N. Korea pardons American journalists

North Korea has pardoned two detained American journalists, the Associated Press reports.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, journalists working for former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV, were arrested near China’s border with North Korea on March 17. The two were quickly convicted of illegal entry and “hostile acts” and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

The moves comes as former President Bill Clinton meets with Kim Jong-Il today during what the White House has described as a private, humanitarian mission.

Nevertheless, Clinton’s former NATO ambassador told The Hill today that a deal was probably made to release the journalists before Clinton embarked on his trip:

“You don’t deploy somebody of that magnitude without an understanding of what’s going on,” said Robert Hunter, a senior adviser at RAND Corp. who served as NATO ambassador under Clinton. “Clinton didn’t show up in an airplane and just land; that’s not something you do.

“The former president wouldn’t go unless he had the backing of the president and there was a clear understanding that the journalists would be released,” Hunter said. “The risk of embarrassment is too great if he came back empty-handed.”