Carter travels to N. Korea to get Boston man released
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea
North Koreans welcomed Jimmy Carter back to Pyongyang with smiles, salutes and hearty handshakes as the former American president arrived on a mission to bring home a Boston man jailed in the communist country since January.
U.S. officials have billed Carter’s trip as a private humanitarian visit to try to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labor in a North Korean prison for illegally entering the country from China.
However, visits such as Carter’s — and the journey ex-President Bill Clinton made a year ago to secure the release of two American journalists — serve as more than just rescue missions. They also offer an opportunity for unofficial diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea, analysts say.
Last year, it took Clinton’s visit to get the U.S. and North Korea talking again. Clinton was cordial but serious as he met with leader Kim Jong Il, who appeared giddy at being photographed next to the former president. North Korean state media paid little attention to the two journalists he had gone to retrieve, focusing instead on Clinton.
With relations again at a standstill, Carter’s mission to bring Gomes home could again provide another face-saving opening for contact, analysts said.
Senior U.S. officials in Washington stressed that Carter was not representing the government but was on a private mission. North Korea agreed to release Gomes to Carter if the ex-president paid Pyongyang a visit, a U.S. official said.
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