Jimmy Carter's trip to North Korea to win the freedom of a Boston man sentenced to eight years' hard labor appeared to be a tougher mission than originally thought given reports on Thursday that the country's reclusive leader had left the country.
Teachers at a school in China said Kim Jong Il had spent 20 minutes there Thursday, a surprise trip for a man who rarely goes abroad and had been expected to hold a high-profile photo op with Carter.
Carter is making a private humanitarian visit to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was jailed in January and fined some $700,000 for entering the country illegally from China, U.S. officials said.
There was no indication Thursday that Gomes was free, something a U.S. official said earlier this week had been agreed. Carter, originally slated to depart Thursday according to U.S. officials, appeared to have extended his trip by at least a day, South Korea's YTN television reported.
Neither China nor North Korea announced Kim's trip, although his travels typically are not publicized by North Korea until after his return.
It was unclear whether Kim Jong Il would be back in Pyongyang, about 300 miles from Jilin City, in time to meet with Carter.
Kim's father, late President Kim Il Sung, attended the school he visited, possibly with his son and likely heir, from 1927-30. "He definitely came over. But I'm not sure if his son was with him or what time he came," a physical education teacher, who would give only his surname Zhao, told The Associated Press.
Carter 'on the back burner'
Kim's decision to travel to China regardless of Carter's itinerary underlined the desperation in impoverished North Korea, analysts said. China remains the main benefactor of increasingly isolated North Korea.
"It would be good for Kim to meet with Carter, but Kim's priority is to resolve food shortages," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul. "Carter is on the back burner."
Carter is well-regarded in North Korea despite the two countries' longtime animosity; he met with Kim's father on his last trip to Pyongyang in 1994 — a warm meeting that led to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal.
North Korea agreed to release Gomes to Carter if the ex-president paid Pyongyang a visit, one U.S. official told AP earlier in the week, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that he could not give details of Carter's trip.
"We don't want to jeopardize the prospects for Mr. Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details," he said Wednesday.
Gomes, who taught English in South Korea, was described by acquaintances as a devout Christian who may have followed an American friend, Robert Park, into North Korea.
Park has said he entered the country deliberately last Christmas to call attention to its human rights record. He was expelled about 40 days later.
Reported suicide attempt
Last month, the North's Korean Central News Agency said Gomes, 31, attempted suicide, "driven by his strong guilty conscience, disappointment and despair at the U.S. government that has not taken any measure for his freedom."
U.S. officials have pressed for his release on humanitarian grounds, but the State Department said officials who made a quiet trip to North Korea earlier this month failed to secure his freedom.
Previous unofficial, private visits by U.S. statesmen, including the journey by ex-President Bill Clinton a year ago to secure the release of two American journalists, have offered the chance for unofficial diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.
There was speculation that Kim's decision to travel to China was in order to seek Chinese approval for Kim Jong-un to succeed him as leader, ahead of a rare political convention in early September.
Daniel Pinkston, a specialist on Korean affairs in Seoul with the International Crisis Group, said a visit was most likely connected to the convention.
"There is so much circumstantial evidence pointing to the succession issue. And there are other signs that they are hurting for cash aid and assistance. The two things are not mutually exclusive," he said.
"If the succession is being accelerated, then of course Kim has an incentive to address the economic problems and other issues which will be helpful for his son in the transition to taking power," he added.
Wu Dawei, China's top envoy on stalled North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, told reporters at Seoul's Incheon airport he could not comment on the issue, but hinted at a visit.
"What I would like to stress is that China and North Korea are close neighbors and it is a normal thing for leaders of the two countries to exchange visits frequently," he said, after arriving in South Korea for talks on nuclear disarmament.
A policewoman at the Chinese border town of Ji'an said: "Some leader came yesterday," but declined further comment on reports that the two Kims had traveled there on late on Wednesday.
North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the Korean War. Three years of warfare ended in 1953 with a cease-fire but not a peace treaty, and the two Koreas remain divided by one of the world's most fiercely fortified borders.
To this day, the U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to guard its longtime ally, a presence that chafes at North Korea, which cites the forces as a main reason behind its need for nuclear weapons.
For more than a year, relations have been particularly tense, with North Korea testing a nuclear weapon and long-range missile technology, and the U.S. leading the charge to punish the North for its defiance of U.N. sanctions.
The March sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors, has provided fresh fodder for tensions. Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of torpedoing the vessel, while the North denies involvement and has threatened harsh retaliation if punished.
With all sides digging in, six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament have remained stalled.
