HuffPo-

SEOUL, South Korea — Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise mission to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of two Americans, holding "exhaustive" talks on a wide range of topics, state-run media said.

 

Clinton "courteously" conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said.

 

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters.

 

Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the freedom of Americans Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts."

 

His landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by North Korea or the U.S., comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, foes during the Korean War of the 1950s, over the regime's nuclear program.

 

North Korea in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance.

 

It's only the second visit to Pyongyang by a former U.S. leader. Jimmy Carter traveled to North Korea for talks with Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 in a groundbreaking meeting during a time of similar tensions.

 

Clinton's meeting with Kim would be the notoriously reclusive North Korean leader's first with a prominent Western figure since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke a year ago, sparking questions about the future of the nation he controls with absolute authority.

 

Random Australian flag in there?

AUS-TRAL-YA! AUS-TRAL-YA! AUS-TRAL-YA!

Not to be snarky, but I wonder what it really cost us? What did they have to promise or give them to make ithappen? You know he didn't just do it because Bubba charmed him out of his pants.

Not to be snarky, but I wonder what it really cost us? What did they have to promise or give them to make ithappen? You know he didn't just do it because Bubba charmed him out of his pants.

Yeah. Obama made a deal some way.

 

You should have seen old Billy and Kim's smiling faces today only a week after Kim insulted Clinton's wife.

Not to be snarky, but I wonder what it really cost us? What did they have to promise or give them to make ithappen? You know he didn't just do it because Bubba charmed him out of his pants.

Usually, just getting the photo op with the former president is actually a pretty good return for a country that constantly seems to be looking for respect from its daddy countries.

Usually, just getting the photo op with the former president is actually a pretty good return for a country that constantly seems to be looking for respect from its daddy countries.

BS. A photo op isn't the only thing this cost the US. He was there to deliver a message from the Messiah... and he got to take the reporters home in exchange for whatever that message was.

BS. A photo op isn't the only thing this cost the US. He was there to deliver a message from the Messiah... and he got to take the reporters home in exchange for whatever that message was.

So it would have been better to have them rot in a prison or perhaps even to get tortured just so we can continue to be "tough guys"?

So it would have been better to have them rot in a prison or perhaps even to get tortured just so we can continue to be "tough guys"?

 

Because that's what he said.

Because that's what he said.

It's exactly what he said to me via PM.

BS. A photo op isn't the only thing this cost the US. He was there to deliver a message from the Messiah... and he got to take the reporters home in exchange for whatever that message was.

 

What is this supposed message?

 

What other ways should the US have tried to get these two women out of prison?

What is this supposed message?

 

What other ways should the US have tried to get these two women out of prison?

The message had something to do with going along with the fake Hawaiian birth certificate.

What is this supposed message?

 

What other ways should the US have tried to get these two women out of prison?

 

 

Bomb them. That always works.

It's exactly what he said to me via PM.

what?

what?

I was just messing with him.

I was just messing with him.

I thought maybe I did something in my sleep or something.

 

kap for the last time I will NOT have sex with you, stop asking me in PM. Talk to your wife.

BS. A photo op isn't the only thing this cost the US. He was there to deliver a message from the Messiah... and he got to take the reporters home in exchange for whatever that message was.

 

NPR had one of the negotiators who had been working for the families on NPR and basically, this had been in the works for quite some time. North Korea probably didn't get anything other than saving face. North Korea's relationships with the few friends it has left is already strained, and by forcing international attention on the North Korean's "system of justice," it puts even more pressure on North Korea - both here and on issues dealing with nuclear proliferation. North Korea wanted to resolve this issue, but they only wanted to resolve it in a certain way.

 

In a sense, this is a tremendous opportunity for the US to improve the North Korean situation. Although Clinton's mission was "private," there probably was the potential to start something here that might be good for us.

TV Newser chronicles funny moments in the North Korean liberation coverage this morning.

 

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/funny/...rage_123563.asp

 

The best quotes come from Fox and Friends on FNC of course.

 

Steve Doocy: We heard from one of the fathers of one of the young women saying, you know, 'I'm going to let her have it' from being that close out there.

 

Gretchen Carlson: Much will be discussed about how this all happened and whether or not they should have even been this close to the Iranian border or in fact, were they in Iran? Many say they were not in Iran when they were taken...

TV Newser chronicles funny moments in the North Korean liberation coverage this morning.

 

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/funny/...rage_123563.asp

 

The best quotes come from Fox and Friends on FNC of course.

LMAO! She completely got her stories mixed up.

Well in fairness, Iran did just arrest 3 Americans, so maybe she was confused.

Edited August 5, 200916 yr by lostfan

who cares, fox and friends are idiots.

who cares, fox and friends are idiots.

 

So are most, if not all modern "news" stations.

Colbert's recent tweet:

 

so bill clinton is bringing two women home with him. what a surprise