Atlanta, October 25 (RHC)-- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says he has offered to go to North Korea on behalf of the White House to help diffuse rising tensions with Pyongyang, but has not been asked.  Carter said he had spoken to President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, who is a friend, but so far has gotten a negative response, according to The New York Times. 

“I would go, yes,” Carter told the newspaper when he was asked in an interview at his house in Plains, Georgia, whether it was time for another diplomatic mission.  ”I told him that I was available if they ever need me,” the Times quoted Carter as saying. 

Jimmy Carter, who is 93 years old, was the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.  He has expressed concern that North Korea has advanced nuclear weaponry that can cause damage to the Korean Peninsula and Japan, as well as U.S. overseas territories in the Pacific, such as Guam. 

In 1994 -- during the Bill Clinton administration -- Carter traveled to Pyongyang to negotiate with Kim Il-sung, the current leader's grandfather, over the country’s nuclear program.  

Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have escalated in recent months, with both countries threatening each other with a nuclear strike.