The Asia News website reports today that Aijalon Mahle Gomes -- a 30-year-old American Christian arrested last January and sentenced to eight years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea -- has been freed, as a result of a diplomatic mission to that country by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Carter and Gomes left North Korea today (August 27, 2010).
The news of the release of Gomes was greeted with satisfaction by the U.S. government, which emphasized that Carter's visit to North Korea was of a private nature and that "his mission was not organized or suggested by Washington."
Gomes is a former English teacher in South Korea with deep religious convictions. On January 25, 2010, he entered North Korea -- in protest against the oppressive situation of human rights and religious freedom -- and was arrested in the communist country.
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