PYONGYANG, Democratic People's Republic of Korea - Former US President Jimmy Carter, accompanied by three other former national leaders, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday morning for a three-day visit aimed at easing tension on the Korean Peninsula.

At the airport, Carter was greeted by Ri Yong-ho, vice-foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Carter, along with former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and former Irish president Mary Robinson, received flowers from four DPRK children.

The quartet of former leaders smiled and waved to the reporters from the DPRK, China and Russia present at the airport, but did not make any statement.

The reporters were only allowed to stand within a designated area and couldn't get close to Carter.

Five minutes later, the delegation's motorcade left the airport.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2002, said on Monday that the visit would concentrate on Pyongyang's nuclear program and food needs.

Carter, who served as US president from 1977 to 1981, made his first historic trip to the DPRK in 1994 to help defuse a crisis over the country's nuclear program, when he met then president Kim Il-sung and helped broker a US-DPRK nuclear deal.

He paid a three-day private visit to Pyongyang last August to secure the release of a US citizen, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who had been detained by the DPRK for illegally entering the country.

ROK plays down trip

Meanwhile, Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan on Tuesday played down the significance of Carter's trip, describing him as a "third party".

Kim said he doubted that the DPRK would send a message through a third party or civilians when various channels of dialogue were open between Seoul and Pyongyang.

He added that there was no reason for the DPRK and the ROK to "hold dialogue through a third party", adding that Carter's visit was a "purely private one".

Tension has soared between the neighbors since the sinking of an ROK naval ship in March 2010, killing 46 sailors.

The DPRK shelled an ROK island in November, killing two civilians and two marines. Pyongyang late last year also revealed a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second way to make nuclear weapons.

The US State Department said last month that Carter would not be carrying any official messages to Pyongyang

Meeting in Beijing

Carter made a stopover in Beijing on his way to the DPRK.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met him and they exchanged ideas on several issues of common concern, including the current situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Yang praised the efforts made by all involved parties including the US and the DPRK on facilitating dialogue that may help foster peace and stability on the peninsula and resume the Six-Party Talks.

Xinhua-AP-China Daily