UN ready to engage in NK nuclear issue

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, receives the Seoul Peace Prize from Lee Chul-seung, chairman of the Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation, during a ceremony held at the Silla Hotel, Monday. / Yonhap

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he is prepared to play an active role in the denuclearization of North Korea.

“I am ready to play my part to work toward a peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula… including through my own personal engagement and visits to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), under the right conditions,” said Ban in his Seoul Peace Prize acceptance speech at Silla Hotel in Seoul.

“I also look forward to the day when the DPRK moves to heed the international community’s call for abandoning all nuclear weapons and achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and for improving the lives of its people through respect for universal values and human rights,” Ban said.

He added the UN “will continue to do its utmost to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need, especially children and other vulnerable people in North Korea.”

Regarding the ongoing territorial and historical conflicts between South Korea, Japan and China, he said the three nations are obliged to engage in dialogue to resolve the situation.

The UN chief served as South Korea’s foreign minister before being elected as the eighth secretary general of the UN in 2006.

Ban received this year’s Seoul Peace Prize for his work in promoting rights of women and children plus his efforts to reduce poverty and to democratize Middle Eastern countries, according to the awarding foundation’s selection committee.

Ban said the prize was an “immense honor” for him and a “tribute to the UN, our work for peace across the world, and the diverse and talented staff who bring the UN Charter to life.”

The award was established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 1988 Seoul Olympics and Ban is the first South Korean to receive the biennial award.

Previous winners include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; former International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch; Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic; and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

The UN Secretary-General is to end his four-day visit to South Korea, Wednesday. <The Korea Times/Chung Min-uck>