The news is startling:Â former President Bill Clinton has arrived in North Korea to negotiate the release of two American women journalists who were sentenced to twelve years of hard labor for crossing the border from China to North Korea.
One can only hope that Clinton’s decision to take the courageous act to go to North Korea will lead to positive results. This is particularly the case because his wife, Hillary Clinton, is the Secretary of State under President Obama, and was recently ridiculed by North Korean diplomats who said she was not very intelligent and resembled in demeanor a "school girl" and yet also " an aging pensioner"!  It is hard NOT to laugh at these ridiculous statements by North Korea, but it shows that Bill Clinton is not allowing the insults to interfere with his mission to release these two unfortunate prisoners.
It will be interesting to see if Bill Clinton can succeed, but it is also fascinating that the Obama Administration says this is a private mission, not wanting to jeopardize its chances of success in any way.
IF he does succeed in this, I would suggest that he next try to go to Iran and to negotiate the release of Americans imprisoned there, including three hikers recently seized by Iranian soldiers at the Iran-Iraq border.  It could be that Bill Clinton, acting privately but with his great prestige as a former President, might become a secret asset to the Obama Administration. Let’s hope for that possibility!