U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he will visit the inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea's border city of Kaesong on Thursday to help ease inter-Korean tensions.
"I reiterate my willingness to do whatever it takes to contribute to improving inter-Korean relations and promoting reconciliation and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Ban said during a press conference at the World Education Forum in Songdo, west of Seoul.
Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, will be the first U.N. chief to visit the complex, which has been symbolic of inter-Korean reconciliation since its launch in 2004. He will also be the first U.N. chief to visit North Korea in more than 20 years.
"The Kaesong project is a win-win model for both Koreas," he said. "It symbolizes a good way to tap the advantages of the Koreas in a complementary manner."
The complex, a key outcome of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000, combines South Korean capital and technology with cheap North Korean labor to produce clothes, utensils, watches and other labor-intensive goods.
More than 53,000 North Koreans have been hired to work for some 120 South Korean firms located in the complex.
Ban said he plans to visit the South Korean businesses and meet with North Korean workers there. He also said he is likely to meet with other North Koreans, the details of which will be finalized through a visit to Kaesong by an advance team on Wednesday.
Ban's visit comes as tensions have escalated on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile and an ongoing row over wages for North Korean workers at the complex.
The U.N. chief said he wants to make clear to North Korea that its development of missiles and nuclear weapons is a violation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.
"I believe it would be better for North Korea to have close exchanges with the international community, to open up, and to focus on (improving) its living conditions and economic development," he said.
Ban's planned visit to Kaesong sparked speculation in South Korea that it could be the beginning of a political campaign ahead of the next presidential election slated for December 2017.
Local polls have often ranked the secretary-general as one of the most popular possible contenders.
Ban stressed that his visit is only aimed at helping improve South-North relations and has no other purpose.
"I would like polling agencies to exclude me from now on," he said. "I will devote all of my strength to international peace, security, sustainable development, human rights protection, climate change and other crucial work for humanity until my term as U.N. secretary-general ends on Dec. 31 next year."
Ban denied reports that he was politically linked to a South Korean businessman who committed suicide last month after leaving a note suggesting that some of President Park Geun-hye's aides took bribes from him, including her most recent prime minister, Lee Wan-koo.
Lee resigned last month amid the scandal. (Yonhap)