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Shortly after former President Bill Clinton finished having dinner with Kim Jong Il on August 4 in Pyongyang, the North Korean state run news agency issued a release saying that the two men had met, and that Clinton had brought a message to the North Korean leader from President Barack Obama.

In a flash, the White House issued its own statement: No, he hadn't.

And with that, the questions about the former President's visit to Pyongyang — and about where relations with Kim Jong Il's North Korea go from here — begin. As expected once he arrived, Clinton departed North Korea Wednesday morning with the two American TV journalists, Euna Lee and Lisa Ling, that he had come to spring from detention there. A senior administration official revealed on...