Former president Jimmy Carter, jailed American land in Boston

Former US president Jimmy Carter and an American who had been jailed after crossing into North Korea landed at Boston's Logan International Airport on Friday after the reclusive state released the prisoner.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was raised in Boston and had been working as an English teacher in South Korea, was arrested in January and sentenced to eight years of hard labour for illegally entering North Korea from China.

Gomes was reported to be in ill health and in need of medical treatment.

The US State Department had said Carter's trip was a private, humanitarian, and unofficial mission.