UN chief to meet N. Korea official in Iran

Ban Ki-moon

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday he will meet with North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam this week during the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Iran and discuss inter-Korean relations.

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, said he would engage in the talks in his capacity as U.N. chief but also out of his duty as a Korean citizen.

“As there are many occasions for participating heads of state to get together, there will be a chance to meet Chairman Kim Yong-nam and talk about peace on the Korean Peninsula and South-North Korea exchanges,” Ban told reporters during a visit to Washington, D.C.

He will attend the summit from Wednesday to Friday and meet with Kim, who is head of the Presidium of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly on the sidelines of the event.

The North drew a presidential statement from the U.N. Security Council following its long-range rocket launch in April, which was seen as a test of ballistic missile technology. Ban may use the meeting to gauge the North’s willingness to engage under new leader Kim Jong-un.

Despite pressure to forgo the Tehran-hosted summit, Ban announced he would attend in a bid to raise global issues, adding he would seek to push Iranian leaders to come in line with international norms on its nuclear ambitions.

Iran, under multiple rounds of sanctions, says it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. But Western powers believe it is pursuing nuclear weapons.

NAM member states claim not to be aligned with any major power block.

Seoul, which is not a NAM member, will send officials to observe.

Ban was in Washington for a reunion of participants in the Visit of International Students to America (VISTA) program, in which he took part in 1962. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>

news@theasian.asia