UNSG Ban Ki-moon to visit N.K. for ‘progress in inter-Korean relations’

UNSG Ban Ki-moon to visit N.K. for ‘progress in inter-Korean relations’. May. 20, 2015 08:01. shcho@donga.com.

U.S. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Park in North Korea on Thursday. At the World Education Forum 2015 held in Songdo, Incheon on Tuesday, Ban told reporters, “As U.N. Secretary General, I have decided to visit North Korea with the sole aim of contributing in a small way to improving inter-Korean relations.” It is Ban’s first visit to North Korea since his inauguration as U.N. Secretary General in 2007. His detailed itinerary and North Korean leaders Ban will meet during his visit to the North will be determined after a contingent team visits the North on Wednesday to coordinate plans.

At the Asian Leadership Conference he attended in the morning on the day, Ban mentioned his meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong at the U.S. General Assembly last year, and said, “The U.N. is also a U.N. for North Korea. I have an obligation to pay keen attention on Korean Peninsula issues and exert efforts.” Asked whether his visit to the North is related with his potential bid to run for the South Korean presidency after his retirement as the U.N. chief, he said, “I hope you do not imagine different aspects.” However, he stopped short of clarifying that he would not run for the presidency.

On his relationship with the late Chairman Sung Wan-jong of Keangnam Enterprise, Ban said, “As a member of the Chungcheong Forum, I met him several times in Korea and know him very well, and I regret that he tragically ended his life,” adding, “But I have never consulted with Chairman Sung about Korean politics.” On suspicion that his own nephew is embroiled in suspicions involving Keangnam’s development project in Vietnam, Ban said, “Whether it is true or not, the eruption of the issue in itself is shame. But I was not involved.” In an unusual move, Ban spoke in Korean when answering questions about his visit to the North, issues over the Korean Peninsula, and the "Sung Wan-jong list (of alleged bribe-takers)."

The Korean political circle has a flurry of views on Ban’s visit to the Kaesong Industrial Park. A source in the ruling party said, “We can effectively consider the visit a schedule to be taken in consideration of his presidential bid,” adding, “He is effectively engaged in ‘out boxing’ in which he focuses on diplomacy and North Korea, issues that he can demonstrate his strengths while avoiding being entangled in current politics.”

Prior to his visit to the Kaesong industrial Park, Ban will reportedly hold on Wednesday a closed luncheon meeting with South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo and Chung Jong-wook, vice chairman for the private sector of the Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation, and discuss about his message to deliver at the industrial complex, and his message to convey to Pyongyang when he is received by a ranking Pyongyang official at the complex.”