CNN says former U.S. President Bill Clinton has left North Korea, taking two formerly imprisoned American journalists with him.

Clinton visited the North on Tuesday on a mission to facilitate the release of two American journalists imprisoned by the North since March.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il ordered the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee after a meeting with the former U.S. president.

CNN said North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency sent CNN an email, saying that Clinton and the two women left Pyongyang shortly after the announcement of the journalists' release.

Mr. Clinton's spokesman Matt McKenna said the former U.S. president and the two reporters were en route to Los Angeles where the two journalists will be reunited with their families.