Former Vice President Al Gore , center, watches as journalists Laura Ling, left and Euna Lee speak after arriving at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif. Clinton, journalists arrive in U.S.

Former President Bill Clinton returned to the United States Wednesday morning with the two U.S. journalists released from custody by North Korea following his surprise arrival there Tuesday.

The private plane carrying Clinton and the two journalists – Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36 – landed at the Burbank airport just outside Los Angeles around 8:50 a.m. eastern Wednesday morning, roughly four-and-one-half months since the two reporters were captured along the North Korean border.


After watching the two journalists depart the plane, the former president walked down the steps to the tarmac and hugged former Vice President Al Gore, the owner of the cable network that employs the journalists.

Clinton did not speak to the assembled press and stood just barely within camera shot when Ling and Gore spoke.

Gore thanked Clinton in his remarks, whom Gore called his "friend and partner."

Gore also praised President Barack Obama and the "countless members of his administration" that have been "deeply involved in this humanitarian effort."

After an emotional reunion with her family, Ling expressed the "deepest gratitude to President Clinton."

"The last 140 days have been the most difficult and heart wrenching of our lives," she said.

Speaking on the South Lawn of the White House shortly after the journalists arrival, Obama said he was "extraordinarily relieved" that the journalists had returned, but was careful not to make any mention of what the news means for future relations with North Korea.

“Not only is this White House extraordinarily happy, but all Americans should be thankful to former President Clinton and former Vice President Gore for their extraordinary work,” Obama said.

The former president’s wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday that she was “very happy and relieved” that her husband was returning with the two journalists.

“I spoke to my husband on the airplane and everything went well. We are extremely excited,” she said. “It's just a good day to be able to see this happen.”

As the families of the two journalists awaited their arrival, they released a statement thanking the former president, along with former Vice President Al Gore and the Obama administration.

“We especially want to thank president Bill Clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and vice president Al Gore for his tireless efforts to bring Laura and Euna home,” the statement read. "We must also thank all the people who have supported our families through this ordeal, it has meant the world to us. We are counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms."

Matt McKenna, spokesman for the former president, announced Tuesday night that "President Clinton has safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee. They are en route to Los Angeles where Laura and Euna will be reunited with their families."

In a background briefing with reporters Tuesday night, a senior administration official said that in mid-July, Lee and Ling informed family members in phone calls that North Korean officials said the pair would be released if Bill Clinton were sent as an envoy.

The official said it was made "crystal clear" to the North Koreans that Clinton would visit only on an "unofficial" and "purely private, humanitarian mission."

President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did not talk about the trip, but U.S. government officials did brief Clinton in person twice, including a final meeting last Saturday.

The administration official said this does not represent a breakthrough for North Korea with the world community, adding, “I don't know of a time when the North Koreans have been more isolated.”

North Korea ordered the release of the two American journalists detained since May following former President Bill Clinton’s meeting Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

According to North Korea’s state news agency, were pardoned after being visited by the former president.

“Kim Jong Il issued an order of the Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission on granting a special pardon to the two American journalists who had been sentenced to hard labor in accordance with Article 103 of the Socialist Constitution and releasing them,” read the report from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Clinton met with Kim shortly after landing in Pyongyang Tuesday.

The former president, in a surprise visit, supplied Kim with a verbal message from Obama, according to the North Korean state report.

Kim and the former president then sat down for what the state media described as a “wide-ranging exchange of views.”

Following his meeting with Kim, Clinton spoke in person to the two journalists, according to ABC News, which cited a government source.

Administration officials refused to comment on the trip while Clinton was still in North Korea. “While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier on Tuesday. “We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission.”

Ling and Lee were captured on March 17 after venturing across the border while reporting a story for Current TV, Gore’s San Francisco-based cable network. The two were later sentenced to 12 years of labor.

Clinton was accompanied to North Korea by his former chief of staff, John Podesta, who more recently headed Obama’s transition team.

Photos released by state media also show longtime Clinton aide Doug Band with the former president in Pyongyang.