Carter arrives in North Korea

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea Tuesday, hoping to meet leader Kim Jong-il who snubbed him in August.

During the visit, Carter hopes to push the regime on its nuclear program, human rights, tensions on the Korean peninsula and food shortages and possibly secure the release of an imprisoned American citizen, according to reports.

Carter, 86, visited the isolated country in August to secure the release of another American being held by the regime, but Kim refused to meet with the former American leader. On this trip, a meeting is more likely because Carter is traveling with former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson.

Carter told reporters that he hopes to meet Kim, but his priority is the country's dire humanitarian crisis.

"In almost any case when there are sanctions against an entire people, the people suffer the most and the leaders suffer least," he said. "We believe that the last 50 years of deprivation of the North Korean people to adequate access to trade and commerce has been very damaging to their economy, as well as some problems they may have brought on by themselves."

There is hope by some analysts that Carter can help ease tensions between North Korea and South Korea, Bloomberg News reports. Relations suffered after two attacks last year that left 50 South Koreans dead.

“Carter can help provide a turning point in the stalled dialogue with North Korea as he acts as a messenger,” Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Bloomberg News. “The U.S. wouldn’t want to wait forever for inter- Korean relations to improve at the risk of jeopardizing nuclear disarmament talks.

The "Elders" delegation are expected to leave Pyongyang on Thursday for Seoul.