UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that he will visit an inter-Korean factory park just north of the two Koreas' heavily fortified border, saying he hopes his trip to the last major cooperation project between the rivals helps improve ties.
Ban would be the first UN chief to visit the factory park, which opened in 2004 in the town of Kaesong. He would also be the first head of the UN to visit North Korea since Boutros Boutros-Ghali traveled there in 1993.
Ban's trip comes as relations between the Koreas remain strained following the North's continuation of missile and other weapons tests that South Korea views as provocation.
There are also worries about North Korea after South Korea's spy agency said last week that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had his defense chief executed with an anti-aircraft gun in late April.
Ban told reporters today during his trip to South Korea that he would spare no efforts in trying to help improve ties between the Koreas.
"The Kaesong project is a win-win model for both Koreas.
It symbolizes a good aim to tap the advantage of South and North Korea in a complementary manner," said Ban, who visited the factory park in 2006, when he was South Korea's foreign minister. "I hope my visit will provide positive impetus to further develop it and expand to other areas."
Ban said that he will visit factories and meet North Korean workers, but that it was not determined which North Korean officials he would meet.
But analyst Chang Yong Seok at Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies said he was skeptical about whether Ban's trip can bring any major breakthrough in ties between the rivals.
Chang said North Korea accepted Ban's Kaesong complex visit because it could be helpful in its push to lure foreign investment and revive its troubled economy. But, he said, "North Korea won't welcome Ban coming to Pyongyang with talks on its nuclear program."
The park opened during a period of warming ties between the Koreas and has been considered a test case for unification, pairing cheap local labor with South Korean know-how and technology.
It has survived periods of animosity, including the North's artillery bombardment of a South Korean island in 2010, while other cross-border projects, such as tours to a scenic North Korean mountain, remain deadlocked.
