Wow. Bill Clinton can sure get a lot done in the course of one day. He goes to North Korea, engages in a rare opportunity to talk with Kim Jong Il, and the next thing you know, Euna Lee and Laura Ling are pardoned and on their way to Los Angeles! Of course, this entire visit for discussions took several weeks of planning (let’s not forget the efforts of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who played a key role in today’s events), but he sure made it seem like a …

Finally, there’s an update on working negotiations for releasing American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who are still detained in North Korea for illegal entry. Former President Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, early Tuesday morning for discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, about their release. Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, called this a “a solely private mission” for Clinton — which is a careful way of putting it. The White House doesn’t want to officially associate their broader, diplomatic intentions (aka, …

I just read a touching blog post by Mallikra Chopra about Euna Lee, who along with Laura Ling, have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry into North Korea. Chopra, whose brother is close friends with Laura Ling, described her recent meeting with Euna Lee’s husband Michael.
“Michael chuckled as he told us about an urgent message he had received from Euna … Euna wanted to make sure that Michael had sent in the registration form for Hana for summer school. Euna had chosen the Korean immersion …