UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is reportedly planning to visit North Korea this week.
 
Yonhap News Agency quoted a high-level UN source as saying that Ban will visit Pyongyang soon.
 
The visit, if realized, will likely involve a meeting between Ban and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, raising expectations that it will bring about progress on North Korea’s nuclear program and inter-Korean relations.
 
Previously, only two other UN chiefs have visited the North while in office—Kurt Waldheim in 1979 and Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1993.
 
During a visit to his home country South Korea in May, Ban was scheduled to visit the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North, but Pyongyang refused at the last minute and the trip was canceled.