U.N. calls for sustained peace, denuclearisation on Korean peninsula

Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), talks with reporters during the conference "Perspectives for a World Free from Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament" at the Vatican November 10, 2017. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/Files

GENEVA (Reuters) - A senior United Nations disarmament official on Tuesday welcomed an easing of tensions between North and South Korea, but called for further steps towards removing nuclear weapons from the divided peninsula.

Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament (CD): "Such engagement must still be translated into the resumption of sincere dialogue leading to sustainable peace and denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula".

There was no immediate reaction from North Korea's delegation at the Geneva forum, which has begun its 2018 session.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Gareth Jones)