Bit over a month ago Bill Clinton went to North Korea, had a talk with the country leader Kim Jong-il and came back with two pardoned US reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. The journalists had been earlier captured, “trialed”, found guilty of hostile acts and entering illegally into the country and sentenced to 12 years in jail. By the time I found it a bit odd that the two got their freedom so smoothly, all it took was an ex-politician (even though a very significant one) to make a visit. What was it that North Korea won?
The possibly answers are surprisingly many, starting from reputation management abroad to propaganda material back home. Similar tactics have been used by Libya under Gaddafi, Iran with the resolution of the US embassy hostage crisis and few others as well. Still it seemed that just for good PR the liberation process seemed awfully easy, or at least quick, more like an exchange: North Korea got Bill Clinton for a visit, US their reporters. It is true that North Korea does not always seem to make much sense, but annulling a 12 year sentence just like that usually demands a little more than a visit, especially when it was described to be nothing more than “a private mission”.
Curiously enough, one month later the US has stated it’s readiness for direct talks with North Korea. This is exactly what North Korea has wanted for long, it is just that up till now the US has been more willing to favor the six-party talks and has declined the offer (example here). True, Obama has been more inclined to negoatiate than his predecessor (and that is not a bad thing). However, one cannot stop wondering about the coincidence of these two events, especially since already after two weeks of the release there were talks between US and North Korean officials where according to the US representative the latter was sending “good signals” to the former.
In any case, there is no harm in talking, at least better that than warfare. The only thing is that if there really is a connection between the two cases and this kind of “hostage diplomacy” on behalf of states becomes more of a norm than irregularity, well, I suppose it is not really the direction the democratic states want to be heading either. Bill Clinton might not be that happy either having his calendar filled with dictatorial dinners.
