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View Full Version : Carter returns to U.S. from DPRK with freed American citizen



wildcard
28th August 2010, 06:04 AM
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/titlepic/11326570_l0h.jpg
I wonder how the North Koreans spotted him...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/28/c_13466404.htm

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Friday returned to the United States from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with an American citizen freed by the Asian country.

Carter and Aijalon Mahli Gomes, the U.S. man detained by the DPRK since January, arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, by the same civilian jet which Carter took when he flew to the DPRK capital of Pyongyang two days ago to negotiate the release of the U.S. citizen.

Gomes, a 30-year-old from Boston who once taught English in South Korea, was detained by the DPRK on Jan. 25 for illegal entry into the country.

On April 6, Gomes was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment and fined about 700,000 U.S. dollars.

Carter, the second former American president in a year after Bill Clinton to visit DPRK to secure the release of U.S. prisoners, made the trip in his capacity as a private citizen, without any U. S. government officials in his company.

...continues at link.

Stop Making Cents
28th August 2010, 11:16 AM
Jeez, not even North Korea will take our niqqers >:(

Neuro
28th August 2010, 11:20 AM
Can't you get more convincing spies than that?

Stop Making Cents
28th August 2010, 11:35 AM
Can't you get more convincing spies than that?


LOL yeah he probably didnt' blend in too well over there. ;D

Yo dawg! I beez teachen enguhmuhlish n' shit

mrnhtbr2232
28th August 2010, 03:34 PM
Hey Wildcard - is there a backstory available? What was this guy supposedly doing at his time of arrest? Why was he there? The new Sheriff of Rockridge bit is suspicious - was he CIA? Personal background, that kind of stuff. The story unto itself is actually pretty interesting. The gentlemen in question is obviously a beneficiary of token diplomacy in more ways than one.

wildcard
28th August 2010, 03:57 PM
I'll see what I can dig up.

wildcard
28th August 2010, 03:59 PM
Carter flew to North Korea this week on a private humanitarian mission to secure Gomes' release. The man from Mattapan had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor. He was accused of entering the communist country illegally in January while teaching English in South Korea.

I guess he just got lost one night and stumbled across the DMZ. :P

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12002059874547/jimmy-carter-to-arrive-in-boston-from-nkorea/

I'll keep digging.

Name is: Aijalon Mahli Gomes

*seems he had a history of protesting NK's human rights abuses. Sounds like he snuck in and got his pee pee whacked.

wildcard
28th August 2010, 04:03 PM
The Boston resident was teaching English in South Korea, but was sent to eight years in a hard labor camp and fined $700,000 on Jan. 25 for allegedly crossing into North Korea and for an unspecified "hostile act."



It is not clear why Gomes entered North Korea. He had previously attended protests in Seoul in support of Robert Park, a U.S. missionary who entered the country to protest human rights abuses. Park was eventually released.

Gomes had tried to commit suicide in the labor camp last month, North Korean news agencies reported.

link (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/08/24/2010-08-24_jimmy_carter_to_go_to_north_korea_to_secure_rel ease_of_american_aijalon_mahli_go.html)

Don't know the nationality of the name. Looks like he's got a little wang in his woodpile though.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/08/25/amd_korea_aijalon-mahli-gomes.jpg

http://www.buzztab.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/8-27-10_carter.436x-233x300.jpg

wildcard
28th August 2010, 04:08 PM
When he was first sentenced. I bet Jimmy had to take a suitcase of cash to the great leader.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7089893.ece

US teacher Aijalon Mahli Gomes get 8 years for crossing into North Korea


A North Korean court has sentenced an American man to eight years in prison for illegally crossing its border, the fourth US citizen to be detained on such a charge in less than a year.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a 30-year-old English teacher and a devout Christian was also fined the equivalent of $700,000 (£425,000), according to a report on the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

Mr Gomes may not remain long in incarceration if past precedent is anything to go by, but his case will further complicate the tense and difficult relationship between the US and its isolated, nuclear armed antagonist.

The agency reported: “An examination was made of the hostile act committed against the Korean nation and the trespassing on the border of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea … and his guilt was confirmed; according to the country's criminal code. The accused admitted all the facts which had been put under accusation.”

Diplomats from the Swedish Embassy were allowed to attend the trial on behalf of the US, which does not have formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Mr Gomes, an African-American who originally comes from Boston, was arrested on January 25, after crossing the long and porous border which divides North Korea and China. According to friends, he was formerly an English teacher in South Korea, and was moved by accounts of the plight of North Koreans and the oppressive brutality of their regime.

He may also have been inspired by the example of Robert Park, a US missionary who crossed into North Korea on Christmas Day, singing hymns and openly offering himself for arrest. Mr Park was released without charge after 43 days – according to KCNA, after repenting of his crime and professing his admiration for North Korean human rights.

The question is whether North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il will hastily expel Mr Gomes or whether he will attempt to use him as a political pawn in his fraught dealings with the US.

Last August, Mr Kim won a visit from the former President, Bill Clinton, who successfully pleaded for the release of two female American journalists who had been arrested while filming a television documentary close to the Chinese border.

The two women were tried and sentenced to 12 years hard labour, before being released at Mr Clinton’s request after five months in detention and an emotional campaign for their release by friends and family.

The US is trying to persuade Mr Kim to return to six country negotiations aimed to eliminating its nuclear weapons programme, but so far he shows little sign of complying.

A spokesman for Mr Gomes’ family, Thaleia Schlesinger, told the Associated Press: “The family has no comment beyond that they are praying for him and hoping for his return home as soon as possible. Needless to say, they are disturbed but they are hopeful that he would be returned home to them and they are praying for that.”

Apparition
28th August 2010, 06:33 PM
NK should've kept him there to teach him a lesson about trespassing.

I'm not a supporter of the Kim Il-Jong regime but I'm also not a supporter of people meddling in other people's affairs.