Jimmy Carter to make private visit to N. Korea: State Dept.

[The Straight Story]

Jimmy Carter to make private visit to N. Korea: State Dept.


WASHINGTON, March 24 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will soon travel to North Korea without carrying any official message from the U.S. government, the State Department said Thursday.

"Former President Carter is traveling in a strictly private capacity," spokesman Mark Toner told a daily news briefing. "He is not traveling with an official U.S. delegation and he does not carry an official message. We have not had any contact with him other than being informed about the trip."

Toner did not elaborate on when the visit will take place, but informed sources said that Carter will tour the reclusive communist state late next month to broker a rapprochement in U.S. relations with the North, which have chilled over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs and other provocations.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2011/03/25/0200000000AEN20110325000700315.HTML