For his first outing as the United Nations’ newly elected secretary-general, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon will visit China to discuss the situation in North Korea.


AP (via Yahoo!):

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, which first reported the trip last week, said Ban would be going in his capacity as the world body’s next leader and not as Seoul’s foreign minister.

“The North Korea issue will be on the table, but not necessarily the main focus of his visit,” said the official, who declined to be named. The official declined to say in what capacity Ban would travel, or to give further details.

Since being elected to lead the UN, Ban has said he would be “taking advantage of the UN secretary general’s authority” to improve human rights in North Korea and try to settle the standoff over its nuclear weapons programme.

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