U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her “trustpolitik”

toward North Korea on Friday, saying the policy and her principled approach to Pyongyang contributed to reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Ban, who arrived in his native South Korea on Thursday for a home leave, made the remark during a meeting with Park, saying he came home light-hearted after Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to reopen a joint industrial complex and hold talks on setting up reunions for separated families.

“I think all these are the result of the president carrying out the Korean Peninsula trust process well while sticking to principles,” Ban said at the start of the meeting, adding that he hopes the policy will take a firm root and help peace and stability settle on the divided peninsula.

The policy calls for the two sides to take confidence-building measures and continue exchanges until enough trust is built between them to discuss and resolve more serious issues like the North’s nuclear program.

Park expressed gratitude for Ban‘s concern for inter-Korean issues.

Ban said the U.N.’s roles in inter-Korean relations would be supportive ones, and he believes that a shortcut to resolving inter-Korean problems is for the two Koreas to tackle them directly by themselves. (Yonhap News)