Now resume dialogue on Korean denuclearisation: Kerry

Buoyed by the diplomatic success of former US president Bill Clinton in securing the release of two American journalists from North Korea, a top Senator has asked Pyongyang and Washington to now resume dialogue on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement welcomed the news that US citizens Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been pardoned by North Korea and are now on their way home.

"North Korea is doing the right thing by granting Mrs Ling and Mrs Lee amnesty and letting them return to their families. I hope this goodwill gesture will create a new, more positive tone in US-DPRK relations," Kerry said.

Using the occasion, Kerry called on the US and North Korea to promptly resume talks on denuclearisation. "This moment shouldn't be lost," he said.

"North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons is a threat to regional security and stands as an obstacle to what the people of North Korea most want: respect, security, development, and peace," Kerry added.

"But the United States, in concert with the Republic of Korea, Japan, China and Russia — our partners in the Six Party Talks — remains willing to engage in a mutually respectful dialogue with the DPRK to accomplish the goals of denuclearisation and normalisation and to create a permanent peace mechanism for the Korean Peninsula," he said.

John Kerry Gets US-North Korea Horizon Right

Bill Clinton is flying back to the US with just pardoned journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea.

It's great that they are free -- but deploying Bill Clinton to secure their release was not about bringing a complicated human drama to a close -- but rather to steady North Korea's unpredictable behavior and to hopefully set up a face-saving opportunity to resume nuclear negotiations.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry gets the tone exactly right in his public statement about the release of the journalists. In his statement, he quickly moves to the strategic issues that need attention.

Kerry states:


North Korea is doing the right thing by granting Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Lee amnesty and letting them return to their families. I hope this goodwill gesture will create a new, more positive tone in U.S.-DPRK relations. This joyous day belongs to them and their families, who never gave up hope that the women would be released.

The statement from his office goes on:

Chronic North Korea-name caller John Bolton is furious -- but Bill Clinton has pulled a rabbit out of the hat and given the Obama administration a new opportunity to rein in North Korea's nuclear proclivities.

I'll post my video segment about this high wire diplomatic act from Keith Olbermann's Countdown shortly.