Two senior Obama administration officials described on background how former President Bill Clinton’s mission to Pyongyang to secure the release of two U.S. journalists imprisoned by North Korea evolved: President Obama never spoke directly with former President Clinton about this issue, the officials said. During a phone call with their families in mid-July, the journalists told their relatives that they had been informed by the North Koreans that they would be willing to grant them amnesty if an envoy like former President Clinton would come to Pyongyang to secure their release
