【英语国际】美前总统卡特抵达朝鲜 欲解救被押美国人

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in Pyongyang Wednesday on an apparent mission to secure the release of a U.S. citizen held by North Korea, the second such trip by a former U.S. president since last year.

Mr. Carter was greeted at Pyongyang's Sunan airport by Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's vice minister of foreign affairs, according to Korean Central News Agency, the nation's official news service. The former U.S. president also met with officials at the Supreme People's Assembly, the nation's parliament.

KCNA released photos showing Mr. Carter at the airport being offered white flowers by a young North Korean girl. KCNA didn't release additional details, and further information was difficult to come by.

Mr. Carter made the trip to seek the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a U.S. citizen from Boston convicted in April of entering the country illegally through China. Mr. Gomes is the fourth American detained for similar offenses over the past year.

U.S. officials declined to comment in detail on Mr. Carter's unofficial visit. 'We do not want to jeopardize the prospects for Mr. Gomes to be returned home by discussing any details related to private humanitarian efforts to get him released and back here safely to the United States,' said U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley on Tuesday.

Mr. Carter's visit comes after months of rising tensions between North Korea and the U.S.-backed South. South Korea has blamed the North for the March sinking of one of its naval ships, the Cheonan, that killed 46 sailors. North Korea has denied the allegations. Since then, the U.S. and South Korea have held naval drills in nearby waters, while the North has ratcheted up its rhetoric and has filed artillery shells near a contested maritime border.

At the same time, North Korean officials have held talks with the U.S.-led United Nations command group that oversees the armistice between the two Koreas about ways to ease the tension, highlighting the push-and-pull that characterizes North Korea's relations with the U.S. and South Korea. The 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Mr. Carter traveled in an unofficial capacity, and it isn't clear who would meet with him and whether he would discuss subjects beyond Mr. Gomes.

Mr. Gomes, an English teacher working in South Korea, was sentenced by Pyongyang in April to eight years of hard labor and fined the equivalent of $700,000 for crossing into the North illegally and committing an unspecified 'hostile act,' according to the Associated Press. Although it is unclear why he did it, Mr. Gomes is described by friends as a devout Christian who had attended rallies in Seoul in support of a fellow Christian who crossed into North Korea from China in December to call attention to the North's human-rights record, AP said. Pyongyang detained U.S. missionary Robert Park and deported him in early February.

Last year's visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton on a similar mission led to hopes of a thaw between the U.S. and North Korea. Mr. Clinton last summer visited Pyongyang to win the release of two U.S. journalists who had allegedly crossed over the border from China to North Korea. During his visit, Mr. Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and discussed the nation's nuclear ambitions and the prospect of improving relations between the two countries.

Visits by the former U.S. presidents are seen by North Korea as a chance to burnish their international credentials. While neither Mr. Clinton nor Mr. Carter represent the U.S. in such talks, they provide a rare chance for officials in isolated North Korea to appear in public with high-profile, albeit retired, U.S. figures.

国前总统吉米•卡特(Jimmy Carter)周三抵达平壤，目的显然是争取让朝鲜释放其所关押的一名美国公民。这是去年以来第二次有美国卸任总统访问朝鲜。

据朝鲜官方新闻机构朝鲜中央通讯社报道，朝鲜外务省副相金桂冠(Kim Kye Gwan)在平壤顺安国际机场迎接了卡特的到来。卡特还跟朝鲜最高人民会议的官员们见了面。

朝中社发布了显示一位朝鲜小女孩在机场向卡特献上白色鲜花的照片，除此以外没有发布其他细节，进一步的信息很难获取。

卡特此行是为了争取美国公民艾贾龙•马利•戈梅斯(Aijalon Mahli Gomes)获释。戈梅斯是波士顿人，4月份因取道中国非法进入朝鲜而被判刑，他是过去一年因类似行为而被关押的第四名美国人。

美国官员拒绝就卡特此次非官方访问的细节置评。美国国务院发言人克劳里(P.J. Crowley)周二说，我们不希望因为详细讨论让戈梅斯获释并安全回到美国的民间人道主义行动细节，而让戈梅斯回国的希望受到威胁。

在卡特此行之前的几个月，朝鲜和美国支持的韩国之间关系日趋紧张。韩国把3月份其“天安号”军舰沉没、造成46名官兵遇难的事件归咎于朝鲜，朝鲜则否认指控。自那以来，美国和韩国在邻近的水域举行了数次海军军事演习，朝鲜则提高了措辞的强硬程度，并在一处有争议的海上分界线附近发射了炮弹。

同时，朝鲜官员也同美国牵头、负责监督半岛停战事宜的联合国军司令部举行会谈，讨论怎样化解矛盾。这体现了朝鲜与美韩关系特有的进退曲折。1950年到1953年发生在朝鲜半岛的冲突以停战协议告终，但没有签订和平条约。

卡特以非官方的身份访问朝鲜，还不知道哪些人将会和他会面，也不清楚在戈梅斯的问题之外还会谈到哪些话题。

美联社(Associated Press)报道，戈梅斯是一位在韩国工作的英语教师，4月份因非法进入朝鲜境内、并实施了一种未具体说明的“敌对行为”，被朝鲜判处八年苦役，并被处以相当于70万美元的罚款。不清楚戈梅斯为什么这样做，但据美联社报道，按照朋友的描述，他是一位虔诚的基督徒，在另一位基督徒去年12月份取道中国进入朝鲜、以唤起人们对朝鲜人权记录的关注之后，他曾在首尔参加支持这位基督徒的集会。朝鲜扣押了美国传教士罗伯特•帕克(Robert Park)，并在2月上旬将其驱逐出境。

去年美国前总统比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)为类似目的访问朝鲜，让人燃起希望，认为美朝关系有望解冻。克林顿去年夏季访问平壤，让朝鲜释放了两名据称从中朝边境进入朝鲜的美国记者。克林顿在访朝期间会见了朝鲜领导人金正日(Kim Jong Il)，并讨论了朝鲜的核计划和两国关系改善的前景。

在朝鲜看来，美国卸任总统的访问是一次增强国际认可的机会。虽然在这类会谈中克林顿和卡特都不代表美国，但他们为孤立中的朝鲜的官员提供了一次难得的机会，和美国虽然退休但知名度仍然很高的要人一起公开亮相。