Freed reporters arrive home in US
 The journalists and their families could not hold back tears when they arrived |
The plane carrying two US reporters freed by North Korea from months of detention has landed in Los Angeles.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee were granted a pardon after a visit to Pyongyang by former US President Bill Clinton.
The two women had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally in March and sentenced to 12 years hard labour.
Mr Clinton's wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, welcomed the move but said it would not affect talks over North Korea's nuclear programme.
Mrs Clinton, speaking on a visit to Kenya, said the future of US relations with North Korea was up to Pyongyang.
'Private envoy'
The two reporters left North Korea on the chartered flight to Los Angeles with Mr Clinton, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il issued them with a special pardon.
Their plane touched down at Burbank airport in Los Angeles shortly before 0600 (1300 GMT) on Wednesday morning.
 |  The past 140 days have been the most difficult and heart-wrenching times of our lives  Laura Ling |
Holding back tears after an emotional reunion with their families, Laura Ling spoke on behalf of both journalists, describing their surprise and relief at being taken to a meeting in North Korea to find Mr Clinton standing in the room.
"We were shocked. But we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end," she said.
Thanking Mr Clinton and his staff, Ms Ling said the pair would now spend some "private, quiet" time with their families and thanked the government of North Korea for granting their amnesty.
"The past 140 days have been the most difficult and heart-wrenching times of our lives," she said.
The two reporters were arrested by North Korean guards while filming a video about North Korean refugees for former Vice-President Al Gore's California-based internet broadcaster, Current TV.
The BBC's Daniel Sandford, in Washington, says it appears the two women never really began their sentence and were held in relative comfort in a guest house for most of their time in North Korea.
Instead, our correspondent says, they were used fairly cynically by Pyongyang as pawns in a diplomatic game.
The North Koreans have been able to use the two journalists to secure a visit by an extremely senior US envoy, he adds.
President Barack Obama's administration insists Mr Clinton did not carry any official message but doubtless he will come back with some messages which can be channelled, officially or unofficially, right into the heart of the US government.
Private visit
The official North Korean News Agency (KCNA) said their release was a sign of the country's "humanitarian and peace-loving policy".
Mr Clinton's unannounced visit to Pyongyang had been described as a private mission but a White House official later confirmed that North Korea had asked Mr Clinton to visit.
The official said the women had told their families during telephone calls from prison that Pyongyang had suggested they could be freed if Mr Clinton came to the country as a private envoy.
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A senior US official said President Barack Obama had been aware of the mission from its early stages and that US allies involved in the six party talks over North Korea's nuclear programme were also informed.
US officials earlier said the North Korean government had agreed in advance that Mr Clinton's mission would not touch on the question of its nuclear programme.
Mr Clinton was the highest-profile American to visit the reclusive Communist state since ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000.
Families 'overjoyed'
Speaking as she arrived in Kenya at the start of a tour of Africa, Mrs Clinton welcomed the release and said she had briefly spoken to her husband.
| US JOURNALISTS PARDONED 17 March: Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling seized by North Korean border guards while reporting for California-based Current TV 8 June: Sentenced to 12 years in jail for "hostile acts" and illegal entry into North Korea 16 June: North Korea says journalists have "admitted and accepted" their guilt 10 July: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeals for an amnesty for the two 4 August: Former US President Bill Clinton arrives in Pyongyang and North Korea later announces the journalists will be pardoned |
She said the US had been "working hard" and that the women were "happy and relieved to be returning home".
But she stressed it was "a totally separate issue" from the nuclear talks and that the US would now "have to go back to the ongoing efforts to try to convince the North Koreans" to return to the talks.
"The future of our relationships with the North Koreans is really up to them," she said of Pyongyang.
She said North Korea could either "continue to follow the path that is filled with provocative action, which further isolates them from the international community, or they can decide to renew their discussions with the partners in the six-party talks".
Pyongyang dropped out of the six-party talks after the UN censured a long-range missile test in April. The parties include Russia, China, Japan, the US and both Koreas.
An underground nuclear test and further missile tests followed, provoking new UN Security Council sanctions.
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