Bill Clinton burst back on to the global political stage yesterday in the unlikely setting of North Korea — and orchestrated an immediate and spectacular diplomatic coup.

Within hours of the former US President shaking hands with Kim Jong Il, his reclusive host, North Korea announced that two imprisoned American journalists would be pardoned and released. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, sentenced to 12 years of hard labour in June after being convicted of spying, are expected to be on board Mr Clinton’s private jet when he leaves Pyongyang today.

“We are counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms,” their families said in a statement.

Mr Kim’s “special pardon” was a sign of North Koreas’s “humanitarian and peace-loving policy”, the state’s official news agency said.

Times Archive, 1980: Pyongyang settles political succession

Kim Il Sung today named Mr Kim Jong Il, his son, as his political successor

• The Crown Prince of North Korea, 1980

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The appearance of the world’s most gregarious former head of state in the rogue state took all sides by surprise. It also suggested that President Obama is prepared to use the formidable political skills possessed by the husband of his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, when it suits him.

Mr Clinton’s success raised hopes that North Korea may soon be enticed back to multinational disarmament talks, after three months of mounting tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

The breakthrough came after what the North Korea media described as “sincere and exhaustive discussions” on a range of matters between Mr Clinton and Mr Kim. The North Koreans said the former US President had flown to Pyongyang bearing a “courteously conveyed” personal message from Mr Obama.

The White House denied that a message had been sent and described Mr Clinton’s trip as a “solely private mission”. Behind the scenes, the Obama Administration had approved the trip after North Korean officials were said to have told the journalists’ families that they were prepared to release them to Mr Clinton. The families then approached the former President.

In another striking break with tradition, footage of Mr Clinton’s arrival and images of his meeting Mr Kim were aired almost immediately on North Korea’s tightly controlled state television channel.

Relations between Washington and Pyongyang have deteriorated rapidly since May, when the unpredictable regime tested what it said was a nuclear device and declared the six-party multinational disarmament talks with South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and America “dead in the water”.

Some analysts criticised the visit as playing directly into the propaganda needs of a weakened regime facing a range of dire domestic crises, including poverty and famine.

Brian Myers, a North Korea expert, said that the visit would allow the regime to portray America as paying tribute to its nuclear prowess, and that the arrival of such a high-profile American figure would be perceived as a reward for bad behaviour.

Mr Clinton was accompanied on his trip by John Podesta, his former White House Chief of Staff — and the man who headed Mr Obama’s presidential transition team — and Doug Band, the former President’s longstanding personal assistant.

It is the second time that a former US president has flown into North Korea to help to ease tensions in a nuclear crisis: Jimmy Carter did so in 1994, a move which ended in a deal under which the North agreed to suspend its nuclear programme. It secretly reneged on that agreement, however, and officially broke with the 1994 accord in 2003.

The Clinton visit comes amid deepening speculation over the declining health of Mr Kim — and the question of what, if any, succession plans he has put in place. Some analysts believe that the nuclear test in May was an attempt by the ailing “Dear Leader” to demonstrate to his domestic audience that he was still in control, but the provocative tests may have left him needing a face-saving route back to disarmament talks, which Mr Clinton’s visit may provide.

The two journalists, Ms Ling and Ms Lee, who were both working for a television company founded by Mr Clinton’s former Vice-President, Al Gore, were arrested on the North Korea-China border after allegedly crossing into the totalitarian state.

Mr Clinton’s record with North Korea has drawn both criticism and praise. It was he who signed off on the 1994 deal negotiated by Mr Carter, in which the North received civilian nuclear technology and fuel from the US. As a result, some accused him of appeasing the communist regime.

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