Carter in NKorea in bid to release jailed American
By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press
Aug 26, 2010 5:01 AM CDT
A South Korean man watches a TV reporting on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. News reports say North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may have traveled to China in what would be his second visit to the country this year.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)   (Associated Press)

On Day 2 of Jimmy Carter's journey to North Korea, there was no sign Thursday that the former American president had succeeded in securing the release of a Boston man jailed in the country since January.

Carter was making a private humanitarian visit to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labor in a North Korean prison and fined some $700,000 for entering the country illegally from China, U.S. officials said.

There was no indication Thursday that Gomes was free. Carter, originally slated to depart Thursday, appeared to have extended his trip by at least a day, South Korea's YTN television reported in Seoul.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, meanwhile, appeared to be making a surprise trip to China. Teachers in Jilin province in northeastern China told The Associated Press he paid a 20-minute visit to their school Thursday morning _ a rare trip for a man who never flies and travels only by armored train.

Neither country announced the trip; Kim's travels typically are not publicized by North Korea until after his return.

It was unclear whether he would return in time for a meeting with Carter, an elder statesman well-regarded in North Korea despite the two countries' longtime animosity. Carter met with Kim's father, late President Kim Il Sung, on his last trip to Pyongyang in 1994 _ a warm meeting that led to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal.

U.S. officials have stressed that Carter's trip is an unofficial, private visit. However, such visits, including the journey by ex-President Bill Clinton a year ago to secure the release of two American journalists, also offer an opportunity for unofficial diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.

North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the Korean War. Three years of warfare ended in 1953 with a cease-fire but not a peace treaty, and the two Koreas remain divided by one of the world's most fiercely fortified borders.

To this day, the U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to guard its longtime ally, a presence that chafes at North Korea, which cites the forces as a main reason behind its need for nuclear weapons.

For more than a year, relations have been particularly tense, with North Korea testing a nuclear weapon and long-range missile technology, and the U.S. leading the charge to punish the North for its defiance of U.N. sanctions.

The March sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors, has provided fresh fodder for tensions. Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of torpedoing the vessel, while the North denies involvement and has threatened harsh retaliation if punished.

With all sides digging in, six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament have remained stalled. Last year, it took Clinton's visit to get the U.S. and North Korea talking again. Carter's mission to bring Gomes home could again provide another face-saving opening for contact.

Paik Hak-soon of the private Sejong Institute think tank near Seoul predicted that Kim would ask Carter to relay a positive message to Washington on the resumption of the nuclear talks. He noted Carter's popularity and symbolic role in defusing tensions in 1994.

North Korea agreed to release Gomes to Carter if the ex-president paid Pyongyang a visit, one U.S. official told AP earlier in the week, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that he could not give details of Carter's trip.

"We don't want to jeopardize the prospects for Mr. Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details," Toner said Wednesday.

Gomes, who taught English in South Korea, was described by acquaintances as a devout Christian who may have followed an American friend, Robert Park, into North Korea. Park has said he entered the country deliberately last Christmas to call attention to its human rights record. He was expelled about 40 days later.

Last month, the North's Korean Central News Agency said Gomes, 31, attempted suicide, "driven by his strong guilty conscience, disappointment and despair at the U.S. government that has not taken any measure for his freedom."

U.S. officials have pressed for his release on humanitarian grounds, but the State Department said officials who made a quiet trip to North Korea earlier this month failed to secure his freedom.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Kwang-tae Kim and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

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