North Korea frees two US journalists after Clinton trip

North Korea released two jailed American journalists yesterday after a visit from former US President Bill Clinton in the highest-level US contact with Pyongyang since Mr Clinton was President nearly a decade ago.

North Korea's KCNA news agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had issued a "special pardon" to the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of US media outlet Current TV, which was co-founded by Mr Clinton's Vice President, Al Gore.

The two journalists were arrested on the North Korea-China border in March and accused of illegal entry. A North Korean court sentenced both of them last month to 12 years of hard labour for what it called grave crimes.

There were immediate questions about what Mr Clinton had discussed with Mr Kim beyond the fate of the two reporters during a visit that gave Mr Kim what he craved - direct US attention and a visit from a highly placed emissary.

The news agency insisted that Mr Clinton "courteously conveyed a verbal message of US President Barack Obama expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."

The White House had denied that Mr Clinton carried any sort of message from President Obama, but Obama officials otherwise remained silent while awaiting the diplomatic negotiations to unfold.

Mr Clinton, husband of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was the highest-level American to visit the reclusive communist state since his Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, went there in 2000.

He was greeted warmly on his arrival and had what KCNA described as an "exhaustive conversation" over dinner with Mr Kim and his top aides.