Journalists return from North Korea

Euna Lee hugs husband Michael Saldate and daughter Hanna after arriving in Burbank.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Euna Lee, left, hugs her husband and daughter and Laura Ling hugs her husband, Iain Clayton.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Euna Lee with her husband and daughter.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Former Vice President Al Gore hugs journalist Laura Ling at the Burbank airport after she, Euna Lee (third from right) and former President Clinton returned from North Korea.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Laura Ling, left, and Euna Lee, arrive in Burbank. The two reporters had been imprisoned in North Korea.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Euna Lee greets her daughter as Laura Ling hugs her husband inside a hanger at the Burbank airport.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Laura Ling, in brown, and Euna Lee, in gray, share a laugh with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, the two female American journalists, far left, and second right, head to a chartered plane carrying the homebound former President Bill Clinton at an airport in Pyongyang, capital of North Korea Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. His mission accomplished, former President Bill Clinton left Pyongyang early Wednesday accompanied by American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned the women from their 12-year prison sentences.   (Zhang Binyang / Xinhua via AP)

In Seoul, a woman watches a TV news broadcast on former President Clinton’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Clinton met Tuesday with the North Korean leader on the first day of a surprise visit to Pyongyang, with the “exhaustive” talks covering a wide range of topics, state-run media said.  (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

Former President Bill Clinton receives a bouquet from North Korean girl upon his arrival at Pyongyang.  (KNS / AFP/Getty Images)

South Korean conservative activists burn a North Korean flag as police spray it with fire extinguishers during a rally demanding that North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons development programs and to release American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who are being detained in North Korea.  (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

South Korean protestors call for North Korea to release U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee during a rally in Seoul.  (Jung Yeon-Je / AFP/Getty Images)

Images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il are defaced and burned during a rally in Seoul denouncing the North’s detention of a pair of U.S. journalists.  (Jung Yeon-Je / AFP/Getty Images)

Lisa Ling sobs as she addresses a vigil held in Santa Monica on June 4 for her sister, Laura Ling, and Euna Lee, two American journalists detained by North Korea.  (David Zentz / Associated Press)

People lift paper candle holders bearing an image of Laura Ling during a vigil for Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee in Santa Monica last week.  (David Zentz / Associated Press)

The Tumen River runs between the Chinese city of Tumen at left and the North Korean city of Namyang at right. Lee and Ling were detained south of here.  (Jean Chung / For The Times)

A Chinese border guard stands watch over the crossing in Tumen between China and North Korea.  (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)

North Korea is seen through a barbed wire fence erected on the Chinese side of the Tumen River border.  (Jean Chung / For The Times)

A closed-circuit camera installed on the Chinese side of the Tumen River aims at the North Korean city of Namyang and the Chinese city of Tumen. Buildings in Namyang City are seen in the background. The Chinese government has recently begun to install the cameras along the Chinese-North Korean border, possibly to record and view North Koreans crossing the Tumen River.  (Jean Chung / For The Times)

A female North Korean soldier looks out from behind a barbed wire fence around a camp on the North Korean river banks across from Hekou, northeastern China’s Liaoning province on Wednesday. North Korea’s top court has convicted two U.S. journalists, and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison, the country’s state news agency reported Monday.  (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

North Korean soldiers gesture to a Chinese tourist boat from an outpost along the China-North Korea border near Hekou, northeastern China’s Liaoning province.  (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)