Two U.S. journalists who were detained in North Korea are back on American soil after their plane touched down in California.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee disembarked from a charter plane on Wednesday morning at a private airport in Burbank, to a warm and emotional welcome from family and loved ones.
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, whose diplomatic mission to Pyongyang resulted in the women being freed, disembarked a few minutes later, to warm applause.
Ling, after triumphantly raising her arms in the air while exiting the plane, gave an emotional address to reporters, speaking on behalf of herself and Lee.
"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 labour camp. And then suddenly we were told we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors we saw standing before us president Bill Clinton," Ling 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."
Ling and Lee had been charged in June with entering the country illegally, and were sentenced to 12 years hard labour.
The women were pardoned and the sentence was lifted after Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang. The three left North Korea on Tuesday evening on a charter jetliner flying directly to California.
The White House has maintained it had no official role in the negotiations. However, U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he called the families of the women after learning they were on the plane heading home.
He said the entire nation has reason to celebrate.
"The reunion we all saw on television is, I think, a source of happiness not only for the families but for the entire country," Obama said.
"I want to thank president Bill Clinton for the extraordinary humanitarian effort that resulted in the release of the two journalists. I want to thank vice president Al Gore who worked tirelessly to achieve a positive outcome."
Clinton's wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said earlier in the day that the two reporters were "extremely excited" to be coming home after more than four months in jail in the reclusive nation.
Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, she told reporters she had spoken to her husband and she was "very happy and relieved that the women are on their way home."
"Everything went well," she said. "They are extremely excited to be reunited soon when they touch down in California. It was just a good day to be able to see this happen."
Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, are both journalists with Current TV, which was founded by former U.S. vice president, Al Gore. Gore himself was at the airport for the arrival, and welcomed the women home and praised their families for never giving up hope that they would be released.
They were captured in March while working on a story about the trafficking of North Korean women into China.
It now appears as though the stunning surprise visit by Clinton was in the works for months. An official with the Obama administration told The Associated Press that the families of the two reporters asked Clinton to go to Pyongyang.
Al Gore also joined in the request, which was supported by Hillary Clinton, AP reports.
Dr. Jim Walsh, an international security analyst from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told CTV's Canada AM that the rare diplomatic visit didn't come together overnight.
"It appears as if this has been a process that began soon after the two journalists were captured by North Korean authorities," Walsh said.
He said Pyongyang likely agreed to the visit on the condition that it be made by a high level diplomat, such as Clinton, and Washington likely only agreed after receiving assurances from North Korea that the mission would be successful.
The release of the journalists was a sign of North Korea's "humanitarian and peaceloving policy," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
The two women were accused of sneaking into North Korea and committing "hostile acts." They had been reporting on women and children who had defected into China from North Korea at the time of their arrest.
State-run media reported that Clinton and the North Korean leader had "exhaustive" talks, including a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern."
It was also reported that Kim thanked Clinton for "courteously" delivering a verbal message from U.S. President Barack Obama, though White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Hillary Clinton both denied that a message had been sent.
