U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that discussions are still under way with North Korea to set up what would be his first trip to the communist nation as U.N. chief.
"It's still under discussions with the authorities of DPRK. I sincerely hope that we will be able to find a mutually convenient date as soon as possible. And this is what I can tell you at this time," Ban said in a year-end news conference.
Ban also said he's ready to use his role as secretary-general in any way possible for peace and stability and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.
Ban said that there have been positive developments in relations between the two Koreas, including a peace agreement in August that defused a tense military standoff and October's reunions of families separated by the Korean War.
Ban said last week's high-level talks failed to produce progress, but added, "We should not be frustrated."
"I sincerely hope that the parties will continue to engage in talks so that they can, first of all, expand the political space through dialogue and exchanges and cooperation, so that they can, first of all, build reconciliation between the two parties," Ban said.
"In there, I'm ready to provide any service as the secretary-general and as one of the citizens coming from Korea," he said.
Should Ban's trip be realized, he will be the third U.N. secretary-general to visit North Korea after Kurt Waldheim in 1979 and Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1993. Both Waldheim and Boutros-Ghali met with North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il-sung, during their visits to Pyongyang.
Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, has repeatedly said that he will do everything possible to promote inter-Korean reconciliation and a resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.
In May, Ban planned to visit the North Korean border city of Kaesong, where South Korea runs an industrial complex, but the trip was called off at the last minute because Pyongyang abruptly withdrew its invitation for no clear reason. (Yonhap)
