U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon kept silent on his possible trip to North Korea on Sunday, a move that could keep the world guessing about his intentions.
  

Ban did not talk as he walked through the lobby of a hotel in Kuala Lumpur when asked by a Yonhap news reporter if he is willing to visit Pyongyang in December.
  

Ban landed in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur early Sunday to attend the East Asia Summit, an annual meeting meant to discuss regional and international strategic issues.
  

It is composed of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus its eight dialogue partners -- South Korea, China, Japan, the U.S., Russia, Australia, India and New Zealand.
  

Last week, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said discussions were under way about Ban's willingness to play a constructive role in the Korean Peninsula situation, "including traveling there."
  

Dujarric's remark was widely seen as a de-facto acknowledgment that talks are under way to set up what would be Ban's first visit to North Korea, though he did not elaborate on what he meant by discussions.
  

Officials of North Korea's mission to the United Nations were not immediately reached for comment.
  

Ban, if his trip is realized, would be the third U.N. chief to visit North Korea after Kurt Waldheim in 1979 and Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1993.  
  

The two former predecessors met with North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il-sung, the late grandfather of the current leader, during their visits to Pyongyang.
  

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, has repeatedly said that he will do everything possible to promote inter-Korean reconciliation and a resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.
  

In May, Ban planned to visit the North Korean border city of Kaesong, where South Korea runs an industrial complex, but the trip was called off at the last minute because Pyongyang abruptly withdrew its invitation for no clear reason. (Yonhap)