Bubba secures release of two American journalists from North Korea

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the journalists from Current.TV who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for sneaking into North Korea in pursuit of a story, are coming home according to the Associated Press. Reuters is carrying the official statement from the always hilarious Korean Central News Agency which describes Kim Jong-Il, the apparently still-very much-alive Great Leader, as granting them a “special pardon.”

President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang on a private basis to negotiate the release of the two Americans, according to the White House. And it looks like he’s getting his way.

Presumably the women’s actual release will be a routine affair – no messing around with, “We’ll put them on a plane to  you later, we swear.” If it’s goodwill that Kim wants to get, any fudging around with the terms of Ling and Lee’s release would be the wrong way to go.

But what now? The hawks at One Free Korea are pessimistic about the outcome of this affair:

In all likelihood, this story will end the way talks with North Korea always do — with North Korea being rewarded its evil acts, and with North Korea no less of a threat to us than when the story began.  And because North Korea has learned to profit from ransom, there will be more hostages taken as a result.

But over at ROK Drop, a slightly more optimistic note is sounded by editor GI Korea:

It will be interesting to see how this all turns out, but the US had to have agreed something in return for allowing the release of the journalists if that in fact does happen.  Could Agreed Framework 3.0 be on the way?

Of course, if you’re from One Free Korea’s perspective, another Agreed Framework is the last thing in the world you want.

Via a Chinese government-sponsored media outlet, here are some photos of Clinton in Pyongyang: