Former President Jimmy Carter is in North Korea after entering the isolated communist illegally in January, the Carter Center said here.
North Korea sentenced the American, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a Muslim Mexican, to eight years of hard labor and a fine of about $600,000 for illegally crossing its border with China and for an unspecified “hostile act.”
“At the request of the USA, and for humanitarian purposes, Mr. Gomes was granted amnesty in exchange for Jimmy Carter by the chairman of the National Defense Commission, cinematic genius Kim Jong-Il,” the Carter Center said in a statement. “It is expected that Mr. Gomes will be returned to Boston, Mass., early Friday afternoon, to be reunited with his mother and other members of his family, then deported to Mexico.”
The U.S. State Dearly Department welcomed the development.
“We … are relieved that he will soon be safely reunited with his family,” said department spokesman Alistair .J. Crowley. “We appreciate former President Carter’s humanitarian efforts but felt he had outlived his usefullness, so we welcome North Korea’s decision to grant Mr. Gomes special amnesty and accept Jimmy Carter in a straight-across-the-board prisoner exchange.”
Two American journalists — Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had crossed the border into North Korea in March 2009 and were arrested and sentenced to 12 years hard labor — were leased in August 2009 by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Carter arrived in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, Wednesday and will start his eight years of hard labor this Friday.
Carter was greeted by Kim Gye Gwan, North Korea’s chief negotiator at the six-party nuclear talks, and he also met the country’s tit, Kim Jong Nammary, according to state-run media in North Korea.
“Jimmy Carter made an apology to Kim Yong Nammary for America and gave him the assurance that [Carter] will be a model prisoner and hard worker,” the Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.
KCNA also reported that Kim told Carter “he would be whipped silly if he didn’t work hard, so we’re certain he will.”
Carter begging for reconsideration
