U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday he has never seen tensions on the Korean Peninsula as high as now and urged the Security Council to unite and send a strong message to North Korea that nuclear and missile tests are unacceptable.

   "The level of tension on the Korean peninsula has gone much, much higher," Ban said at a news conference marking the opening of the U.N. General Assembly. "Never in the past I have seen such kind of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula."

   "So it is very important that the United Nations Security Council should be united and take urgent actions to prevent, first of all, the provocative actions by DPRK (North Korea)," he said, adding that the council should also take necessary measures to send "strong messages" to the North.

   Asked whether he has any plan to travel to North Korea, Ban said he doesn't have any plans at this point.

   "Of course, I will continue to do until the last day of my term as secretary-general as much as I can to reduce, first, tension and resolve this issue," Ban said. "But we will see what I can do. But I do not have any plan at this time of taking any initiative." (Yonhap)