Ban Ki-moon to visit Pyongyang next Monday

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit North Korea next Monday and stay for around four days, the media reported on Wednesday.

Ban's itinerary is now confirmed, Xinhua quoted KCNA agency as saying.

Ban's upcoming Pyongyang visit was also confirmed by another UN official residing in North Korea. It has been over 20 years since former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali visited North Korea in 1993.

South Korean media said Ban in late September expressed his readiness to pay a visit to Pyongyang.

He said this to North Korea Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, who was then in New York attending the 70th UN General Assembly.

Ban served as South Korea's minister of foreign affairs and trade before he started working as the UN head in 2007.

Analysts say his tour to North Korea, which is expected to include a meeting with top leader Kim Jong Un, will offer a boost to inter-Korean conciliation and peace on the Korean peninsula. The issue of nuclear weapons might also be discussed during the visit.

Ban had planned in May to visit Kaesong Industrial Complex, an industrial zone jointly operated by both Koreas, but the trip was cancelled.