国际英语新闻：Carter returns to U.S. from DPRK with freed American citizen

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.

Aijalon Gomes is directed to his family by former President Jimmy Carter at Logan International Airport in Boston, Aug. 27, 2010

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.

Carter, a Nobel peace laureate, had visited the DPRK in 1994.

According to the DPRK's official KCNA news agency, during Carter's trip, he made an apology to Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, for Gomes' illegal entry and gave the assurance that such incident will never happen again.