Jimmy Carter: North Korea requested his journey to the country to release American prisoner

Jimmy Carter: NKorea requested prisoner mission

ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter says North Korean officials asked him to travel to the peninsula to secure the release of an American prisoner.

He said Tuesday in his first public remarks since returning with Aijalon Gomes (EYE’-jah-lahn gohms) that North Korean officials told him they would only release him to Carter. Gomes was sentenced to eight years’ hard labor for crossing into the North from China on Jan. 25.

Carter said he worked five weeks to get permission from the White House and State Department before making the August trip. He said during a Carter Center discussion that North Korea insisted on a retrial when he arrived, then gave Gomes a pardon.

Carter says he hopes the trip jump-starts peace talks between North Korea, South Korea and the U.S.