[quote] WASHINGTON — Former President Jimmy Carter was preparing to leave for North Korea on Tuesday to try to gain the freedom of an American imprisoned for illegally entering the communist nation, U.S. officials said Monday night.
North Korea agreed to release Aijalon Mahli Gomes if Carter were to come to bring him home, a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press. Gomes, of Boston, who was arrested on Jan. 25 after entering North Korea, was sentenced in April to eight years in prison and fined $700,000.
Carter was expected to spend a single night in North Korea and return with Gomes on Thursday, a second U.S. official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
As was the case when former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea last summer to win the release of two detained American reporters, no U.S. officials will travel with Carter, the senior official said.
Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo and several other officials with the Atlanta-based Carter Center did not immediately return calls for comment. The magazine Foreign Policy first reported the Carter trip on Monday.
The senior U.S. official stressed that Carter was not representing the U.S. government. A State Department official, who would speak only without attribution, said the U.S. remains focused on securing Gomes' release.
"If and when such a mission takes place, it will be private and for a humanitarian purpose," the State Department official said.
Attempted suicide
State Department officials secretly visited North Korea in early August in what turned out to be a failed attempt to gain Gomes' release. U.S. officials have pressed for his freedom on humanitarian grounds, citing his health and reports that Gomes has attempted suicide while in custody.
Why Gomes entered the North is unclear. He had been teaching English in South Korea before he was arrested in the North.
Gomes' release has been complicated by tensions following the sinking in March of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in which 46 sailors died. The South and the U.S. have blamed the North for the incident, although the North has denied responsibility.
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In August 2009, Clinton traveled to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and seek the release of two Current TV reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were arrested after crossing into North Korea from China. They too faced trial and a long prison sentence but instead received a pardon from Kim and returned to the U.S. with Clinton.
Carter, whose historic visit to North Korea in 1994 led to a landmark disarmament agreement, said last March that sanctions against the nuclear-armed regime were unproductive. The North was unlikely to back down from a standoff over its nuclear weapons program, he added, unless the U.S. and South Korea would prove to the North's satisfaction that they harbored no hostile intentions toward it.
While the disarmament accord Carter negotiated eased tensions, it fell apart in 2002 after President George W. Bush called North Korea part of an "axis of evil."[/quote]
[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38826640/ns/world_news-asiapacific/[/url]
best korea etc
incoming shit storm of republican hate about how he is the worst president and worst american ever.
Of course, it's bullshit, but what are you gonna do?
inb4 any other inb4's.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;24314996]incoming shit storm of republican hate about how he is the worst president and worst american ever.
Of course, it's bullshit, but what are you gonna do?
inb4 any other inb4's.[/QUOTE]
inb4 you start a shitstorm by saying that
Is he James Bond?
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;24314996]incoming shit storm of republican hate about how he is the worst president and worst american ever.
Of course, it's bullshit, but what are you gonna do?
inb4 any other inb4's.[/QUOTE]
:frog:
Bye Jimmy, We hardly loved you.
It's all a master scheme to kidnap Jimmy Carter.
It's all an elaborate ruse.
See, jimmy is going to build a house in his hotel room, and then when no one is looking he's going to drop it on kim's head.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;24314996]incoming shit storm of republican hate about how he is the worst president and worst american ever.
Of course, it's bullshit, but what are you gonna do?
inb4 any other inb4's.[/QUOTE]
Oh shut up.
It's a trap
no meme intended.
Am I the only person who actually likes Jimmy Carter?
My mom knows carter personally. My mom is friends with Jimmy. When she was in highschool, he went to a young democrats meeting when he was running in the election. They've been friends ever since.
[img]http://kreuzer33.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/slide1.jpg[/img]
"But Rate President Carter, there is no Prisoner in my Top Secret Miritary Bunker, prease be on your way..."
Bill Clinton did it first, Carter's a poser.
They can keep him.
Carter is going to calm them into oblivion
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;24314996]incoming shit storm of republican hate about how he is the worst president and worst american ever.
Of course, it's bullshit, but what are you gonna do?
inb4 any other inb4's.[/QUOTE]
fuck you said it it's gonna happen now
[QUOTE=TheBatman;24320699]Am I the only person who actually likes Jimmy Carter?[/QUOTE]
All the hate for Jimmy Carter should be moved onto Ronald Reagan.
Not saying that Reagan was responsible for problems during Carter's term, just hate how Carter gets so much unwarranted hate while Reagan is so beloved (or at least was for a while)
If his visit helps reclaim the prisoner, good on him. If he gets captured and held prisoner, nothing of importance was lost.
[QUOTE=TheBatman;24320699]Am I the only person who actually likes Jimmy Carter?[/QUOTE]
No.
The people on here that don't like him are generally the idiots.
He wasn't as great of a pres as he was a person himself IMO.
[QUOTE=mastermaul;24319042]It's all an elaborate ruse.
See, jimmy is going to build a house in his hotel room, and then when no one is looking he's going to drop it on kim's head.[/QUOTE]
Georgians are clever like that.
[QUOTE=G-Guy;24323935]All the hate for Jimmy Carter should be moved onto Ronald Reagan.
Not saying that Reagan was responsible for problems during Carter's term, just hate how Carter gets so much unwarranted hate while Reagan is so beloved (or at least was for a while)[/QUOTE]
Too bad Reagan wasn't a bad president.
1. North Korea reportedly joins Facebook
Fuck yes! Now we can be like North Korea.
Carter has this one. Clinton only goes to North Korea for attractive asian reporters.
I don't get why people hate Carter so much either. I can think of at least a few good things he did. Though I'm biased since he's the only Georgian to become President..
[QUOTE=Cassettic;24326793]Too bad Reagan wasn't a bad president.[/QUOTE]
You're right. He's one of the worst.
Is it bad that I thought of Aaron Carter?
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;24328549]You're right. He's one of the worst.[/QUOTE]
I disagree.
You are talking about the president who repaired the nation after Carter's fuck ups (INB4 Reaganomics doesn't work because I watched "Capitalism a love story" and it's 100 percent true) and he played a huge role in the Soviet Unions fall.
I've posted this before but I would like to again.
One of my favorite speeches by one of my favorite presidents.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoeuh-EGj7s[/media]
[editline]04:52AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Theo213;24327327]Carter has this one. Clinton only goes to North Korea for attractive asian reporters.
I don't get why people hate Carter so much either. I can think of at least a few good things he did. Though I'm biased since he's the only Georgian to become President..[/QUOTE]
It's not what he did it's what he didn't do.
[QUOTE=Cassettic;24331524]I disagree.
You are talking about the president who repaired the nation after Carter's fuck ups (INB4 Reaganomics doesn't work because I watched "Capitalism a love story" and it's 100 percent true) and he played a huge role in the Soviet Unions fall.
I've posted this before but I would like to again.
One of my favorite speeches by one of my favorite presidents.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoeuh-EGj7s[/media]
[editline]04:52AM[/editline]
It's not what he did it's what he didn't do.[/QUOTE]
I love how you think the only reason someone can think reaganomics is fucked is because of that movie. It's not like Econ classes haven't practically proved it to be the largest contributer to current problems, no sir. It must just be that movie!
Also, Carters "fuck ups" were more like the fact that he had complete stagnation in his presidency. Reagan stepped in, and people like you think that he saved the hostages, and that he fixed the energy crisis. Reagan did all of... Well, he only fucked up the country for everyone that wasn't rich.
God damn we have to send an ex-president every time we want someone back from NK.
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