Former President Bill Clinton arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, in a surprise move to negotiate for the release of two American journalists imprisoned there. The two women, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, were arrested near the Chinese border while working on a story for Current TV, a media company owned by former Vice President Al Gore. Bill Clinton's mission marks the highest ranking visit to North Korea since Madeleine Albright. Sang-hun Choe, New York Times correspondent in Seoul, South Korea, and Jim Walsh, a North Korea watcher and professor at the MIT Security Studies Program join The Takeaway with their thoughts. Professor Walsh traveled to Pyongyang in 2005 and has met with North Korean officials in Europe and the U.S.

North Korea says it carried out an underground nuclear test, prompting widespread international concern. Pyongyang says the device that it detonated was more powerful than a previous one tested in 2006. Meanwhile, a news agency in South Korea says the country also test-fired a total of three short-range missiles. The Takeaway is joined by Dr. Jim Walsh, a specialist in international security and a research associate at the M.I.T's Securities Studies Program.