By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Can former U.S. President Bill Clinton save two American journalists detained in North Korea for almost five months and meet with Kim Jong-il to discuss pending issues between the two countries?
Most North Korean watchers believe so, but question the possibility of any rapid improvement in bilateral relations and denuclearization.
"Since a high-level figure like Clinton was dispatched, North Korea appears ready not to oppose the release of the two detainees," said Professor Yoo Ho-yeol of Korea University in Seoul. "I think this will likely affect the current situation in a positive way."
Clinton, husband of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is also expected to have talks with Kim on a range of issues including North Korea's nuclear programs.
"He will likely deliver the thoughts of President Barack Obama to Kim and report North Korea's response in detail after his return," said Professor Paik Hak-soon of the Sejong Institute.
Paik is positive on relations between the two countries, saying the North may take a comprehensive give-and-take approach.
"Even though North Korea must know that Clinton will talk about nuclear disarmament in a complete and verifiable way, it accepted the envoy," the professor said. "It means that Pyongyang is ready to talk about that issue. In other words, it is willing to give something."
They may include solutions to the nuclear and missile issues and switching the current truce accord on the Korean Peninsula to a peace treaty, he said.
"One-on-one meetings between Washington and Pyongyang can possibly begin in earnest from this autumn," he said.
Professor Kim Yong-hyun at Dongguk University in Seoul said the possible Clinton-Kim meeting this time would give a chance for North Korea to sweep off rumors of its "Dear Leader's" poor health.
"The two sides might reach an accord on the detainees, but the problem is whether the special envoy can suggest solutions to the nuclear issue to the leader of the isolated state," he said.
Former President Clinton previously attempted to visit the "rogue regime" in 2000 during his presidency.
The United States then was seeking diplomatic ties in return for the abandonment of nuclear weapons and missiles amid positive relations between the two Koreas.
His plan to visit North Korea visit was pushed into the background later due to the talks with Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
In 1994, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang after the North agreed to freeze its nuclear arms development program.
Two years later, U.S. Senator Bill Richardson visited Pyongyang to negotiate the release of Evan Hunziker, a U.S. citizen who swam across into the North's territory and was jailed for three months on spy charges.
In 2000, Madeleine Albright, then U.S. secretary of state, made a historic visit to the communist state and held two rounds of talks with Kim Jong-il.
In regard to a South Korean detainee, Professor Yang Moo-jing at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said Pyongyang may continue to press Seoul.
"Clinton could mention the South Korean detainee in a humanitarian way but I cannot rule out the possibility that the North may keep pressing the South," he said.
Yu, a 40-year-old South Korean who was working in a joint industrial complex in Gaeseong was arrested on May 30 for allegedly making derogatory comments on the North Korean regime and attempting to entice a North Korean woman to defect to the South.
"But if the U.S-North Korea talks make some progress, the detainee issue will likely be solved as well," the professor said.