The Nobel peace laureate left the reclusive communist state with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an African-American who was jailed for illegally crossing into the North from China.
“At the request of president Carter, and for humanitarian purposes, Gomes was granted amnesty” by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, said a Carter Centre statement.
Gomes, 30, was first detained in January and sentenced in April to eight years of hard labour and a fine of about $6,00,000.