The U.S. State Department is reportedly considering sending a high-ranking official to North Korea to secure the release of an American teacher detained there.

Foreign Policy magazine out of the U.S cited multiple sources as saying Friday that Senator John Kerry, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former President Jimmy Carter have all been considered for the high-profile mission to rescue Aijalon Mahli Gomes.

The magazine said that the most obvious choice for the trip is Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry, who has been intimately involved in the Gomes case since it began. The article said it was Kerry "who first contacted the State Department on behalf of Gomes' mother and facilitated the identification of Gomes after North Korea announced it had captured an American."

The 30-year-old teacher from Boston was sentenced by North Korea to eight years in prison in April, about three months after he was arrested for crossing into the North via China. In July, the North's official media organ reported that Gomes tried to commit suicide.