N. Korea credits heir-apparent for Clinton's trip to Pyongyang

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is praising North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il's youngest son for having former U.S. President Bill Clinton's come to
Pyongyang last week to fetch two American journalists, sources well informed
about the North said Sunday, apparently to build up the achievements of the
heir-apparent.
Clinton traveled to the communist state last week to bring back two female
journalists detained for some 140 days after being apprehended near the North
Korea-China border. They were charged with illegal entry and unspecified "hostile
acts" and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
After hours of talks with Clinton, Kim Jong-il granted them pardon. The
journalists returned to the U.S. with the former president on Wednesday.
The North's National Security Agency, a spy agency and powerful organ of the
North Korean leadership, claimed in a recent lecture that Clinton had to come and
apologize before the North Korean leader because of the "outstanding tactics" of
Kim Jong-un, the sources said.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they noted a similar kind of "resume
building" took place when Kim Jong-il was picked as the successor to his father,
North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung.
Kim Jong-il, 26 years old at the time with very little known about his personal
achievements, was given credit for the 1968 seizure of a U.S. military ship,
Pueblo.
Jong-un, now 26, is said to have been named the successor to his 67-year-old
father who reportedly suffered a stroke last year.
The sources said the North Korean spy agency has also begun referring to Jong-un
as a "general."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)