A private visit carrying political weight

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.

The U.S. man Aijalon Mahli Gomes (2nd L) arrives at an airport in Pyongyang, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Aug. 27, 2010. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter left Pyongyang Friday, taking home the U.S. man Aijalon Mahli Gomes detained in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) since January for illegal entry. [Yao Ximeng/Xinhua]

But the visit took place after months of tensions between the DPRK and the U.S.-backed South Korea over the sinking of a South Korean navy ship and has raised hopes of more contacts and thawing of strained relations between Pyongyong and Washington.

The Carter trip is reminiscent of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's unofficial visit to DPRK last year to bring back two detained US female journalists. During that trip, Clinton met with DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Il and discussed the prospect of improving relations between the two countries.

Carter, a Democrat, served as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 and won the Nobel peace prize in 2002.

He made his first trip to the DPRK in 1994, during which he helped restart nuclear talks that led to a landmark disarmament deal later that year. He also mediated a summit meeting between DPRK and South Korea.

On the nuclear issue, Carter has urged the United States to make direct negotiations with the DPRK. Sanctions were unproductive and "there is no harm in making a major effort, including unrestrained direct talks," he said in a speech in Seoul in March, adding the initiative must be from the U.S. and South Korea.

Some obervers have hoped the latest Carter trip would lead to a thawing of relations too. "The fact that former President Jimmy Carter is going to North Korea is interesting. It shows the administration is willing to have some kind of contact with the DPRK," said Michael Green, an expert on Korean peninsular affairs at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But I don't think they have very high expectations for any diplomatic breakthrough," he told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

Washington has insisted that any dialogue should be conducted in the Pyongyang's denuclearization process guided by the six-party talks mechanism, which is participated by the two countries, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia.

The six-party talks have been stalled for more than two years. The DPRK recently said it was willing to return to the negotiations but South Korea and the United States have insisted that the talks will not resume until Pyongyang pledges to give up its nuclear program.