North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and former President Clinton
In what came as a shock to many people as news of this broke last night, former President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists that are being held there. Clinton is still in the communist country and has held meetings with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, accidentally wondered from China, into North Korea, where they were put on trial for espionage. Just weeks ago, they were found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in a prison camp. It was widely expected that either former Vice President Al Gore would be the official to try and earn the release of the two women because they work for Current TV, the news channel that Gore was one of the founders of.
The White House has issued no details of the trip because they do not want to jeopardize the success of President Clinton. North Korea has released photos of both Clinton and Kim Jong Il attending a state dinner. It is widely believed that former President Clinton got the approval from the Obama Administration to take on the task of negotiating on behalf of the United States. Several questions exist about the trip that will need to be answered such as: were the North Koreans promised anything in return? Why didn’t President Clinton’s wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, undertake the trip? Did the Obama Administration plan this or was this a kind gesture by the former president?
It is important for any captive American to be released and this case was clearly not one of espionage. One must ask why their release was not a higher priority of the Obama Administration and if anything was conceded to the rogue nation. The last time a former president traveled to North Korea to negotiate anything was in 1994 and Jimmy Carter ended up giving the North Koreans the technology to create their nuclear programs. They assured us that it was for peaceful purposes, which later turned out not to be the case. It is mighty tricky to deal with Kim Jong Il, so it is highly important that President Obama handled this just right or it may end up being a foreign policy blunder. The women should be released, but the United States should not have caved in and given them things that they wanted. That could escalate our nuclear standoff with them even further, because the North Koreans are notorious for playing games.
Comments
"The women should be released, but the United States should not have caved in and given them things that they wanted." How presumptuous of you. Where is your proof?
Damn Pat you're starting to sound like Bill O'Reilly. If Ronald Reagan were still alive and went to North Korea to negotiate their release, you would be praising him as a hero.
Wow, what an absolute jerko post. I bet if you were a journalist imprisoned in North Korea, you'd do anything to get out of there. Even sacrificing a small Korean manchild to Dear Leader.
That's of course if you were a journalist, however, and not the guy who for some reason has the stones to slap his name on this kind of godawful embarrassment of writing. Because if it takes more than three paragraphs, it isn't worth saying, right?
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