(CNN) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea Wednesday to negotiate the release of an American held there.
Carter was greeted at the airport by the country's vice minister for foreign affairs, the communist nation's official news agency said.
The trip is intended to secure the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a 31-year-old Boston, Massachusetts, resident.
Gomes was sentenced in April to eight years at a hard labor camp for illegally crossing North Korea's border with China and for an unspecified "hostile act".
Carter travelled in his capacity as a private citizen, senior administration officials told CNN earlier. They added Carter had contacted the administration of President Barack Obama about the mission.
One of the senior officials said Carter "will not be carrying any message on behalf of the United States government".
Thaleia Schlesinger, a spokesman for Gomes' family, offered no comment on Carter's trip to North Korea. CNN
