**Former US President Bill Clinton has left North Korea with two American journalists whose release he has helped to secure.**Mr Clinton’s spokesman said the party was flying to Los Angeles, California, where the reporters would be reunited with their families.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il issued a special pardon to the journalists after meeting Mr Clinton on Tuesday.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been found guilty of entering illegally in March.
Mr Clinton’s unannounced visit to Pyongyang was described as a private mission.
He is the highest-profile American to visit the reclusive Communist state since ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000.
Families ‘overjoyed’
After leaving Pyongyang, the plane with Mr Clinton and the two reporters landed at a US military base in northern Japan for refuelling, Japan’s NHK broadcaster said. The chartered jet was later expected to depart for Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, the official North Korean News Agency (KCNA) said in a statement that “Kim Jong-il issued an order… granting a special pardon to the two American journalists who had been sentenced to hard labour”.
The women’s pardon and release was a sign of North Korea’s “humanitarian and peace-loving policy”, it said.
The families of the journalists said they were “overjoyed” by the news.
In a statement posted on a website, they thanked Mr Clinton and also former Vice-President Al Gore for their efforts to get the women released.
A US official said that President Barack Obama had telephoned the journalists’ families to express relief at their release.
Washington had made no announcement of Mr Clinton’s trip prior to his arrival on Tuesday, but later stressed it was a private visit.
However, media reports in Washington suggest the White House approved the mission and it had been secretly planned for weeks, our correspondent says.
Mr Clinton had landed in Pyongyang in an unmarked plane and was greeted at the airport by North Korean officials.
KCNA said that Mr Clinton met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, although the White House denied its report that Mr Clinton had conveyed a message from US President Barack Obama.
US JOURNALISTS PARDONED
- 17 March: Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling seized by North Korean border guards while reporting for California-based Current TV
- 8 June: Sentenced to 12 years in jail for “hostile acts” and illegal entry into North Korea
- 16 June: North Korea says journalists have “admitted and accepted” their guilt
- 10 July: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeals for an amnesty for the two
- 4 August: Former US President Bill Clinton arrives in Pyongyang and North Korea later announces the journalists will be pardoned
Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally across the Chinese border in March and were sentenced to 12 years’ hard labour.
They were arrested by North Korean guards while filming a video about refugees for California-based internet broadcaster Current TV.
The White House had pressed for their release, and Mr Clinton’s wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked last month that they be granted amnesty.
Analysts say that Kim Jong-il is eager to improve relations with Washington as he prepares to name a successor.
President Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke a year ago and also has chronic diabetes and heart disease. Analysts say his third son is being lined up to succeed him.
Nuclear tension
Mr Clinton’s visit came at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pyongyang on North Korea’s nuclear programme.
North Korea dropped out of six-party talks after the UN censured along-range missile test in April. The parties include Russia, China, Japan, the US and both Koreas.
An underground nuclear test and further missile tests followed, provoking new UN Security Council sanctions.