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August 10, 2009

Clinton's Trip a Winner for Kim Jong-Il

Richard Halloran, RealClearWorld

In East Asia where Confucian thought is still influential from Seoul to Singapore, former President Bill Clinton's visit to Pyongyang to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Il was immediately seen as a triumph for the North Korean leader who had maneuvered the American into being a supplicant seeking a favor.

Clinton was asked by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former president's wife, to undertake what the White House said was a private humanitarian mission to bring home two inexperienced Asian-American journalists who blundered into North Korea from northeastern China in March. They were arrested, tried, and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The former president, said the official [North] Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), "expressed words of...

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TAGGED: Kim Jong Il, Bill Clinton, North Korea

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