John Kerry has got to be really pissed off after reading this:
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is heading to North Korea for negotiations to secure the freedom of two detained American journalists, a news report said Tuesday, nearly five months after they were seized on the China border.
Clinton is on his way to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, where he will try to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unidentified high-level source.
It was not immediately clear when Clinton was expected to arrive.
The reported trip comes amid heightened tensions in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions. Analysts have said the communist regime is expected to use the detained reporters as a negotiating card to win concessions from Washington.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said it was checking the report.
In Washington, Andrew Laine, a State Department spokesman, said he had seen the Yonhap report, but had no information. [Associated Press]
I’m sure Bill Clinton has just been chomping at the bit for a chance to get his name back in the headlines and hopefully this at least gets Euna Lee and Laura Ling freed from North Korea. I just have to wonder though what the cost was if they are released?








10:55 pm on August 3rd, 2009 1
The choice of Bill Clinton surprised me too. It’s too bad Al Gore is not going with him as a Vice Envoy, since Laura and Euna work for Gore’s Current TV.
I wonder if Hillary even hinted in Phuket that her husband might be the Pyongyang Priceline Negotiator in a couple weeks. Is KCNA going to describe Bill’s behavior in North Korea as being like a schoolboy or pensioner?
I wonder what the next 3 a.m. phone call to the White House will be? We’ve had a North Korea border crossing and an Iran border crossing…any Americans want to try accidentally swimming to Cuba? Where else in the world can US citizens make trouble for their government? Snorkelling in Somalia; I mean… what’s left
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1:31 am on August 4th, 2009 2
HEADLINE: Bill Clinton heads to North Korea to pick-up two women
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5:17 am on August 4th, 2009 3
I would be ashamed, but not surprised, if BC passes incentives under the table on behalf of HC. This should really be something that Al Gore pays for out of his own pocket instead of the American people bearing the massive expense of moving a former president, plus his security and admin details, to NK.
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8:43 am on August 4th, 2009 4
[...] Post: (See ROK Drop) Bill Clinton finally made his way to Pyongyang and time will tell what the details of the visit [...]
4:05 pm on August 4th, 2009 5
I wonder how heavy that suitcase full of money was?
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August 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Here is a set of 5 photos showing Bill Clinton getting off the plane in Pyongyang, posing with Kim Jong-il, and then unloading his heavy suitcase:
http://app.yonhapnews.co.kr/YNA/Basic/ArticleChina/ArticlePhoto/ArticlePhotockMain.aspx
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