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Anonymous ID: d95eea July 29, 2021, 10:32 a.m. No.14222967   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>2975 >>3300

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12 year delta

 

August 3, 2009

7:12 PMUpdated 12 years ago

Bill Clinton in North Korea, meets Kim Jong-il

 

By Jack Kim

 

6 Min Read

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a surprise visit to North Korea and met its reclusive leader on Tuesday to try to win freedom for two jailed American journalists in a move that could re-energize nuclear talks.

 

Clinton, husband of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had what North Korea’s KCNA news agency described as an “exhaustive conversation” over dinner with the ailing Kim Jong-il and top North Korean officials.

 

Arriving in an unmarked jet on a trip to North Korea he had hoped to take before leaving office in January 2001, Clinton was presented with flowers by a girl dressed in traditional costume before he was led to a black limousine and driven away.

 

Confusion rose quickly about the delicate diplomatic negotiations he was engaged in. The North Korean news agency said Clinton passed on a verbal message from U.S. President Barack Obama.

 

“Kim Jong-il expressed thanks for this,” KCNA said of the message. “He welcomed Clinton’s visit to the DPRK (North Korea) and had an exhaustive conversation with him. There was a wide-ranging exchange of views on the matters of common concern.”

 

But the White House denied Clinton carried a message from Obama. “That’s not true,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington.

 

Clinton’s objective was to gain the release of two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV co-founded by Clinton’s vice president Al Gore.

 

They 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 hard labor for what it called grave crimes.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-korea-north/bill-clinton-in-north-korea-meets-kim-jong-il-idUSSP47880420090804