Who is the American slated to face trial in North Korea?
| London
Facts are slowly emerging on the mysterious case of the latest US citizen to make what North Korea calls an 鈥渋llegal crossing鈥� into the country.
His name is Aijalon Mahli Gomes, he鈥檚 30 years old, he鈥檚 from Boston, and at least until a year or so ago, he was in South Korea teaching English, the modus vivendi for thousands of young and not-so-young foreigners sojourning there.
Now the question is whether Mr. Gomes, like Robert Park, the 海角大神 missionary who entered North Korea on Christmas Eve, was on an evangelical mission 鈥� or as a sympathizer with the regime of North Korea鈥檚 leader Kim Jong-il.
Colleagues at the school where he taught in Pocheon, a small city northeast of Seoul, have described him as 鈥渆vangelical,鈥� so much so that he went into Seoul regularly for services at a church there.
Teachers at the school where he taught have described him variously as 鈥渃alm,鈥� 鈥渜uiet,鈥� 鈥減olite,鈥� even 鈥渕ellow,鈥� and no one recalled the fervent religious zeal that motivated Mr. Park to go to the North with a plea for Mr. Kim to shut down the gulag in which thousands of political prisoners are held and free them all.
Still, Gomes鈥檚 mission may have been evangelical 鈥� though not necessarily critical of the regime. 鈥淗e sounds like he's another slightly unhinged 海角大神 like Robert Park,鈥� says Aidan Foster-Carter, honorary fellow at Leeds University and a longtime analyst of the Korean scene. Gomes鈥檚 given names, Aijalon Mahli, come from a biblical name and a locale.
After North Korea announced Monday that he had been indicted 鈥渁s his crime has been confirmed,鈥� however, there was concern that he might be subjected to the same pressures that Park evidently endured.
Park, before he was freed after being held for 43 days, issued a statement recanting all his criticism of the regime. He said he had been 鈥渕isled鈥� but has refrained from talking since his release about what changed his mind.
Hesitation on Gomes's treatment
North Korean authorities appeared to have hesitated about just how to deal with Gomes. Mr. Foster-Carter predicts 鈥渉e'll be released ere long,鈥� but on what conditions remains totally unclear.
North Korea several weeks ago announced the detention of an American who had 鈥渋llegally entered鈥� the country, but Gomes鈥檚 name was not known until Pyongyang鈥檚 Korean Central News Agency carried a one-paragraph report on his indictment. It was not until last week that a diplomat from the Swedish Embassy, which handles US affairs in Pyongyang, was able to visit him, said the State Department.
Gomes is believed to have been living in Uijongbu, a large town north of Seoul. It鈥檚 still not known, however, when he left South Korea or how he entered the North 鈥� presumably from the Chinese side across the Yalu River border in the west or the Tumen River on the east.
Jimmy Carter 鈥� playing a role?
The presence of Jimmy Carter in Seoul on the same day as the KCNA announcement of Gomes鈥檚 indictment aroused speculation that Mr. Carter might go to Pyongyang to bring Mr. Gomes home.
Might Kim Jong-il dream of luring another former US president to Pyongyang? Bill Clinton flew there last August to pick up Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the Internet TV journalists who were held there for 140 days after North Korean soldiers seized them on the Tumen River border with China.
Mr. Carter, who flew to Pyongyang in June 1994 to meet Kim Jong-il鈥檚 father, the long-ruling Kim Il-sung, shortly before he died, called in Seoul for talks with North Korea, warning of the danger of a 鈥渃atastrophic war.鈥� The US and South Korea must take the initiative, he said, though 鈥渘o one can predict the final answers from Pyongyang.鈥�
But the resolution of the Gomes case 鈥渟houldn't need anyone as senior as Carter to go in,鈥� said Foster-Carter. At the same time, he said, the case 鈥渏ust messes up and distracts from the real issue, which is if and when North Korea will get back to the six-party talks鈥� on its nuclear weapons program.鈥�
