Clinton, 2 journalists depart DPRK for US

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Former US President, Bill Clinton, wrapped up his surprise visit to the DPRK, winning the release of two detained US journalists. Clinton and the journalists headed back home on Wednesday morning. DPRK top leader, Kim Jong Il, pardoned the women from their 12-year prison sentences.

They left Pyongyang aboard a chartered plane along with the former President. The vice-president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, Yang Hyong Sop,and the country's vice-minister of foreign affairs, Kim Kye Gwan, saw them off at the airport. The DPRK's KCNA news agency reports that Clinton and Kim Jong Il held talks on improving bilateral relations.

It was the second time a former US president had traveled to the DPRK to try to defuse a crisis. Former President, Jimmy Carter, flew there in 1994 when tensions were running high over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.