Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton both played instrumental roles in the release of two captive American journalists who were stopped and detained by North Korean soldiers on March 17, 2009, after purportedly illegally crossing the nation's borders. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were convicted of "committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry," and sentenced in June to 12 years hard labor in a North Korean prison camp.
