U.N.'s Ban Ki-moon to visit North Korea

United Nations’ (U.N.) chief Ban Ki-moon will visit North Korea, the first time the head of the international body will visit the reclusive state in over two decades.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012

According to a South Korean news agency, U.N.’s Secretary-General Ban plans to travel to Pyongyang later this week and will meet with the country's leader Kim Jong Un, to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons program and other Korean peninsula matters.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un

However, Ban’s office declined to confirm the trip. Said his spokesperson,

“We've seen the reports, but aren't commenting on this for now. Will let you know if that changes."

Only two U.N. Secretaries-General have visited North Korea -- Kurt Waldheim in 1979 and Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1993.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1980)

Ban, a South Korean, was due to visit the North Korean border city of Kaesong earlier in May but the trip was called off unexpectedly when Pyongyang suddenly withdrew its invitation. Prior to his career at the U.N., Ban served in the South Korea's ministry of foreign affairs. He joined the department in 1970, rising to Foreign Minister in 2004.

Old Kaesong, in Kaesong Province

In October 2015, the U.N. released a report stating that Kim's regime was amassing a fortune on the back of its citizens who are sent abroad and forced to work with no pay. The report said that North Korean workers are made to work as long as 20 hours a day without proper food and are kept under constant surveillance.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)