Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on Thursday.

Carter, who is in the North on a private mission to secure the release of a detained American, met with North Korean parliamentary leader Kim Yong-nam on Wednesday, the day of the former president’s arrival in the communist state.

Meanwhile, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency is reporting that Kim Jong-il is in Pyongyang. South Korean media outlets are therefore speculating that Carter and Kim could meet sometime Thursday.

Washington stresses that Carter is in the North on a private visit and not as a government envoy. Experts predict Carter will facilitate the quick release of Aijalon Gomes, who has been detained for eight months in the North for trespassing.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told a daily briefing that Washington will not discuss the details of Carter’s trip. He said that the mission’s aim is to secure the release of Gomes and that the department "doesn't want to jeopardize the prospects for Mr. Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details" such as the length of Carter’s stay in the North or whether he would meet with Kim Jong-il.

The spokesman said Carter did not carry with him any message from the Obama administration.