Carter’s never met an America-hating Communist or Islamist thug he didn’t love.

Beijing (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that he hopes to meet with North Korea’s reclusive leader during a visit aimed at assessing severe food shortages and discussing the revival of nuclear disarmament talks.

Carter is making the three-day visit to North Korea this week accompanied by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson. The four are members of a group of retired world leaders called the Elders founded by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Carter said the group “would like very much” to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, as well as his son and heir-apparent Kim Jong Un, but was unsure whether that would happen.

“We have no indication that we will do so, but it would be a pleasure if we could,” he said at a news conference in Beijing prior to his departure for Pyongyang on Tuesday.

The former president said he was not “prejudging in advance” his discussions on restarting talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs, which have been stalled for the past two years.