Fear, isolation, rocky rice marked journalists' ordeal

BURBANK, Calif. - Two American journalists held captive in North Korea since March endured meals of rice with rocks, more than four months of isolation and the constant fear they would be sent to a gulag.

Facing sentences of 12 years' hard labor, they were allowed only sporadic contact with each other, let alone the outside world. Then, suddenly this week, they were brought into a meeting with none other than Bill Clinton, who helped win their release and flew home with them for a tearful reunion with their families.

"We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," an emotional Laura Ling said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours and it is what sustained our faith that we would come home."

Ling and Euna Lee sobbed and embraced their husbands and Lee's 4-year-old daughter, Hana, in the sleek hangar of a Burbank airport after a 91/2-hour flight from Japan. It was the last stop following their release from North Korea after an unusual diplomatic rescue mission headed by the former president.

In a voice shaking with sobs, Ling recalled how their time in captivity came to an abrupt end after she and Lee were summoned to a meeting and found the former president standing there.

"We were shocked but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end, and now we stand here, home and free," she said.

While questions swirled about the delicate negotiating dance that led to their release, Ling only talked about their gratitude to be free and their desire to quietl

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