UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has recently made a number of statements about easing the tension on the Korean Peninsula, and these have attracted attention in the National Assembly in Seoul. His name is currently on a list of possible “special envoys,” the preferred option of those who want to see inter-Korean relations impacted by a dose of shuttle diplomacy.

Most recently, on the 18th, Ban visited the U.S. Department of Defense, marking the first time a UN head has visited the Pentagon. The visit was bound to attract attention, given that North Korea recently rejected offers of dialogue from both South Korea and the United States.

There, he met with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey and other major officials. Ban is known to have requested the visit, which lasted thirty minutes. According to one anonymous official, “They discussed the North Korea problem, and the dangers that could be caused by North Korean misjudgments or miscalculations.”

That visit came after Ban urged the North Korean leadership to change its hardline position on the 17th, calling on Pyongyang to accept South Korea’s offer of open-ended dialogue and come to the negotiation table. He noted that the international community has been responding with a cool head to North Korea’s increasingly harsh rhetoric.

Prior to that, Ban met with US President Barack Obama on the 11th, whereupon his message was much the same. He also appeared on CNN at a similar time, where he revealed his desire to visit North Korea in order to help facilitate peace.

This has inspired a debate over Ban’s actions in Seoul, where inter-Korean issues such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex stoppage continue and a way of changing the current situation is increasingly being sought, in particular by those on the left. On the 9th, former National Assembly lawmaker and losing leftist presidential candidate Chung Dong Young and the acting head of the Democratic United Party, Moon Hui Sang, both mentioned Ban in terms of a possible envoy to North Korea.

Moon stated, “A foreign figure that the North trusts is needed, such as former presidents Carter or Clinton. A former secretary of state like Albright or Clinton would also do. Among domestic figures, Park Jie Won or Moon Sung Keun would be possible, while Secretary-General Ban would also be one good card.”

However, the incumbent Park administration appears unwilling to seek a special envoy at this stage.

Ban also faces an uphill struggle given that the Kim Jong Eun regime has demanded that UN Security Council sanctions be lifted in their entirety as a pre-condition for dialogue, making it highly unlikely that the North would be prepared to use a sitting UN secretary-general as a messenger.