The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday he welcomes President Moon Jae-in's initiative for a regional cooperation forum to tackle public health crises, like the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the remarks in his message for the Korean Global Forum for Peace, an annual forum organized by the unification ministry, calling on countries to "join hands across ideological divides."

"We welcome the Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public health, proposed by President Moon during last year's UN General Assembly," he said.

Moon first proposed the establishment of the cooperation forum in September last year, calling on North Korea to join other participating countries, such as the US, China, Japan and Mongolia. The North has remained unresponsive.

Last month, Moon reiterated his calls for North Korea to join the initiative, especially as cross-border cooperation has become more important amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)