U.N. chief's itinerary for next week does not include North Korea

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's schedule for next week does not include a trip to North Korea, according to an itinerary released by his spokesman, following a Xinhua report on Wednesday that Ban will visit Pyongyang next week. The statement released to Reuters said Ban will be in New York and then Malta next week for the Commonwealth Summit, from where he will travel to Paris for the UN summit on climate change, which begins on Nov. 30. "He has repeatedly said that he is willing to play any constructive role, including travelling to the DPRK, in an effort to work for peace, stability and dialogue on the Korean Peninsula," the statement added. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Ryan Woo)