BOSTON — An American held captive in North Korea for seven months after crossing into the reclusive communist country landed Friday in Boston to reunite with his family after former President Jimmy Carter helped win his release.
A plane carrying 31-year-old Aijalon Gomes and Carter landed Friday at Logan International Airport, where Gomes' family was waiting to greet him.
Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea, was imprisoned and sentenced to eight years' hard labor after crossing into North Korea from China on Jan. 25 for unknown reasons.
Last month, North Korea's state-run news agency reported that Gomes had attempted suicide, leading his family to ask for his release on humanitarian grounds. North Korea said this week it would release Gomes to Carter if the former president came to North Korea to get him.
The news agency reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Il had granted Carter's request to "leniently forgive" Gomes.
Before leaving North Korea in drizzle from the capital city of Pyongyang, he appeared markedly thin but smiled as he posed with Carter.
Gomes' mother, Jacqueline McCarthy, gathered Friday with family and friends at her home in the Boston neighborhood of Mattapan, where they prayed and praised God before leaving for the airport.
"I'm just joyful and grateful that my son is home, and thank President Jimmy Carter for making sure that he was home safely," she said. "I thank God, I thank God, for everything everyone has done for us."
In a statement released later Friday, the family thanked Carter and said it felt blessed to welcome Gomes home after what it called "a long, dark and difficult period."
The family also thanked the North Korean government "for caring for Aijalon during his darkest days, then agreeing to release him on humanitarian grounds."
The statement requested privacy so Gomes could recover from the ordeal, saying that although he was returning home, "the journey towards healing really just begins today."
In Washington, the State Department welcomed the news of Gomes' release, saying officials are "relieved that he will soon be safely reunited with his family," spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
Aijalon Gomes (pronounced EYE'-jah-lahn GOHMZ') grew up the inner-city Boston neighborhood of Mattapan, then headed to college at Bowdoin in Maine before going to South Korea to teach several years after graduating.
Gomes was the fourth American in a year arrested for trespassing in North Korea, which fought the U.S. during the 1950-53 Korean War and does not have diplomatic relations with Washington.
Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested last March and released only after former President Bill Clinton made a similar trip to Pyongyang to plead for their freedom.
It was unclear what prompted Gomes to enter the repressive nation. He may have been emulating fellow Christian Robert Park, who was detained after he crossed into North Korea in December to highlight its human rights record, said Jo Sung-rae, a South Korean human rights advocate who met with Gomes. Park was expelled some 40 days later after issuing an apology carried by North Korean state media.
Gomes attended rallies in Seoul in January calling for Park's release and was arrested in North Korea just two weeks later.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jay Lindsay in Boston, Matthew Lee in Washington and Carol Druga in Atlanta.