United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his willingness to help the two rival Koreas open dialogue on unifying their divided land, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, amid a flurry of Seoul's policies to lay the groundwork for unification.

Since taking office in February 2013, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been pushing to prepare for a potential unification of the two countries. Last year, she launched a presidential committee in charge of preparatory work for unification, unveiling her plan to expand inter-Korean dialogue and private exchanges. 

"(I) am prepared to support engagement and talks between South and North Korea over the unification issue," the U.N. chief told South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se when they met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday, according to ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il.

Ban also expressed hope for a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations this year which marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japan's colonial rule in 1945, he said.

During the meeting, Ban also expressed appreciation for Seoul's efforts to fight the outbreak of the Ebola virus as well as pushing for more leadership and assistance in U.N. efforts to fight climate change and achieve sustainable development, the foreign ministry spokesman noted.

During the Tuesday briefing, Noh again urged Japan to offer a sincere apology over its wartime atrocities when it issues a commemorative statement later this year.

Marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug.

15 this year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to issue a special statement which he said may or may not reflect previous national statements that apologized for the country's wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of Korean women.

"The Japanese government should face up to history and brood on what kinds of reaction the international community and its neighbors would show if the (forthcoming) prime minister statement marking the 70th anniversary of the war ending leaves out some key parts of past statements," the spokesman said. "The Japanese government may be well aware the historical meaning of past statements," he noted.

In the past, Japan issued two key statements containing apologies for past wrongdoings -- the 1993 apology on the sex slavery issue, named the Kono Statement, and the 1995 apology for Japan's colonial rule, named the Murayama Statement. (Yonhap)