Bill Clinton flew to the DPRK to free American journalists

On Tuesday morning, former US President Bill Clinton arrived in North Korea. According to sources, there he will negotiate two American journalists arrested on the border and convicted for 12 years of hard labor. At the Pyongyansky airport "Sunan" Clinton, among others, was met by the former head of the Foreign Ministry, the head of the North Korean delegation in six -way negotiations in Kim Ki Gwan. The little girl handed Clinton a bouquet of flowers.

The official North Korean agency Tsat did not report the purpose of the visit. However, the source, which is well aware of the plans of the former president, told the American television channel CNN that Clinton would rescue Laura Lin and Yuna Lee. Both women worked on the Current TV California television channel, founded by Albert Mountain - Vice President in the Clinton administration.

Recall that Laura Lin and Yuna Lee were detained in March on the border of China with the DPRK under unclear circumstances. In June, the DPRK court found the journalists guilty of illegally crossing the border and “hostile actions”. They were sentenced to 12 years of correctional labor. Western experts then expressed confidence that the Americans would not be sent to the camp, but will be kept as a "bargaining coin" in negotiations.

Since the United States does not maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea, before that the dialogue went through the Swedish representatives in the country. Clinton’s wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, earlier on behalf of the American administration asked the DPRK authorities to amnesty journalists.

At the same time, Washington does not want to link the question of the release of Lin and Lee with a nuclear question. Currently, the United States and their allies are trying to return the DPRK at the negotiating table on nuclear disarmament. In May, North Korea had already conducted the second atomic tests. In addition, recently, the country has launched several missiles at once. The UN responded to this tightening sanctions.

The United States took an active part in the Korean War of 1950-53, speaking on the side of South Korea. Washington and Pyongyang did not maintain regular contacts until 1994, when the crisis related to the National Academy of Sciences of the DPRK began. Under Bill Clinton, there was a certain progress in the negotiations. In 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang, where she met with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Ir. President Clinton at the same time considered the possibility of a trip to the DPRK, says CNN.

South Korea resumes humanitarian aid to the North

Meanwhile, it became known that South Korea resumes the provision of DPRK assistance in the government, interrupted due to the arrest of his citizen in the north, ITAR-TASS reports. The Ministry of the Republic of Korea for Association's Affairs almost completed the development of a project on the support of ten humanitarian organizations engaged in assistance, the Seoul press said.

In total, this year, as before, the official Seoul plans to provide financial assistance in the amount of $ 8 million. Humanitarian organizations began to apply for money in February, now ten have been selected from them that will receive state funding.

The decision on sponsorship support for humanitarian organizations was made by the government in early April, but in the spring it was canceled due to the arrest by the North Korean authorities of the citizen of South Korea and the conduct of missile and nuclear tests in the DPRK.

Seoul hopes that the resumption of humanitarian aid will help to achieve the speedy exemption of the crew of the South Korean fishing vessel , which the DPRK detained on July 30. According to South Korea, the fishermen accidentally found themselves in the territorial waters of North Korea.