UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday welcomed a high-level dialogue between two sides of the Korean Peninsula, encouraging "both sides to use the resumed discussions to pave the way for deescalating the situation" in the region.

"The secretary-general welcomes the high-level meeting between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which was held today," said a statement issued to the press here Saturday night by Ban's spokesman.

Ban "further takes note of the agreement that the discussions will be resumed tomorrow," the statement said. Earlier Saturday, representatives from Pyongyang and Seoul started high-level urgent contact in the truce village of Panmunjom to discuss the prevailing tense situation on the peninsula, the official KCNA news agency reported.