"'Carter wants to meet with the North Korean leader and play a constructive role for peace on the Korean Peninsula as he did in 1994,' Park, 78, told the JoongAng Ilbo over phone after meeting with the 93-year-old former president.

"Park, a prominent scholar of North Korea-related issues who has traveled to Pyongyang over 50 times, visited Carter, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work with the Atlanta-based Carter Center, at the former president's home in Plains, Georgia, on Sept. 28."