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On Tuesday afternoon , now more willing to discuss her husband than she was in Africa a week or so ago Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the press corps that Bill Clinton’s trip to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong II which resulted in the release of two American journalists, had resulted in new information being given to the Obama administration that was “extremely useful”.

However she was quick to point out that nothing that the Former President had told her would change the current administration position on relations with North Korea. “Our policy remains the same. Our policy is consistent,” she said.

Mr. Clinton also finally met with President Barack Obama on Tuesday to discuss his private humanitarian mission. The two had spoken on the phone about the trip before but this was the first face to face White House meeting.

According to White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs the two met for about forty minutes in the West Wing situation followed by another 30 minute session in the Oval Office itself. Mrs. Clinton had a previous engagement to meet with Columbian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez and was unable to join the conversation.

Gibbs said that President Obama thanked Clinton for undertaking the mission and “was gratified that the Americans had been safely reunited with their families,”

Administration officials were said to be particularly interested in the state of health that Bill Clinton found Kim Jong II in, as it had been widely reported that he had at some point suffered a stroke and was said to be in very poor health. It is reported though that Clinton found the reclusive leader to be quite spry and in good spirits.

In fact Clinton had not originally expected to meet with Kim Jong personally. He had requested an audience with “an appropriate official” and was quite surprised when not only did Kim Jong speak with him but also had a private dinner with the former President.

Obama did not discuss his meeting with Bill Clinton with the media directly, leaving all the talking to his Secretary of State instead.

When she was asked if  her husband got any signal that the North was ready to return talks  on its nuclear weapons program, Hillary Clinton said that the United States was trying to determine whether there were really  signals it could act upon to try to create a “positive atmosphere, ” adding “But it’s really up to the North Koreans.”

Jailed American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee returned home to the United States on Wednesday, together with former President Bill Clinton, on a jet that belongs to film executive Steve Bing.

Since it was made clear from the beginning that Clinton’s trip to North Korea to attempt to secure the release of the journalists, who had been jailed for 140 days, was a purely private one, he apparently relied upon his old friend Bing to provide his transportation. The jet is owned by Shangri-La Entertainment, the company that the movie mogul owns.

The freed journalists were reunited with their families upon landing at the airport in Burbank, California. Ling’s father Douglas told ABC News that he had never had any doubts that his daughter and her colleague would eventually be returned home safely but for her part Laura Ling said she and her colleague Ms. Lee were stunned by Clinton’s arrival.

Speaking at a brief press conference she said “”We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp, and then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. When we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton. We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end.”

For his part Bill Clinton admitted that he undertook his mission at the request of his former Vice President Al Gore, who runs Current TV, the media outlet that the two journalists were working for when they were arrested. “When their families, Vice President Gore and the White House asked that I undertake this humanitarian mission, I agreed,” Clinton said in a written statement. “I share a deep sense of relief with Laura and Euna and their families that they are safely home.”

Although the White House distanced themselves from the mission, former Vice President Al Gore said “President Obama and countless members of his administration have been deeply involved in this humanitarian effort,” Gore said, speaking at the arrival of the two reporters who worked for the channel he co-founded, Current TV. “They have really put their hearts in this.” While President Obama said meanwhile “We are obviously extraordinarily relieved” and “very pleased with the outcome.”

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that “at some point” Obama will meet with former President Clinton to discuss his meeting with Kim Jong II, but nothing has been planned yet.