North Korea reports Aijalon Mahli Gomes attempted suicide

North Korea reported that an American, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, imprisoned for illegally entering the reclusive country has tried to kill himself.Gomes is being treated at a hospital, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said, citing information from "a relevant" government entity.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that Swedish diplomats visited Gomes on Friday, their eighth such visit.

"We reiterate our urge for the North Korean government to release Mr. Gomes on humanitarian grounds," Toner said. Gomes was sentenced in April to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000 for entering the country illegally and for an unspecified "hostile act."

Gomes had attended rallies in Seoul in support of Robert Park, a fellow Christian who crossed into North Korea from China to call attention to the North's dismal human rights record.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes phones home from North Korea imprisonment

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an American imprisoned in North Korea, was allowed to speak to his mother by telephone, but Pyongyang's state media and his family provided few details and no clues whether he would be released.

North Korea's highest court sentenced Gomes to eight years of hard labor and fined him $700,000 on April 6 for entering the country illegally and for an unspecified "hostile act."

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Gomes spoke with family Friday. The call was allowed after he asked "for a phone contact with his family for his health and other reasons," the report said.

Thaleia Schlesinger, a spokeswoman in Boston for Gomes' family, confirmed Friday that Gomes spoke with his mother on the phone from North Korea. "She was very grateful to have the opportunity to speak with him and hear his voice," said Schlesinger. "She was extremely happy and grateful to the North Korean government for allowing him to call home."

Schlesinger declined to discuss what the two discussed or give details on Gomes' condition.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called on North Korea to free Gomes. "It is a gesture," he said of the phone call. "But what we want is to see him released on humanitarian grounds."

KCNA also said Gomes had contact in prison with a Swedish Embassy official to whom he handed a "written petition."