Clinton asked N. Korea to release S. Korean detainees: foreign ministry

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton asked North Korea's
top leader to free several South Koreans while in Pyongyang to obtain the release
of two American journalists, the foreign ministry confirmed Thursday.
Citing information from the U.S. State Department, the ministry's spokesman said
Clinton made the appeal to Kim Jong-il during their meeting in Pyongyang earlier
this week.
Clinton returned to the U.S. on Wednesday, after a 20-hour stay in the North
Korean capital, with the two journalists -- Laura Ling and Euna Lee -- who had
been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for "illegal entry" into the North and
unspecified "hostile acts."
North Korea detained a South Korean worker at the inter-Korean industrial complex
in the North's border town of Kaesong in late March. The 44-year-old, identified
only by his surname Yoo, was arrested on charges of criticizing its political
system and attempting to persuade a North Korean woman to defect to the South.
The North has refused to allow him to contact his families and officials in South
Korea.
Pyongyang also has in custody four crew members of a fishing boat, "800 Yeonan,"
which strayed across the maritime border in the East Sea last week.
"Former U.S. President Clinton demanded that the detained South Korean worker in
Kaesong and the crew members of Yeonan be freed and repatriated on a humanitarian
ground," Moon said at a press briefing.
He would not elaborate whether the South Korean government had asked Clinton to
make the appeal.
"He went to North Korea well aware of the issue," Moon only said, adding that no
information had been made available on Pyongyang's response.
The spokesman also said the State Department delivered a message of gratitude to
the South Korean government through diplomatic channels for supporting Clinton's
trip to the North.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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