Lee Asks UN Chief to Help Inter-Korean Ties

President Lee Myung-bak Saturday sought the help of the U.N.’s highest ranking official to help ease the strained relationship between the two Koreas.

Lee made the request to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation, calling for the international body to "make its efforts to improve South-North ties," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan cited the president as saying, Yonhap News reported.

Inter-Korean relations have suffered a setback since Lee took office in February last year. Lee's conservative government reversed the previous administrations’ so-called “Sunshine Policy” of engagement with North Korea, demanding North Korea first come clean on its nuclear programs and ramp up human rights conditions as a precondition for Seoul's economic assistance.

In response, the secretary general promised to work "closely" with the South Korean government to help improve the deteriorated ties, the spokesman said.