Jimmy Carter Visit (4 Stories)

(WMD) North Korea tells Carter wants to resume nuclear talks
North Korea’s number two leader has told former President Jimmy Carter that the reclusive state is committed to denuclearizing the peninsula and resuming six-way talks, the North’s state news agency said on Friday.Carter left the North on Friday morning, KCNA said. The Carter Center in a statement from the former president said that he was leaving Pyongyang with an American who had been convicted of illegally entering the country.”Kim Yong Nam expressed the will of the DPRK government for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks,” KCNA said, referring to the meeting of the North’s number two with Carter. (Reuters)http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100827/pl_nm/us_korea_north_carter

(Foreign Relations) Report on Jimmy Carter’s Visit to DPRK
Jimmy Carter, ex-president of the United States, and his party visited the DPRK from Aug. 25 to 27.Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, met and had a talk with them.He discussed with Carter the pending issues of mutual concern between the DPRK and the U.S.Kim Yong Nam expressed the will of the DPRK government for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks.In particular, he emphasized that it is the behest of President Kim Il Sung to denuclearize the peninsula.Jimmy Carter made an apology to Kim Yong Nam for American Gomes’ illegal entry into the DPRK and gave him the assurance that such case will never happen again on behalf of the government and the ex-president of the U.S. He asked Kim Yong Nam to convey to General Secretary Kim Jong Il a message courteously requesting him to grant special pardon to Gomes to leniently forgive him and let him go home. (KCNA)http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201008/news27/20100827-14ee.html

(WMD) Carter Leaves North Korea With U.S. Prisoner as Kim Jong Il Visits China
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter secured the release of an American citizen detained in North Korea for illegal entry, leaving the country without having a reported meeting with leader Kim Jong Il. North Korea freed Aijalon Mahli Gomes as a “manifestation of its humanitarianism and peace-loving policy,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said today. Supreme People’s Assembly leader Kim Yong Nam told Carter North Korea is willing to return to international talks on its nuclear weapons program, KCNA said. “We welcome the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes and are relieved that he will soon be safely reunited with his family,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a statement. “We appreciate former President Carter’s humanitarian effort and welcome North Korea’s decision to grant Mr Gomes special amnesty.” (Bloomberg)http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-27/carter-secures-release-of-u-s-citizen-detained-in-north-korea-kcna-says.html
See also : Carter Wins Release of American in North Korea (NYT)http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/world/asia/27korea.html?src=mv

(Human Security) NKorea releases American imprisoned since January
Looking gaunt but relieved, an American freed after nearly seven months jailed in North Korea left Pyongyang on Friday in the company of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.Aijalon Gomes, 31, hugged Carter just before they boarded a plane at Pyongyang’s airport, footage aired by broadcaster APTN in North Korea showed.Carter had flown to the North Korean capital three days earlier on a rare private mission to negotiate Gomes’ release.The former president “courteously requested” a special pardon for Gomes, which leader Kim Jong Il granted, North Korean state media said. Gomes had been sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor and a hefty fine for trespassing and committing a “hostile act.”They were due to arrive in Boston on Friday to be reunited with Gomes’ mother and other family members, Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said in Atlanta. (AP)http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NKOREA_CARTER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT