Clinton, Freed Journalists Come Home

Burbank (myFOXla.com) - Two journalists who had been held in North Korea since mid-March returned to the United States on Wednesday arriving at Bob Hope Airport amid tears, hugs and expressions of relief that the "nightmare of our lives" was finally over.

You can watch Gigi Graciette's report in the video player.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee landed in Burbank escorted by former President Bill Clinton, who secured their release in a 20-hour visit to Pyongyang that climaxed a delicate diplomatic minuet between the United States and North Korea.

>> See also: Clinton, Journalists Flying to Burbank

The privately owned Boeing 737 carrying Ling, Lee and the former president landed at Bob Hope Airport at 5:50 a.m. Anxiously awaiting them were their families and the founder of the media venture that employs them, former Vice President Al Gore.

The two women emerged only 25 minutes later from the unmarked gleaming white aircraft, which belongs to entertainment industry executive Steve Bing, a major contributor to Democratic Party causes and candidates.

The plane, a newer model 737, landed on Runway 8 and remained outside a state-of-the art, solar-powered hangar while it was boarded by customs agents. After the agents deplaned, the aircraft was towed inside, and the women came down at 6:15 a.m.

Lee was the first to emerge, offering a short bow as she did so. At the bottom of the ramp, she hugged her daughter, 4-year-old Hana. Ling followed her off the plane.

"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp, and then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting," said Ling, who was tearful but looked relieved and happy.

"We were taken to a location and when we walked in through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton," she said. "We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now, we stand here, home and free."

Speaking for herself and Lee, Ling expressed "our deepest gratitude to President Clinton" and his "supercool team," as well as to President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gore, Bing, and the Swedish ambassador to Pyongyang, who was involved in the negotiations that produced the former president's visit and the women's release.

Ling said that for her and Lee, their incarceration had represented the "most difficult... wrenching" time of their lives, and she expressed gratitude not only to those who worked for the release but also to the multitude of Americans who rooted for them.

"We could feel your love all the way in North Korea. It is what sustained us in our darkest hours," she said, adding a nod to the regime of Kim Jon-Il. "We are very grateful we were granted amnesty by the government of North Korea."

Uncharacteristically self-effacing, Clinton emerged from the plane five minutes after the women and -- amid more hugging, including a bear hug from Gore -- did not speak, content to let others comment on his latest exploit.

"My hope is that the families who have been reunited can enjoy the next several days and weeks, understanding that because of the efforts of President Clinton and (former Vice President) Gore, they are able to be with each other once again," Obama said in Washington, D.C.

The 32-year-old Ling, whose parents live in North Hollywood, and the 36- year-old Euna Lee, a Northern California resident, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea from China on March 17 while working for San Francisco-based Current TV.

The journalists, who were working on a story about North Korean refugees at the time of their arrest, were granted a "special pardon" Tuesday, shortly after Clinton arrived in the country and met with Kim.

Ling and Lee appeared healthy as they boarded their plane in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and on their arrival in Burbank. A doctor was aboard the aircraft that flew them back to the United States.

In a statement posted online, the families of Lee and Ling -- the sister of Lisa Ling, a USC graduate and former co-host of "The View" -- said they were "overjoyed by the news of their pardon."

"We are so grateful to our government: President Obama, Secretary Clinton and the U.S. State Department for their dedication to and hard work on behalf of American citizens. We especially want to thank President Bill Clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and Vice President Al Gore for his tireless efforts to bring Laura and Euna home. We must also thank all the people who have supported our families through this ordeal. It has meant the world to us. We are counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms."

For Clinton, securing the release of Ling and Lee appeared to have been more a case of stagecraft than a negotiating triumph amid signs the outcome had been pre-determined through weeks of secret diplomatic exchanges, orchestrated in part by his spouse, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and involving Swedish diplomats, who look after U.S. interests in the North Korean capital.

U.S. officials told reporters in Washington, D.C., that Ling and Lee told their families in July they would receive an amnesty if the former president came to fetch them.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has long sought image-enhancing bilateral contacts with the United States, a goal believed to have gained even greater importance for its ailing dictator at a time when he seeks to shore up his regime internally prior to an eventual transfer of power to one of his sons.

North Korea's conditions presented the Obama administration with a dilemma -- how to gain the women's freedom, and perhaps soften North Korea's obdurate stance on its internationally condemned nuclear program, without rewarding Kim for what Washington regards as perennially bad behavior.

As part of that effort, the administration outwardly maintained an arms- length position regarding the Clinton visit, describing it as a private humanitarian mission. North Korea, in contrast, sought to invest the Clinton visit with broader significance, sending its chief nuclear negotiator to greet the arriving former president and hosting him at a state dinner.

Never good, relations between Washington and Pyongyang have become increasingly tense since North Korea tested a long-range ballistic missile in April and a small nuclear device in May and announced it no longer would take part in the multiparty talks -- involving China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States -- aimed at placing North Korean nuclear facilities under international supervision.

>> See also: Clinton, Journalists Flying to Burbank