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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is ready to "help facilitate the process of peace and trust-building on the Korean Peninsula" to avoid "miscalculation and dangerous escalation," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here Sunday.
The spokesman, in a note to the press here, made the statement after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday launched short-range guided missiles into the sea off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula.
"The secretary-general is aware of" the latest reported missile launch by the DPRK, the spokesman said. "The secretary-general remains concerned about provocations and tensions on the Korean Peninsula, particularly given the risks of miscalculation and dangerous escalation."
"He stands ready to help facilitate the process of peace and trust-building on the Korean Peninsula," Nesirky said.
The DPRK launched three short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan Saturday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
Ban, who is in Moscow on Sunday, said that the United Nations was prepared to help Pyongyang return to the six-party talks over its nuclear program and ease tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The six-party talks, which involve South Korea, the DPRK, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, began in 2003 but stalled in December 2008.
The DPRK quit the talks in April 2009 in protest at international condemnation of its long-range missile tests.
Tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12 as a countermeasure against U.S.-South Korean military drills.
Pyongyang shut down an inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong in early April and pulled out 53,000 DPRK workers.
South Korea also withdrew its workers starting on April 26 after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's proposal for working-level talks.
