APTN Via AP Photo
Replicating the good work of Bill Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter successfully negotiated with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il for the release of Aijalon Gomes, an American prisoner held in North Korea since January. Gomes had been teaching English in South Korea and was sentenced to eight years of labor in a North Korean prison after entering the country illegally from China. He will return to Boston on Friday afternoon, according to a Carter Center spokeswoman. U.S. officials say Carter’s trip was a private humanitarian mission. Just after granting Gomes’ amnesty, North Korea announced that its No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-Nam, told Carter that Pyongyang wants to resume nuclear talks and is committed to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.