Bobby Hall, the Army helicopter pilot held captive in North Korea since Dec. 17, could be back in his home state of Florida as early as today.
Hall, 28, was freed late Thursday after the United States expressed "sincere regret" that his helicopter "accidentally strayed" into North Korean airspace in a storm.
Hall, looking weary, crossed into South Korea at 9:16 p.m. ET Thursday, accompanied by U.S. envoy Thomas Hubbard.
Hall's family in Brooksville cheered at the news he was free. Tears streamed down the faces of his wife and mother.
President Clinton had called Hall's wife Donna earlier in the day to say her husband would be freed. "We've been successful," he said.
Friends say Donna Hall thanked Clinton profusely.
Hall's release, won after intense negotiations among Hubbard and North Korean officials, clears the way for implementation of a nuclear agreement struck last October.
The pact, designed to halt North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons, requires the U.S. to begin sending $4 million in oil shipments to North Korea Jan. 21.
The deal for Hall's release requires the United States to say there was "no legal basis" for the helicopter to be where it was, and pledge to work to prevent similar occurrences.
The U.S. maintains the helicopter was on a routine mission and not spying, as North Korea has charged.
Former secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger urges caution. He continues to view the North Korean government as an outlaw regime.
"We ought not to misjudge (them) in the process," he says.
Hall's co-pilot, David Hilemon, was killed in the incident. His body was returned to the United States last week; he was buried Wednesday.
Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., who was in North Korea at the time of Hall's capture and who brokered a deal for the release of Hilemon's body, says Hall's release is a "coup" for Clinton and the State Department.
He says difficulties with North Korea will continue, "but . . . we have to learn to live with each other. We have to do something about stopping their nuclear development."
