Schoolchildren greeted a smiling Carter and his party at Pyongyang airport with bouquets on Tuesday. They were greeted by Vice Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. Also in the delegation are ex-Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and former Irish president Mary Robinson.
The delegation, from a group known as The Elders, has said it hopes to meet leader Kim Jong-Il and Kim's son and heir apparent Jong-Un, although nothing has been arranged.
The group arrived by chartered plane from Beijing, where they held a press conference on Monday. According to Carter, the North Korean leadership invited the group to the country. On the agenda during the three-day visit are North Korea's nuclear programme, human rights and famine.
The North's persistent food shortages will be a key topic, after UN food agencies estimated that six million people -- a quarter of the population -- urgently need aid.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan said he expects little from the trip. Efforts to improve North-South relations are deadlocked, with the North refusing to accept blame for two deadly border incidents last year.
In 1994, Carter travelled to North Korea to meet with then-leader Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il's father and the North's founder, and helped broker a US-North Korea nuclear deal. He last visited North Korea in August to win the release of an imprisoned American.