Ban Ki-moon to visit Pyongyang next Monday

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Pyongyang next Monday and stay for around 4 days, the official KCNA news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The state-run news agency said Ban will visit Pyongyang by plane and will arrive at Sunan International Airport, but refused to tell whether he will take a flight of Air Koryo, the only national flag carrier in the DPRK.

The KCNA said Ban's itinerary is now being confirmed, without giving more details.

Ban's upcoming Pyongyang visit was also confirmed by another UN official residing in the DPRK who spoke on condition of anonymity. It has been over 20 years since former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali visited the DPRK in 1993.

South Korean media said Ban in late September expressed his readiness to pay a visit to the north to DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, who was then in New York attending the 70th UN General Assembly.

Ban served as South Korea's minister of foreign affairs and trade before he started working as the UN head in 2007. Analysts say his tour to the DPRK, which is expected to include a meeting with top leader Kim Jong Un, will offer a boost to inter-Korean conciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula. The issue of nuclear weapons might also be discussed during the visit.

Ban had planned in May to visit Kaesong Industrial Complex, an industrial zone jointly operated by both Koreas, but the trip was later canceled due to a sudden withdrawal of approval from Pyongyang.