Quote from Kassz007:
So Kim is sitting there in NK with these detained Americans, who were detained (presumably) for doing something which NK considers illegal. Then along comes a former president and says "Come on Kim, just let the Americans go." and Kim agrees?
I'm not saying there's any type of conspiracy nonsense here or anything funny like that, I just find the whole situation rather strange.
Kim's legitimacy is reinforced this way. He "saves face". The Americans had to come to him.