Bill Clinton A Luxury Negotiator for Obama and Hillary

According to French TV TF1 Bill Clinton in North Korea will obtain the release of Laura Ling and EUNA Lee. These two American journalists from Current TV channel were sentenced in June to twelve years of hard labor in North Korea after, according to Pyongyang, illegally entered its territory from China. Current TV is co-founded by Clinton's Vice President Al Gore.

While the White House says that Clinton's visit to North Korea is "solely private," one cannot deny that a mission trip by a former U.S. president and a husband of the Secretary of State of the current U.S. Administration may have some very officialism attached to it.

Bill Clinton arrived in North Korea on Tuesday morning and was welcomed by Vice-President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (ie Parliament), and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan. One unknown remains, however at this time. Is Mr. Clinton carrying a letter from Barack Obama and will he meet?

Since the United States and North Korea have no diplomatic relations, Sweden so far served as an intermediary in the negotiations for the release of two female journalists. Having been very firm on the subject, Hillary Clinton had to make some concessions last month. For the case of the first journalists she had proposed an amnesty on the humanitarian grounds, reports TF1. This would mean an act of granting forgiveness for a crime. This solution would allow both countries to save face, avoiding, in particular in the case of North Korea, to bypass its own judicial system.

The case of the two journalists has revived tensions between North Korea and the United States. They are very inflamed after the nuclear test that North Korea conducted on May 25. The UN Security Council condemned by the firing of two new short-range missiles on July 4th, the day when U.S. celebrates Independence Day.

In any case, Bill Clinton's visit to North Korea is a welcome act. Such a visit is non-official, yet carries stature. Hopefully, this visit may herald a new era of understanding and harmony between North Korea and the international community.

Written by Armen Hareyan