Question concerning hostage - negotiation efforts

[Proud Cosmopolitan]

I wondered as to what everyone thought of hostage - negotiation efforts such as former President Bill Clinton's efforts at bargaining for the release of the American journalists who were imprisoned in North Korea a couple of years back. I personally thought they were okay provided there may have been any proof that the North Koreans "made" the journalists cross the North Korean frontier involuntarily and in a way I had concerns that the Americans may have unduly rewarded a "crazy, rogue leader" such as Kim Jong Il for arbitrarily detaining people / taking them hostage.