A U.S. newspaper has raised concerns that former U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists may be a "down payment for a larger set of American concessions."

In an opinion column printed in Wednesday’s edition, the Wall Street Journal said that such speculation is hard to avoid given that Clinton was met at the Pyongyang airport by North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan. The column expressed hope that the White House's insistence that Clinton’s mission was strictly humanitarian was indeed true.

According to the column, if it turns out that a new nuclear negotiation began during Clinton’s visit, it will give the message to North Korea that the worse its behavior, the more it stands to gain from the U.S.

The column suggested Clinton’s visit will also bolster the North's bid to dissolve the six-party nuclear negotiations in favor of direct talks with the U.S. and dismay some in South Korea and Japan, which have their own hostages in North Korea.