Man freed from N. Korea returns to U.S.
Last Updated: Friday, August 27, 2010 | 2:44 PM ET
The Associated Press
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In this photo released by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service in Tokyo, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, left, and Aijalon Gomes, second right, react as they prepare to leave North Korea from Pyongyang airport on Friday. (Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service/Associated Press)An American held for seven months in North Korea after crossing into the communist country has returned to his hometown of Boston.
A plane carrying Aijalon Gomes and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter landed Friday at Logan International Airport, where Gomes's family was waiting. Carter negotiated his released.
It's unclear why the 31-year-old Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea, illegally entered North Korea in January. Gomes was sentenced to eight years of hard labour, and in July the state-run news agency reported he'd attempted suicide.
The news agency reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Il had granted Carter's request to "leniently forgive" Gomes.
Gomes appeared thin but smiled as he posed with Carter before leaving North Korea.
Carter's trip described as private mission
Gomes was the fourth American in a year arrested for trespassing in North Korea, a communist nation that fought against the U.S. during the 1950-53 Korean War and does not have diplomatic relations with Washington.
Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested last March and released only after former U.S. president Bill Clinton made a similar trip to Pyongyang to plead for their freedom.
Activist Robert Park deliberately crossed into the country from China in December but was expelled some 40 days later after issuing an apology carried by North Korean state media.
Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea, attended rallies in Seoul in January calling for Park's release. He was arrested in North Korea just two weeks later.
The Carter Center, the Atlanta-based organization founded by Carter and his wife, Roslynn, and U.S. officials have emphasized that the former president's trip was a private humanitarian mission.
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