SEOUL, South Korea – On Day 2 of Jimmy Carter's journey to North Korea, there was no sign Thursday that the former American president had succeeded in securing the release of a Boston man jailed in the country since January. Carter was making a private humanitarian visit to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labor in a North Korean prison and fined some $700,000 for entering the country illegally from China, US officials said. There was no indication Thursday that Gomes was free. Carter, originally slated to depart Thursday, according to US officials, appeared to have extended his trip by at least a day, South Korea's YTN television reported in Seoul. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, meanwhile, turned up in China — a surprise trip for a man who rarely travels abroad and was anticipated to hold a high-profile photo op with the former US president. Neither China nor North Korea announced the trip; Kim's travels typically are not publicised by North Korea until after his return. However, teachers in Jilin province in northeastern China, a region with patriotic significance for North Koreans, told The Associated Press that Kim paid a 20-minute visit to their school Thursday morning. Kim's father, late President Kim Il Sung, attended the school from 1927-30. It was unclear whether Kim Jong Il would return to Pyongyang, about 300 to miles (500 kilometers) from Jilin City, in time to meet with Carter. 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.
