By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak has asked United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help improve strained ties between South and North Korea, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.
The comment was made during a telephone conversation held Saturday at the request of Ban, a former South Korean minister of foreign affairs and trade, said the spokesman.
The U.N. chief said he would make efforts to help mend inter-Korean ties in cooperation with Seoul's foreign ministry, he said.
Tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula have been high since Lee took office in February last year. Lee has pledged to take a tougher stance on North Korea policy than his liberal predecessors have for the last decade.
The two sides shared the belief that there is a need for joint efforts to resolve global issues such as the ongoing economic crisis and climate change, he added.
During the conversation, Lee also pledged efforts to increase South Korea's role in the global community to enhance the country's economic status, said the spokesman.
The president referred to his government's plans to send more international peacekeeping forces to countries in need and increase foreign aid.
In a 2009 policy briefing last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the government will seek to increase the number of international peacekeeping forces from the current level of 400 to 2,000 by 2012.
The ministry said it will raise its Official Development Assistance (ODA) to underdeveloped or developing countries to 0.15 percent of the nation's gross national income (GNI) by 2012 and to 0.25 percent by 2015.
Seoul's ODA rose 48 percent in 2007 from a year earlier to 672 million. The figure accounts for 0.07 percent of the GNI.