Tokyo - UN leader Ban Ki-moon urged Japan Tuesday to consider extending food aid to North Korea.

"North Korea is facing a serious shortage of food because of a long spell of drought," the UN secretary-general said in Tokyo, adding that the United States has provided 500,000 tons through the World Food Programme.

"I hope that the Japanese government should also consider positively as a goodwill gesture to promote and create favourable atmosphere, and also on the humanitarian ground purely, to provide such assistance to North Korea," Ban said.

Japan has suspended food and energy aid to North Korea until their is progress in negotiations regarding the abductions of Japanese nationals.

A US ship with 37,000 tons grain reached North Korea on Sunday, the first instalment of 500,000 tons of food promised by Washington to the communist state earlier this year.

Ban said it was a "step forward" and a "very encouraging development" on the Korean Peninsula to have North Korea agree to submit reports on its nuclear programmes and demolish a nuclear reactor cooling tower last week.

"I think participants in the six-party talks should seize this momentum to further accelerate the denuclearization process of the Korean Peninsula," the UN chief said.

Ban was to head out for China and South Korea on his two-week Asian tour before attending the Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Japan, July 7-9. (dpa)