Lee emerged from the jetliner first and was greeted by husband Michael Saldate and 4-year-old daughter Hana. She hugged the girl and picked her up before all three embraced in a crushing hug as TV networks beamed the poignant moment live.
Ling embraced her husband, Iain Clayton, as teary family members crowded around.
"The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart-wrenching days of our lives," Ling said, her voice cracking.
Thirty hours ago, Ling said, "We feared that any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp."
Then, she said, they were taken to another location.
"When we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton," she said to applause. "We were shocked but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end, and now we stand here, home and free."
Mr. Clinton came down the stairs to applause. He hugged former Vice President Al Gore at the foot of the stairs, then chatted with family members. Mr. Gore described the families of the two women as "unbelievable, passionate, involved, committed, innovative."
Mr. Clinton won their release in a diplomatic stroke fraught with promise and potential pitfalls for the Obama administration's drive to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The announcement followed a face-to-face meeting between Mr. Clinton and North Korea's often irascible dictator Kim Jong Il -- the first such high-profile U.S. mission to the so-called "hermit kingdom" since Mr. Clinton's secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, visited the country in 2000. The former president and a small entourage arrived in Pyongyang unexpectedly on Tuesday morning local time.
The mission took root in early July after one of the reporters told relatives in a phone call that North Korea would grant them amnesty in exchange for a visit from Mr. Clinton, according to a senior Obama administration official. A North Korean court convicted the pair in June of illegally entering the country when they filmed a report on the border region with China on March 17.
The trip and its diplomatic theatrics represent a sudden moment of goodwill and compromise between two countries with nearly 60 years of fractious relations that grew even more antagonistic over the past year.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was "extraordinarily relieved" that the journalists returned home safely.
Mr. Clinton's discussions in North Korea could place the Obama administration in a difficult position as it seeks to keep humanitarian and strategic issues separate. Former U.S. officials note that no matter what parameters the White House sought to set for Mr. Clinton's mission, the discussions appeared to have moved beyond the issue of the journalists.
"We are very pleased with the outcome, and I'm hopeful that the families are going to be able to get some good time together in the next few days," Mr. Obama said.
At the same time, the White House spokesman maintained that Clinton had not carried any message from Obama to Kim. "If there wasn't a message, there certainly couldn't have been an apology," Gibbs told reporters.
The White House, noting that Clinton's trip was "a private mission" using a private aircraft "not paid for by the government," also made it clear that the negotiations over the journalists held by North Korea are distinct from the ongoing dispute that the U.S. has with Pyonyang.
Clinton, in a statement released by his office, said, "I am very happy that after this long ordeal, Laura Ling and Euna Lee are now home and reunited with their loved ones.
Ms. Lee came out of the jetliner first and was greeted by husband, Michael Saldage, and 4-year-old daughter, Hanna, according to the Associated Press. She hugged the girl and picked her up before all three embraced in a crushing hug. Ms. Ling embraced her husband, Iain Clayton, as teary family members crowded around, AP reported.
"When their families, Vice President Gore and the White House asked that I undertake this humanitarian mission, I agreed," Clinton said. "I share a deep sense of relief with Laura and Euna and their families that they are safely home."
"It speaks well of our country that, when two unarmed citizens are in harm's way," so many people will work for their release, Gore said by their side. "We say a word of thanks, deep thanks, as well."
In a statement, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said the meeting "featured candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere."
"It's already clear they're discussing broader issues," said Selig Harrison, a Washington-based academic who's made numerous trips to North Korea to discuss the nuclear issue, including one this January.
"The best way to change our relationship with North Korea would be for the North Koreans to decide that it's time to live up to the responsibilities and the agreements that they themselves entered into," Gibbs added. "Our goal is a denuclearized the Korean Peninsula. And the North Koreans can and should live up to those agreements."
--After more than four months in captivity, a high-level visit from former US President Bill Clinton secured their release.
Euna Lee and Laura Ling are journalists with San Francisco-based Current TV, a media venture co-founded by former US Vice-President Al Gore.
Ms Ling, a 32-year-old California native, has experience covering the conflict in Sri Lanka, Brazilian slave labour and Iran's underground youth culture.
Ms Lee, a 36-year-old South Korean-born US citizen, is an editor with Current TV.
From the time they were captured, the two women's families urged the authorities in Pyongyang to release them, saying they were worried about the "mental state and wellbeing" of the pair.
In a joint statement, the families said Ms Ling suffered from an ulcer and that Ms Lee had a four-year-old daughter who was "displaying signs of anguish".
"We believe that the three months they have already spent under arrest with little communication with their families is long enough," the statement said.
Ms Ling's husband, Iain Clayton, appeared on US TV networks and read out a letter she had written from captivity: "While I am trying to remain hopeful, each day becomes harder and harder to bear. I am so lonely and scared."
Their hopes appeared dashed in early June when a quick trial saw them convicted and sentenced to 12 years of "reform through labour".
It seems, however, that the two were well-treated and kept in a Pyongyang guest house, with access to consular services provided by Sweden's embassy in North Korea and allowed to make several phone calls to their families in the US.
It was during these phone calls that the pair said Pyongyang had suggested that a visit by Mr Clinton could secure their freedom, US officials have said.
Analysts say they were probably being kept as bargaining chips to wrest concessions or direct talks with the United States.
But the US has said Mr Clinton did not discuss any other issues other than the women's freedom during his trip to Pyongyang.
The reporters' families, and officials in Washington, had urged that Pyongyang keep this case separate from the nuclear issue bedevilling relations between North Korea and the US.
The North Korean government, which in June sentenced the women to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory, announced hours before the jet's departure from North Korea that it had pardoned the women after Mr. Clinton apologized to Mr. Kim for their actions.
Former President Al Gore, the founder of the media company that employs the journalists, hugged Ms. Lee. The two women who were stopped on March 17 by soldiers near North Korea's border with China while researching a report about women and human trafficking. They faced years of imprisonment in the gulag-like confines of a North Korean prison camp.
Ms. Lee embraced her husband, Michael Saldate, and 4-year-old daughter, Hana, as Ms. Ling hugged her husband, Ian Clayton. Administration officials said Mr. Clinton went to North Korea as a private citizen, did not carry a message from Mr. Obama for Mr. Kim and had the authority to negotiate only for the women's release.
Mr. Clinton embraced his former vice president, Mr. Gore. Given Mr. Clinton's stature and his long interest in the North Korean nuclear issue, experts said it was likely that his discussions in North Korea ranged well beyond obtaining the release of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee.
Ms. Ling was kissed by her mother, Mary. The ordeal ended at a time when the United States' relationship with North Korea had become especially chilled, after North Korea's test of its second nuclear device in May and a series of missile launchings.
"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea," Ms. Ling said in brief remarks to reporters, blinking back tears. "We feared that at any moment we could be prisoners in a hard labor camp. Then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton."
Ms. Ling, left, and Ms. Lee stepped off the plane in jeans and sweaters, rushing down the stairs to be reunited with their families. The families issued a statement saying they were "overjoyed" by news of the pardon and thanked Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton.
A private plane carrying former President Bill Clinton and two journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, landed early Wednesday morning in Burbank, just outside Los Angeles. During Mr. Clinton's dramatic 20-hour visit to North Korea, he won the freedom of the American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel to North Korea's reclusive government and dined with the North's ailing leader, Kim Jong-il.
The negotiations catapulted Mr. Clinton back on to the global stage, on behalf of a president who defeated Mrs. Clinton in a bitter primary campaign last year, and who later asked her to be his secretary of state.
Freed US journalist Euna Lee (C) embraces her husband Michael Saldate and daughter Hannah upon her arrival with fellow journalist Laura Ling, after being released from North Korea, at the airport in Burbank, California on August 5, 2009.
Laura Ling, front right, thanked former President Bill Clinton for his assistance in the release of herself and fellow journalist Euna Lee, back right, while standing with Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore
Two American journalists jubilantly reunited with family and friends early Wednesday upon returning to the United States with former President Bill Clinton, whose diplomatic trip to North Korea secured their release nearly five months after their arrests.
Freed US journalists Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling are greeted by Euna's husband Michael Saldate (2nd-R) and her daughter Hannah and Ling's husband Lain Clayton as they arrive from North Korea at Burbank, California Wednesday. Following talks in Pyongyang with former US president Bill Clinton, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, who were arrested while reporting near North Korea's border with China. They were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labour for illegal entry and "hostile acts."
Freed US journalist Euna Lee (L) embraces her husband Michael Saldate and daughter Hannah and fellow journalist Laura Ling (R) embraces her husband Lain Clayton after being released from North Korea, at the airport in Burbank, California on August 5, 2009.
Former President Bill Clinton alongside Al Gore talk with journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee at Hangar 25 on August 5, 2009 in Burbank, California after being released by North Korean authorities yesterday. Ling and Lee, of San Francisco based Current TV, were both arrested by North Korea in March for illegally entering the country on the Chinese border. Yesterday they were pardoned by President Kim Jong-Il after a meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Journalist Lisa Ling, left, smiles as she talks with sister and journalist Laura Ling who along with Euna Lee arrived at Hangar 25 on August 5, 2009 in Burbank, California after being released by North Korean authorities yesterday. Ling and Lee, of San Francisco based Current TV, were both arrested by North Korea in March for illegally entering the country on the Chinese border.
Freed US journalists Laura Ling speaks after arriving from North Korea with colleague Euna Lee (R rear) at the airport in Burbank, California on August 5, 2009. Following talks in Pyongyang with former US President Bill Clinton, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned the women who were sentenced to hard labor for entering the country illegally.
Journalists Laura Ling hugs husband Iain Clayton after her arrival with Euna Lee at Hangar 25 Wednesday. Ling and Lee, of San Francisco based Current TV, were both arrested by North Korea in March for illegally entering the country on the Chinese border. Yesterday they were pardoned by President Kim Jong-Il after a meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Ling and Lee had been sentenced to 12 years in prison in June.
Former US President Bill Clinton (L) chats with his former Vice President Al Gore after freed US journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee arrive dfrom North Korea at the airport in Burbank, California, on August 5, 2009. Following talks in Pyongyang with Clinton, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned the women were sentenced to hard labor for entering the country illegally.
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