Elijah is touched by an angel in this Sunday's reading from 1 Kings. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has rarely been called an angel, but he seemed like one to two American journalists detained for nearly five months in North Korea. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were reunited with their families on American soil Wednesday morning after a carefully negotiated "rescue mission" involving Clinton.

Although the White House and the U.S. State Department steadfastly insisted that the former president was on a "private humanitarian mission," the trip came about only after weeks of back-channel conversations involving academics, congressional figures, and senior White House and State Department officials, said sources involved in the planning.

Ling addressed a crowd of news reporters and well-wishers that included Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, who cofounded the television channel that employs the journalists. "Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea," Ling said. "We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp. And then, suddenly, we were told that we were going to a meeting. . . .

"When we walked in through the doors, we saw, standing before us, President Bill Clinton. We were shocked. But we knew instantly, in our hearts, that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here, home and free."

Clinton secured the women's release after meeting for several hours and attending a formal banquet with reclusive North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. The highly unusual visit gave Kim--whose relationship with the United States has deteriorated steadily in recent months--a thin slice of the international legitimacy that has long eluded him.

Source: An article by Glenn Kessler and Debbi Wilgoren for the Washington Post