asked clinton to go. the north koreans wanted the highest profile envoy, a pattern familiar to bill richardson who has negotiated with them in the past. >> at a time in north korea where there is some talk of

before former president left for pyongyang.tary of state hillary clinton says she's happy and leaved the women are heading home. she will say more once the pair is on the the ground. while bill clinton wasn't officially representing the obama administration, there's no denying that politics are in play. jill is live to talk about how this went down. >> good morning, karen. there's a fascinating back story of details now coming out. there was a briefing by some senior administration officials, unnamed. they gave details. let's go through them. this goes back, they say, to even before the vision. goes back to july. in mid-july north korea said it was willing to grant amnesty to the journalists if an envoy like bill clinton would come to pyongyang. the women were able to call their parents. then july 24th the national security adviser spoke about the officer. at the end of july, president clinton agreed to go, but he made it clear it's a humanitarian effort. not negotiating. not connected to the nuclear issue. then finally, again,

they took off from pyongyang just moments ago.ted in march near north korea's border with china and sentenced in june to 12 years hard labor. president clinton secured a pardon and their release. his secret mission lasting less than 24 hours. tom foreman has the details. >> reporter: officially it was all unofficial. when a former president and spouse of the current secretary of state comes calling the official overtones are unmistakable and that is why kim jong il was smiling according to jack pritchard a former u.s. envoy to the region and head of the korea economic institute. >> kim jong il has been plagued with health problems. >> a visit like this makes him look strong? >> he looks healthy and happy. it puts to rest speculation internally and externally about his health and command of authority in north korea. >> reporter: so how was the deal done? first, through sweden. the united states has no formal relations with north korea but sweden does. the swedish ambassador has been there since 2005 and he saw the captives repeated

he's been meeting today in pyongyang with the communist leadership working to secure the freedom of theists. 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 to our government, president obama, secretary clinton, and the u.s. state department for their dedication to and hard work on behalf of american citizens. we want to especially th

in pyongyang. we went together to pyongyang with bill richardson. what did you think of the way it was ork xes straightened and what it mayor for tell about a possibility of the change in direction with pyongyang? >> i think as savannah was saying that a lot of communications went through the families as well as through what we call the new york channel, which is the state department to the north korean mission in new york. clearly it was very successful. while i think a lot of it may have been a done deal before president clinton went, we shouldn't take away anything from president clinton because nothing is a done deal with the north koreans until you are actually in country. as you remember, never a done deal we brought back the names of those missing american servicemen. in terms of the path ahead -- >> exactly. >> i think it helps to rachet down some of the tens we have seen since the nuclear test he is and the missile tests. all those these two issue, humanitarian mission and six-party talks are directly related, there is clearly an opportunit

pyongyang rapidly escalated tensions this year with several provocative actions, including restarting its nuclear facilities and test-firing a series of ballistic missiles. >> the fact that they've agreed to welcome the former president of the united states with a strong likelihood that he will see kim jong-il, the north korean leader, suggests that the north is still interested in some kind of accommodation with the united states. >> reporter: clinton was greeteded at the airport by north korea's chief nuclear negotiator suggesting the visit may win two purposes, winning the journalists' freedom and improving ties between washington and pyongyang. and bill clinton is the second former american president to visit north korea following jimmy carter in 1994. live in washington this morning, i'm tara mergener. ross, back to you. >> tara mergener in washington, thank you. >>> overseas, a bangkok airways passenger jet skidded off the runway this morning as it was attempteding to land at a popular resort island in thailand 300 miles south of bangkok. officials say there were 68 people on bo

eyhave posted a sers of actions -- sanctions to punish pyongyang about its la of cooperation. iran ewing's president has asked -- iran's president has set up iticism of the opposition. he has cald for t leader of e opposition to be punished. >> psident ahmenijad did not name it anyone specifically, but he says the senior individuals in the post-election unrest should be dealt with cisively. he says there needs t be a serious corontation. e president and a pension will again rect the psident's interventionill -- the president's intervention will have applications in an. >> it should not bthat the key elements of enjoying -- the key elemes enjoy security, while sser important elements ar punished. >> earlier this week, the preme leader rected that the opsition leaders had been ting on behalf of foreign powers. trials havbe taking plac of some of those allegedly involve in the unres but analys are warning that if more people are put on trial, the situatio could beme elicit and unpredtable. bbc news. >> beijing has ged burma to restore stability as thousands of burmese people cros

koreans had told the journalists they would be granted amnesty if the former president came to p-- pyongyang>> and clinton's mission was not political, the white house insisted. but kim jong il got the attention and respect he was looking for. >> the north koreans say there was an apology on behalf of former president clinton. >> the last question is that's not true. >> secretary clinton emphasized that north korea had not found a new diplomatic partner. >> we have successfully completed a humanitarian mission that was a private mission that was undertaken by my husband and we're very relieved about that. but now we have to go back to the ongoing efforts to try to enlist the north koreans in discussions that the world wants to see them participate in. >> but today at least, diplomacy took a back seat to celebration. >> the reunion that we have all seen on television i think is a source of happiness, not only for the families, but for the entire country. >> this has been an ordeal for them, but i want you all to know, your families have been unbelievable. euna, hannah has been a great girl wh

there hasn't been a visit to pyongyang by such a high profile american in years. >> this obviously isery sensitive topic. we will hope to provide some more detail at a later point. >> after the meeting, a sudden announcement. kim jong-il had issued a special pardon to the two imprisoned american journalists. they had been arrested on north korea's border with china in march. they are lauraling yuna lee. they had been sentenced to 12 years for spying. mr. clinton is expected to flight out with them as soon as wednesday. mr. clinton would have learned much of kim's physical and medical state. the north korean leader is ill and gaunt. he is said to have had a stroke. is there more at stake here? >> this could re-- lead to the resetting of u.s.-north korea relations and possibly to the beginning of normization of u.s. and north korean relations. this could be huge. >> north korea's nuclear program frightens asia and the world. they have the ability to explode a nuclear divides. the u.s., russia and china have all been unable to persuade them to give up their ambitions. but might there be

when former president clinton arrived in pyongyang, he met with the chief negotiator then kim jong-ilself and later top leadership. within 24 hours, the north koreans announced mr. clinton had apologized for laura and euna's transgressions, and that both women had been pardoned and released. after the return trip, al gore saluted the president. >> we want to thank president bill clinton for undertaking this mission and performing it so skillfully. >> the white house says the trip was a quote unquote solely private mission. so described by white house press secretary robert gibbs. but ex-president clinton says the white house asked him to iothe mission. "i happy that r happafthat aft with their love. es their families, vice pridgoenndt ae rethe itwh house asked that itundertake this humanitarian mission, i agreed." and this makes it more official. national security advisor james jones from his office in the west wing asked former president clinton to north kore question. why was bill clinton chosen for this mission and did the white house authorize it in advance? pat bu cannen? >> bill

a visitor to pyongyang as well on that trip. victor what is the significance of the u.n.omats reaching out to governor richardson again? >> i think, andrea it shows that over the past weeks, north koreans are attacking back a little bit and trying to reach out using opportunities like president clinton's visit as a spring board to reach out and as governor richardson said, reduce the temperature a little bit in the relationship. but where this all leads is not clear yet. >> one of the things clear from the talking to governor richardson now, they are still insisting on the six-party -- not participating in the six-party framework. they want a one-on-one relationship with the united states. that does not fit our administration's strategy. >> i think that's right. i think that is generally right. i think the one thing that i would beg to differ with my good friend, governor richardson that maybe rhetorically true, in practice, when they actually sit down and negotiate, there really is no difference between bilateral or six party, because do you a lot of bilateral negotiatio

rock star diplomacy by none other than former president bill clinton who personally traveled to pyongyang to win their release and what price did the u.s. pay? and was it too much, john bolten, the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and joins us now, and, good morning, sir, good to talk to you, always, you called this a knee-jerk impulse for negotiations, and a poorly thought-out plan as far as the former president's trip over there. i just want to quote from you, secretary of state hillary clinton who was on the road and gave an interview to one of our competitors that will run on television tomorrow, she was asked about your comments, sir, and she noted, first, laughed and then she noted, similar efforts have been carried out by other presidents and members of congress, and, she summed up your position, ambassador bolten as an attempt to politicize humanitarian issues. and your response to that? >> well, that is obviously not what i was doing. i think the concern here has to be how, when we try and x-ray indicate americans who are taken hostage by terrorists, and in effect tha

these two women have been held in pyongyang since march. they had already begun serving a 12-year sentence with hard labor. let's get the latest from washington and the bbc state department correspondent kim harp he is. as you understand it, kim, what is the latest on this story? >> well, of course, all we have at the moment is reports from the north korean media saying that the country's leader, kim jong-il, has pardoned the two women. he has issued a special pardon and ordered their release. the north korean media is also saying that this shows that north korea is a peace-loving country. what we understand is that the two women will now be able to fly home with bill clinton, the former president who has traveled to north korea on this surprise mission. but for now, the u.s. administration, the white house, and the state department are still remaining very tightlipped about this. they have maintained that this was a private mission by the former president. we also heard earlier in the day from robert gibbs, the white house spokesperson, sa

in the issue, most experts say it's likely the subject came up. >> to have president clinton in pyongyang, the first high-level visit in a decade and not raise some of these issues, i think, is a little bit beyond belief. >> reporter: while the 20-hour visit proved successful in winning the release of ling and lee, major questions remain as to whether this will lead to more direct talks with the nation the bush administration had frozen out. >> the north koreans had a terrific face-saving opportunity. and if they didn't take advantage of this to send positive signals to president clinton, then there's really no hope for them. >> couric: north korea rejected the administration's first choice for the mission, former vice president al gore. mr. clinton agreed to go only after north korea provided assurances the reporters would, in fact, be released. now to that shooting rampage near pittsburgh. police say the motive was hatred. the gunman apparently hated women, often complaining they ignored him for much of his life. last night, he opened fire at a health club, killing three women and wound

but pyongyang refuses to discuss the issue, claiming they all voluntarily defected. >> here's a question for year. should a 13-year-old girl be allowed to sail solo around the world? she and her parents say yes. dutch child perhaps -- drop -- dutch child protection services say no. we have this report. >> confined to dry land, the would be around the world yachtswoman his dreams have been thwarted. she planned to spend two years at sea, and love. >> and the aged 10, i wanted to sail around the world. i want to live. >> for the dutch authorities, they think she wants to live a bit far too early. they have made her a temporary wards of the court. job protection experts will decide if she can embark on her voyage. >> we are concerned. the decision of the court -- we will do more research. >> this is what she wants to emulate -- the record-breaking trip of our british teenager, a 17-year-old, who still come triumphantly yesterday. >> there are lots of different ways to go around the world. like grandma and grandpa, we take the easy ones with the good climate. she may have some delightful exp

>> reporter: the former president was greeted with warm handshakes and flowers as he arrived in pyongyangoday. the fact that clinton was greeted at the airport by north korea's chief nuclear negotiator and then had a rare meeting with north korean leader suggested that his talks went well beyond his efforts to free the two reporters. in fact, north korea's state controlled media described them as having exhaustive talks covering a wide range of issues. leon sigal is a north korean expert at the social science research council. >> the obama administration's position is the release of the two women is separate from any negotiation, but when bill clinton goes, there's no way to do separation. and the clinton visit, i trust by seeing kim jong-il, even though he is not speaking on behalf of the u.s. government, will open the way. i trust, to having bilateral talks, which is the key to getting somewhere with the north koreans respecting their sovereignty, their independence. it's an important signal. >> reporter: the white house says that clinton did not carry a message from president obama to

in the public that they're still held in pyongyang. but they're not going to be kept there forever. so they may be sitting on a ticking time bomb. so why, still they are in pyongyang we must do something. >> to try to get them back home. >> why former president clinton. why him? >> he would have been the only one. because amnesty is only to be granted by the head of state. and no one else would have given the permission to see kim jong-il because that country is very seriously protocol oriented country. so former president and also who was supposed to be in the mind of north koreans visiting there for summit meeting at the waning moment of his presidency in the year 2000. so that, in other words, probably president clinton may have had a standing invitation from kim jong-il. that was, that really, he was the only one. could have done it. >> the white house is downplaying this as some sort of new diplomatic, you know, opening with north korea what have you. is that an accurate assessment from the white house? is this something new. or are they downplaying this? >> yeah, they are down

clinton's visit really sent, and what will pyongyang do next? rod pollack joins the panel. rob, the white house is no change in policy super-dooper see policy was as change. the policy was six-party talks. once north korea with nuclear there are no good options in one darker monster trucks with united states snack that's right. our policy should have been once they went nuclear as we should have sustained multilateral pressure. by sending president clinton over what we've done is release the other five parties in the six-party talks from their obligations to do anything about the problem. >> paul: what would you do to get those two women out? jim was saying, bill clinton. what someone of that stature. he didn't want al gore or bill richardson now governor of new mexico who made numerous trips there, he wanted bill clinton, somebody of bill clinton's stature. wasn't the obama administration and a tough spot at one of the women released? sue hecht are you going to send it president every time someone takes a hostage which mark particular demographic for reasons of raising the

but it was precisely because pyongyang wanted him. i asked her today whether he would now go to iran where three americans, including journalists, are being held. she said not at all. that that is really way premature. in fact, they don't even know on this day when ahmadinejad is reinaugurated, they do not even know where and under what conditions those three are being held. in this case in pyongyang we know that the three women were, although sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, an extraordinarily tough sentence, they were held at a guest house. they've stayed in that guest house. it is not punishment other than that you are kept away from your family. that is the real terror, and the fear that they must have been experiencing. but physically, they were all right. they were reassured of that. they had communication, some communication with their families. a doctor took this trip, and did check them out. and john pede epodesta was ther not only because he was the former chief of staff, but he is a lawyer. he went to the court hearing

president clinton arrived in pyongyang for closed doors talks.e met with kim jong-il to discuss the release of those american journalists, laura ling and una lee. >> the good news is that those two female journalists who have been jailed for the past 4 1/2 months that they could come home. but there are real questions that are being raised about this trip. i've spoken with a number of asia experts today. we know that the white house sees this as a private mission by former president bill clinton. they don't want to comment on it. they want this to be seen as a private humanitarian mission and no decoupling with some of the other difficult issues that are out there. some of the concerns i'm hearing are being raised today is, one, this a propaganda tool for the north koreans? of course, the reclusive state, they get the former president of the united states, bill clinton to come there. the last time there was a senior u.s. official in pyongyang was in 2000, the last time a president was there in 1994. so will they use this as a propaganda too? anot

they arrived in southern california in the company of the former president, who flew to pyongyang onvate mission to free them. cnn's thelma gutierrez was there. >> reporter: it was an emotional reunion that began with the dramatic entrance of a private plane, into a hangar at the crack of dawn. on the plane, 36-year-old euna lee and 32-year-old laura ling, both journalists for current tv, who hadn't seen their loved ones in 140 days. also on board, the man credited for negotiating their release, former president bill clinton. >> 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. >> reporter: among those on the ground, eagerly awaiting their return, laura ling's parents and her sister lisa, a correspondent for national geographic, and her husband of 12 years, iain clayton. but one of the most emotional moments came when euna lee's 4-year-old daughter hannah saw her mother and then ran into her arms. >> it's what kept us going in the darkest of hours. it is what

and the north koreans invited him to come to -- or to go to pyongyang.ting that invitation, although it's slightly more than nine years later. it's aery wise choice and i'm quite sure that the journalts will accompany him on his return trip. >> you may remember the north koreans arrested lee and ling when they strayed over the border while shooting a documentary. they were convicted of hostile acts and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor >> ten days after that sentencing, laura lee's sister, lisa, spoke about that devastating decision. >> before the verdict as we heard you had a phone call, there were swedish intermediaries who were able to see your sister and euna. you have heard anything since then? >> since the verdict was announced ten days ago, diane, we have not heard a peep. we know that the swedish ambassador has been very persistent in his efforts to try and see the s w thnd'rut how they're doing. up until now we haveeard nothing and we are extremely concerned because when you tell two women that they are -- have been sentenced to 12 years hard

pyongyang is certainly impenetrable for those of us on the outside. but the difference between this and jimmy carter when jimmy carter went in 1994, the white house was at best ambivalent, if not unhappy about it. bill clinton has to be a good soldier with his wife in the cabinet and this is a very different animal in terms of his trip this morning. >> it was interesting, this morning, when bill gibbs was briefing us this morning at the white house he said, you can ask away, but we're not in a position to talk about this. he did answer one. someone asked about a report coming out of south korea that clinton carried a message from president obama to kim jong-il. he said, that is not true. so i don't know what you make of that. maybe it's north korea that's hoping to expand the dialogue. >> well, look, i think the president certainly wants to have a broader dialogue. you know, and he's been, i think, frustrated by the north korean actions, like the iranian actions. go back to the campaign, one of the great disputes on foreign policy, both in the primary

. >> rose: bill clinton arrived in pyongyang on an unannounced visit. north korean television is reporting the former president left the country, the jailed journalists with parr were pardoned following an apology in a meter with kim jong il earlier today. the mission comes at a time of heightened tensions between washington and north korea over its nuclear program. as we tape this broadcast at 7:00 p.m., the white house has not commented on the release of the journalists. joining me from washington is glen kessler, diplomatic correspondent for the "washington post" and joe cirincione, president of the plow shares fund, i am pleased to have them both on this program, welcome. >> pleasure to be with you. >> thank you. >> rose: i want you both to tell me everything you know about what happened. (laughter) >> what we know is that this was a carefully arranged agreement put together by the white house, the state department and various other back channel people, academics, congressional officials and so forth. the deal was set before the former president lef

he's in the capitol of pyongyang this morning. he's expected to push for the release of two american reporters recently sentenced to 12 years hard labor for entering north korean territory. >> there is more fallout concerning the nation's money crisis. the u.s. postal service struggling lately as it loses much of its business to e-mail is saying it is preparing to take some drastic measures. that includes closing hundreds or even thousands of post offices across the country and possibly cutting back on home delivery. news 4's kimberly suiters joins us live from silver spring with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. there are 32,741 u.s. postal service branches in our country. they're looking at a pool of about 3,200 branches, whether they need to close or not. this is one of the branches they're looking at here in silver spring. this is the list. i was counting, looking at different cities. st. louis has close to 38 different branches they're looking at closing. consider that comparing to our area. we're not so bad off.

that message was one of the messages that i believe president clinton and his team transmitted to pyongyang. that the path that they are on is not the right path. there is another way to this relationship and i hope the north koreans were listening carefully to that message. >> rose: and then joe scarborough, co-host of m nbc's "morning joe" author of the new book on what the g.o.p. needs to do to regain prominence. >> so people elect the agent of change, barack obama,, in 2008. what they've seen in 2009 has been a traditional liberal democratic approach and so i think there's some anger out there listen, it's not overwhelming, certainly not like it was with bill clinton in 1994 but certainedly warning signs are there for the obama administration. >> rose: finally, author colson whitehead. his new novel is "sag harbor." they're teenagers and there's a small span of time with they get wiser but i'm not sure it's a coming of age novel. it draw miss my personal experience, you could call it a little more autobiographical. but for me i'll call it a novel and leave it at that. >> rose: the freed

recently, his reputation became somewhat tarnished by allegations his historic summit meeting in pyongyangook place only because of secret payments made to the north korean regime of up to half a billion u.s. dollars. today, with worsening relations with north korea at's military threat, the sunshine policy is no more. kim dae-jung's viewpoint is being challenged by conservative administration that questions the wisdom of unlimited engagement with the old enemy. a few weeks ago, the former president gave me a robust defense of his legacy. >> some people say that all we have done is work and got nothing in return. but that is a lie. as you know, north korea in the past was always thinking about ways to destroy as. the funny moments of my summit meeting with the north korean leader and our meeting for co- prosperity, things began to change. >> he spent six years in prison, three in exile, and 10 in house arrest before rising to the highest office in the land. in the end, perhaps his democracy that he fought so hard for will be his most enduring legacy. bbc news. >> now does try for a moment

hours ago the 43rd president of the united states descended the steps of a plane in the capital, pyongyang, and just a short time later he was face-to-face with the leader kim jong il and working on the release of two women who worked for a man who once wark for him. shepard: and now the release has happened. no word whether al gore asked his former boss to get involved. and again, there are still questions about what exactly former president clinton may have promised the north koreans, if anything. "the fox report"'s chief correspondent, jonathan hunt, is live with us here on set. is there a sense for what they might get? >> well, the consensus seems to be that we've given up not much more than having former president clinton set foot on north korean soil. that was very important to kim jong il. he wanted a high-level american to come and ask for the release of these women. it allows him to say to the north korean people, look how important i am, look how important a country we are. and critics of this mission say it simply sets a bad precedence, just as they believe jimmy carter's visit

down in the relationship between the two countries since former president bill clinton's visit to pyongyang to release two american journlts. >>> a study finds 40 years after woodstock, middle-aged baby boomers are still turning to illegal drugs. in fact, the rates of people aged 50 to 59 who admit using drugs nearly doubled to 9.4% in 2007. while all other age groups decreased or stayed the same. >>> no surprise, parental contenders, harvard and princeton share the top spot in the latest edition of the u.s. news and world report and ranking. >>> the dow opens at 9,279 after jumping 61 points on thursday. s&p rose 6. and the nasdaq rose 13 points. in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 179 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng surged 374 points. >>> on wall street wednesday, stocks erased early losses after a big drop in oil inventories. fuel hopes means we're on the road to recovery. oil inventories are down, sending oil prices and stocks higher. exxon mobil and chevron both got a boost leading gainers on the dow. the health care sector got a shot in the arm when a federal judge ruled in favor o

pyongyang rapidly escalated tensions with provocative actions including restarting nuclear facilitiesand test firing a series of ballistic missiles. >> the fact they have agreed to welcome the former president of the united states with strong likelihood he will see kim jong- il, the north korean leader suggests the north is still interested in some kind of accommodation with the united states. >> reporter: clinton was greeted at the airport by north korea's chief nuclear negotiator, suggesting the visit may serve two purposes, winning the journalists freedom and improving ties between washington and pyongyang , tara mergener , cbs news, washington. >>> in australia, police this wart a plot to open fire on a military base. they say they planned to invade a base and open fire until they were shot dead themselves. they took part in 19 raids in melbourne. four men were arrested and several others detained. >>> explosions rocked the capital of afghanistan. police say five rockets were fired in kabul, close to the international airport just before daybreak on tuesday. officials say one of t

he departed pyongyang with lee and willing after meeting with kim jong-il. north korea arrested them accusing them of illegally crossing the board from china. think families are waiting for them to arrive in los angeles. >>> time for another "living $mart" report of the morning. some traders in asia may wish they were on vacation, as well. most of the markets there took a nose dive by the end of the day. the nikkei closed down 122. the good news so far, markets in europe appear to be holding steady. and this comes after a positive day for u.s. markets. the dow gained 33 points to close at 9320. the nasdaq rose two and the s&p 500 jumped 3 points. >>> there's good news if you are hoping to take advantage of the cash for clunkers incentive. the senate is expect todd greene light another $2 billion for the program by the end of the week before they break for the august recess. earlier some republicans had threatened to block in the vote. >>> a cash for clunkers for real estate plan. five deals were closed on tuesday as part of a program called down payment on y

hours earlier, former president clinton greeted the women at the airport in pyongyang after north koreaneader kim jong il ordered their release. it marked a successful end to mr. clinton's surprise, 20-hour whirlwind stop in the north korean capital, which included a meeting, and dinner 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 wou

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 border back in march. the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, john bolton, immediately criticized president clinton's visit, saying the trip is what he called a significant propaganda victory for north korea. dan lothian has our report from the white house. >> reporter: it was a secret mission by a high level envoy. former president clinton, even as he was getting flowers on his arrival in north korea, the white house was mum. no details, no confirmation until almost ten hours later. why this delicate diplomatic dance? >> this obviously is a very sensitive topic. we will hope to provide some more detail at a later point. our focus right now is on ensuring the safety of the two journalists that are in north korea right now. >> reporter: according to sources intimately involved with the efforts, this was the culmination of weeks of quiet diplomacy,

for one thing, bill clinton was creted at the pyongyang airport by top government officials includingth korea's head nuclear negotiator. here's the question, then. go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. suzanne? >> thank you. >>> well, the first 200 days. how does the gop grade the president? i'll ask republican national committee chairman michael steele. >>> freed journalist laura ling speaks emotionally of her nightmare in north korea and what it means to be home. you'll hear it here. >>> and a living donor sets in motion a seven-way did kidd knee transplant. when this shoe store added aflac to its employee benefits package at no direct cost to the company... it was a perfect fit. find out more at aflac!... ...forbusiness.com >>> cnn is counting down to the second 100 days of the obama administration. tom foreman joins us on how that report card is shaping up. what are we seeing? >> this is the kind of report card you wuished you had in school, the kind you could vote on. you can look at a series of questions about different things. this one is about foreign affai

what a tremendous premise under which to make that trip to pyongyang as well when you can bring back these two journalists. we talked about the dangers that you face as a journalist, particularly in that part of the world where you're dealing with potentially hostile borders. euna lee is a photographer and editor. and typically she'd been working in the newsroom. this was her first assignment outside of the newsroom. and one that lasted from the beginning of march until now. >> it is remarkable, both of them look great. as we heard, they were being i guess held in a guest house. they were allowed to make periodic phone calls while there was talk of their sentencing to hard labor. they didn't actually do any time in a labor camp. both of them, given all that they've been through, look fantastic. >> yeah, they do. it was great that the swedes were able to negotiate these phone calls back and forth because you can imagine their loved ones back home in the early going of this ordeal had no idea what their circumstances were and then the swedish diplomats were able to negotiate at least i

tell us what goes on behind the scenes any more than we know what bill clinton told kim jong-il in pyongyangan: was in a a bad idea? -- was that a bad idea? >> nobody knows the anguish of negotiating for american citizens better than i do. the reality is it's never a good idea for governments to do that kind of thing. we don't know what the price was but ransom was paid. whether it was simply bill clinton getting a picture with a dictator or his being there, ransom was paid. the end result is america will be hurt by it. worst of all, they didn't release the transcripts. the north koreans know what bill clinton said. we don't know. sean: that's true. >> barack obama knows what he said. sean: not yet. maybe -- >> the reality of it is the american people don't know and of course already the north koreans are out with a different version of what took place at pyongyang. i'm glad -- sean: an american hero. [cheers and applause] sean: and when we come back, we have more from tonight's freedom concert. we are in beautiful san diego. former ms. california, carrie prejean, will join us now and our gr