News / Koreas

UN chief to visit North Korea this week: Report

Monday, 16 November 2015 5:54 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 November 2015 6:49 AM ]

The United Nations (UN)’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

The United Nations (UN)’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will pay an official visit to North Korea, the first UN chief to set foot in the East Asian country in more than 20 years, a report says.

Ban is set to travel to Pyongyang later this week, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, citing an unnamed senior UN source.

The UN has declined to comment on the report while South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s office and Foreign Ministry say they are unaware of the reported trip.

According to the report, the UN chief will almost certainly meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his stay.

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, would be the third UN secretary general to visit Pyongyang.

Two other heads of the world body visited North Korea in the past – Kurt Waldheim in 1979 and Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1993.

Ban had made plans to visit North Korea in May, but Pyongyang canceled the visit one day before he was due to arrive. The veteran diplomat visited North Korea in a different capacity in 2006, when he was serving as South Korea’s foreign minister.

The visit, if it occurs, would be an opportunity to open diplomatic channels with Pyongyang for negotiations on a vast range of issues, including the strained relations between the two Koreas.

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