Lee and Ling, pardoned in North Korea

In recent weeks, months, and years (millenia?) there’s been a lot to say about North Korea.

Whether it’s running jokes about North Korea’s leader on late-night TV…or a professor of international relations stressing out on the radio about the DPRK’s nuclear tests , or anything in between, we here at USDemocrazy have heard it all.

Surely you’ve heard of the imprisoned American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling (pictured above) and their release from a hard labor camp in North Korea. (If not, that’s ok… It was on our “What’zup today?” page yesterday!)

The two had been working along the border of North Korea and China, when they were arrested (for spying) and have been held in prison for the past five months, until yesterday.

The two were employed by Current TV, a news channel founded by former Vice President Al Gore. Big Al expressed his joy at a news conference iat the airport where the two landed safely in the United States. Gore mentioned:

It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm’s way that so many people would just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending.

Gore is referring to the outreach from (mostly online) movements to free the two. The site www.lauraandeuna.com and the very active Twitter page tried to raise awareness about the two women’s plight.

Much has been said, too, about just how the pardons from leader Kim Jong-Il came about.

It’s widely known that former President Bill Clinton took a trip to Pyongyang to work his southern charm on the other side of the world.

Politico wanted to know how Bill Clinton got the gig as negotiator for the non-Obama-administration affiliated mission:

In a mid-July phone call to their families from captivity, the two journalists passed along an astonishing offer: North Korea would be willing to grant amnesty and release them, if Bill Clinton would agree to come to Pyongyang as an envoy and seek their release.

Clinton is now being hailed by many as the reason the journalists saw U.S. soil so soon.

However, the Obama administration was sure to mention at every opportunity there was no message whatsoever from their administration to the naughty rogue Kim administration.

Still…Obama was, however, pretty happy with the job Clinton (and Gore) did.

Of course, in true American fashion, not everyone was wholly happy with the “Mr. Clinton goes to Pyongyang” situation. Former ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, John Bolton, said in an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered:

The symbolism of a former president going to meet with Kim Jong Il I think is something that benefits Kim Jong Il a lot more than the United States, and it only encourages others to do the same thing.

Bolton is sure that Iran is watching this concession: Act up, hold Americans hostage, or otherwise, and you might get some diplomatic talks out of the situation. (And Bolton isn’t the only skeptic on the situation, either.)

Even people in Seoul, South Korea are a little befuddled about the talks with Mr. Clinton, and how they could affect future North Korea/world politics.

So, what’s left to be seen is a lot: What will this mean for six-party nuclear talks? Will North Korea be more willing to engage in diplomatic talks anytime soon? How will the U.S. proceed in its relationship with the DPRK? What will Bill Clinton do next?

Thoughts?