Jimmy Carter Brings American Prisoner Home from North Korea

Former President Jimmy Carter returned to the United States on Aug. 27, 2010, following the successful release of an American citizen, Aijalon Gomes, who had been arrested and imprisoned for unlawful entry into the communist state of North Korea.

According to a friend, Gomes, who was teaching English in South Korea, traveled to China and then illegally entered North Korea because he wanted to find some way of easing the suffering of North Koreans. Gomes was a regular member of the Every Nation Church in Seoul; another member of this church, Robert Park, illegally entered North Korea on Christmas Day in 2009 for the same reasons. Park was captured and imprisoned, but released 43 days later.

Gomes was arrested on Jan. 25, 2010, and sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined roughly $700,000 USD. The North Korean government agreed to release him after only eight months, but insisted that they would only release him directly to Jimmy Carter. The former president had favorably impressed the North Koreans in his previous visits, in which he spoke out against sanctions imposed against the regime.

The successful negotiation is something of a vindication for the former president. Toward the end of his administration, 66 American diplomats in Iran were taken hostage by militant Islamist students and held for 444 days, from Nov. 4, 1979, to Jan. 20, 1981. Despite economic sanctions and oil embargoes, Iran refused to give in; Carter then attempted to find a diplomatic solution, but even though the U.S. acceded to almost all of Iran's early demands, negotiations always fell through at the last moment.

Following an unsuccessful rescue attempt by the military, the pressure was mounting on both sides; freeing the hostages would be crucial if Carter hoped to be reelected, and the Iranians, suffering under the economic sanctions, knew they couldn't hold out forever. However, the stalemate continued until after Carter lost the election to Ronald Reagan. The Iranians managed to keep the hostages detained until Jan. 20, 1981, releasing them only six minutes after Reagan's inauguration.

The effect of the Iran Hostage Crisis is a subject of some scholarly debate. Journalist Robert D. Kaplan, who covered the Middle East region as a foreign correspondent, claims that the incident will not have long-lasting effects on U.S.-Iranian relations. In his book, The Ends of the Earth, Kaplan claims that "In 1829, [Iranians] stormed and destroyed the Russian embassy and decapitated the Russian ambassador, Alexander Griboyedov. But Russian - Iranian relations were eventually restored. Who, now, even remembers the incident?" However, relations between the U.S. and Iran remain tense 30 years later, and the hostage crisis certainly contributed to that tension.

In contrast, North Korea's willingness to release prisoners is a good sign. Tension in the region was exacerbated in March when a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, was sunk, killing 46 sailors. South Korea blamed the incident on North Korea, and North Korea vowed to retaliate if any action was taken against them for the incident. This put Aijalon Gomes' release in doubt, and North Korea could have used his continued detainment as a bargaining chip; instead, his early release offers a glimmer of hope, however faint, that U.S.-North Korean tensions might be eased.

Sources:

Frank James, "Aijalon Gomes, Freed By N. Korea, In U.S. With Jimmy Carter," NPR.org

Doualy Xaykaothao, "Why Did Aijalon Gomes Cross Into North Korea?" NPR.org

Lee Tae-hoon, "N. Korea to Free US Missionary Robert Park," The Korea Times

Matthew Lee, "Official: NKorea agrees to release Aijalon Mahli Gomes-- to Jimmy Carter," DailyRecord.com

Staff, "American Experience: People & Events: The Iranian Hostage Crisis, November 1979 - January 1981," PBS.org

Robert D. Kaplan, The Ends of the Earth, Random House: New York, 1996 (p.186)