SEOUL：Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-il issued a "special pardon" for two jailed American journalists and ordered their release at former US President Bill Clinton's request, DPRK media reported Wednesday.

Image taken from video footage shows former US President Bill Clinton (R) and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-il posing for a picture in Pyongyang August 4, 2009. [Agencies]

It was unclear when Clinton and the women would leave the country. The report said the Clinton visit was taking place Tuesday and Wednesday.

Clinton landed in the DPRK capital on Tuesday on a private mission to negotiate the freedom of the two women working for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture.

During his visit, he held rare talks with DPRK's top leader Kim — his first meeting with a prominent Western figure since reportedly suffering a stroke a year ago.

Lee, 36, and Ling, 32, were arrested in March after crossing into DPRK from China. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts."

Washington had pushed for their release, with Clinton's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, requesting last month that they be granted amnesty. She described the women as remorseful, and expressed their families' anguish.

Lee, a South Korean-born US citizen, is married and has a 4-year-old daughter in Los Angeles; a native Californian, Ling is the married younger sister of TV journalist Lisa Ling.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters in Washington.

Clinton's landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by DPRK or the US, comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over the nuclear issues.

DPRK in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance.

It's only the second visit to Pyongyang by a former US leader. Jimmy Carter traveled to he country for talks with Kim's father, Kim-il Sung, in 1994 in a groundbreaking meeting during a time of similar tensions.