North Korea has released two American citizens, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Saturday.
The agency said the men have been allowed to leave the reclusive communist country and are on their way home, accompanied by agency Director James Clapper. Their release was secured through a secret mission by top U.S. intelligence officials.
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Bae and Miller were the last Americans held by North Korea following the release last month of Jeffrey Fowle.
Miller, who is from California, was serving a six-year jail term on charges of espionage, after he allegedly ripped his tourist visa at Pyongyang's airport in April and demanded asylum.
North Korea said he had wanted to experience prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea's human rights situation.
Bae, who is from Washington state, is a Korean-American missionary with health problems. He was serving a 15-year sentence for alleged anti-government activities.
Bae was arrested in November 2012 while leading a tour group in North Korea and was accused of crimes against the state. Bae's family and the State Department have repeatedly called for his release on humanitarian grounds, citing his failing health.
"It's a wonderful day for them and their families," President Obama said at the White House following his announcement of his pick for attorney general. "Obviously we are very grateful for their safe return. And I appreciate Director Clapper doing a great job on what was obviously a challenging mission."
The Bae family said in a statement: "Words cannot adequately express our relief and gratitude that Kenneth is finally coming home. We have been waiting for and praying for this day for two years. This ordeal has been excruciating for the family, but we are filled with joy right now."
It was the latest twist in the fitful relationship between the Obama administration and the young North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, whose approach to the U.S. has shifted back and forth from defiance to occasional conciliation. And it was an anomalous role for Clapper, an acerbic retired general who doesn't typically do diplomacy.
U.S. officials did not immediately provide details about the circumstances of the Americans' release, including whether Clapper met with Kim or other senior North Korean officials. They said the timing was not related to Obama's imminent trip to China, Myanmar and Australia.
A senior administration official said Clapper carried a brief message from Obama indicating that Clapper was his personal envoy to bring the two Americans home. The official spoke on a condition of anonymity without authorization to speak on the record.
Clapper was the highest-ranking American to visit Pyongyang in more than a decade.
Analysts who study North Korea said the decision to free Bae and Miller now from long prison terms probably was a bid by that country to ease pressure in connection with its human rights record. A recent United Nations report documented rape, torture, executions and forced labor in the North's network of prison camps, accusing the government of "widespread, systematic and gross" human rights violations.
North Korea seems worried that Kim could be accused in the international criminal court, said Sue Mi Terry, a former senior intelligence analyst now at Columbia University.
"The North Koreans seem to be obsessed over the human rights issue," she told The Associated Press. "This human rights thing is showing itself to be an unexpected leverage for the U.S."
Bruce Klingner, a former CIA analyst now at the Heritage Foundation, agreed that efforts to shine a spotlight on the country's human rights record "startled the regime and led to frantic attempts to derail the process."
Fowle of Miamisburg, Ohio, was held for nearly six months. He had left a Bible in a nightclub in the hope that it would reach North Korea's underground Christian community.
Fowle said his fellow Americans' release is "an answer to a prayer." He also said he initially thought Bae and Miller had been released with him.
"I didn't realize they weren't released with me until I got on the plane," Fowle said.
The detainee releases do not herald a change in U.S. posture regarding North Korea's disputed nuclear program, the main source of tension between Pyongyang and Washington, said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters.
International aid-for-disarmament talks have been stalled since 2008. The U.S. wants the North to take concrete steps to show it's committed to denuclearization before the talks can resume.
The last concerted U.S. effort to restart those negotiations collapsed in spring 2012. North Korea had agreed to freeze its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for food aid, but then launched a long-range rocket in breach of a U.N. ban on its use of ballistic missile technology.
The U.S. notified allies of Clapper's trip to North Korea and alerted members of the congressional leadership once his visit was underway, the official said.
"Their release has been our focus every single day and we've been working all the angles available to bring them home," Secretary of State John Kerry said from Oman on Saturday. "We're pleased that this humanitarian gesture has taken place."
Terri Chung, Bae's sister, said she received word from the State Department Saturday morning that Bae and Miller were on a plane that had left North Korean airspace. "We have been waiting for and praying for this day for two years. This ordeal has been excruciating for the family, but we are filled with joy right now," Chung said in an emailed statement.
