Home safe. Clinton claps. Gore hugs Ling. Lee is at right.
A plane carrying former president Bill Clinton and the two American journalists he helped free from imprisonment in North Korea is due to land shortly in Los Angeles. (Update at 8:51 a.m. ET: The plane has landed.)
Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former vice president Al Gore's Current TV, were arrested near the North Korean-Chinese border in March and, as the Associated Press writes, sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts."
Clinton went to Pyongyang yesterday for a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader King Jong Il. As NPR's Corey Flintoff reports, the mission secured the journalists' release — but "also raised questions about whether the visit risked undermining broader U.S. interests."
Click the "play" button below to see our live updates about their arrival and any news from the scene:
Update at 10 a.m. ET. Here's the audio of the statements made at the airport by Ling and former vice president Al Gore:
Update at 11:25 a.m. ET. Here's a video report from the Associated Press:
Comments
Discussions for this story are now closed. Please see the Community FAQ for more information.