'We were told that we were going to a meeting,' she said, pausing to fight back tears. 'We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors we saw standing before us president Bill Clinton.'

Ling and Lee were arrested in March at the Chinese-North Korean border. They were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labour after North Korea accused them of illegally crossing its border.

President Barack Obama briefly addressed reporters to thank Clinton and former vice president Al Gore for their tireless efforts to free the journalists. Ling and Lee worked for Current TV, which was founded by Gore.

'The reunion that we've all seen on television I think is a source of happiness, not only for the families, but for the entire country,' Obama said.

'Not only is this White House, obviously, extraordinarily happy, but all Americans should be grateful to both former President Clinton and Vice President Gore for their extraordinary work,' he said.