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Ban Ki-moon

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Ban Ki-moon
8th Secretary-General of the United Nations
In office
1 January 2007 –  
Preceded byKofi Annan
Personal details
Born13 June 1944
Chungju, Korea
NationalitySouth Korean
SpouseYoo Soon-taek

Template:Koreanname Ban Ki-moon (IPA pronunciation: [pɑn gi mun]; born 13 June 1944 in Chungju, South Korea) is the current Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, a position he has held since January 2004. On 13 October 2006, Ban became the Secretary-General-designate of the United Nations when he was elected by the United Nations General Assembly, and will succeed current Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 1 January 2007.[1]

Education

Ban received his bachelor's degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970 and earned a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985.

Personal

Ban is married and has a son and two daughters.[2] He identifies himself as a non-denominational Christian. He is a member of the "Nonchurch Movement" (Mugyohoe),[3] a movement founded by Uchimura Kanzo which spread to Korea in the 1920s. Its members, mostly intellectuals, make the Gospel a source of inspiration for their private and public life.[4]

In addition to his native Korean, Ban is fluent in English and French. [5]

As a high school student in the early 1960s, Ban met U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C., after winning an English language competition organised by the American Red Cross, after which time he resolved to become a diplomat.

Career

Ban Ki-moon with World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz

Ban's first overseas posting after joining the Korean foreign service was to New Delhi. After working in the United Nations Division at the foreign ministry's headquarters, he served as First Secretary at the Permanent Observer Mission of South Korea to the UN in New York City. He subsequently assumed the post of Director of the United Nations Division. He has been posted twice to the ROK Embassy in Washington, D.C. Between these two assignments he served as Director-General for American Affairs in 1990-1992. He was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Organizations in 1995. He was then appointed National Security Advisor to the President in 1996, and assumed the office of Vice Minister in 2000. His most recent post was as Foreign Policy Advisor to the President Roh Moo-hyun.

While serving as Ambassador to Austria, Ban was elected as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) in 1999. During the ROK's Presidency of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (GA) in 2001, he worked as Chef de Cabinet of the President of the GA.

Ban has been actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relations. In 1992, he served as Vice Chairman of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission, following the adoption by South and North Korea of the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In September 2005, as Foreign Minister, he played a leading role in the diplomatic efforts to adopt the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks held in Beijing.

UN Secretary-General candidacy

In February 2006, Ban declared his candidacy to replace Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General at the end of 2006. It is the first time a South Korean has run in the election for Secretary-General.[6]

Ban topped each of the four straw polls conducted by the UN Security Council on 24 July,[7] 14 September,[8] 28 September[9] and 2 October. [10]

In the 2 October informal poll, Ban received fourteen favorable votes and one "no opinion" from the fifteen member Security Council, the Japanese delegation the only nation not in full agreement. More importantly, Ban was the only one to escape a veto, while each of the five other candidates received at least one "no" vote from the five permanent members of the council — People's Republic of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[11] After the vote, Shashi Tharoor, who finished second, withdrew his candidacy[12] and China's Permanent Representative to the UN told reporters that "it is quite clear from today's straw poll that Minister Ban Ki-moon is the candidate that the Security Council will recommend to the General Assembly."[13]

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On 9 October, the Security Council formally chose Ban as its nominee. On 13 October, the 192-member General Assembly adopted a resolution, by acclamation, appointing Ban as Secretary-General.

Awards

Ban has twice been awarded the Order of Service Merit in 1975 and 1986 by the Government of the Republic of Korea. For his accomplishments as an envoy, he received the Grand Decoration of Honour from the Republic of Austria in 2001. A year later, the government of Brazil bestowed the Grand Cross of Rio Branco upon him. In September 2005, the Korea Society in New York honoured him with the Van Fleet Award for his contributions to US-ROK friendship.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Ban named next U.N. secretary-general". AP. Retrieved 2006-10-13. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ "Biography of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade". Republic of Korea - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 2006-09-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Ban Ki-moon, Christian diplomat, to lead UN". AsiaNews.it. Retrieved 2006-10-07. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Template:Ko icon "무교회주의 (Mugyohoe juui, Non-church ideology)". Dusan Cyber Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2006-10-12.
  5. ^ "Ban Ki-moon, Christian diplomat, to lead UN". AsiaNews.it. Retrieved 2006-10-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Song-wu, Park (2006-02-14). "Minister Ban to Run for Top UN Job". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2006-09-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Ban takes 1st Straw Poll". UNSG.org. 2006-07-24. Retrieved 2006-09-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Ban firms up lead in second Straw Poll". UNSG.org. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2006-09-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Ban slips but holds, Vike Freiberga pushes into third". UNSG.org. 2006-09-28. Retrieved 2006-09-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Ban Ki-moon wins". UNSG.org. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2006-10-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "Ban vows to reform U.N. if given top job". [1]. 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2006-10-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Shashi Tharoor pulls out of UN race". NDTV.com. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2006-10-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/sc/so061002pm3.rm
  14. ^ "Samsung Chairman Lee Receives Van Fleet Award". KBS World. 2006-09-20. Retrieved 2006-09-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
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Preceded by United Nations Secretary-General (designate)
2007- 		Succeeded by
Incumbent (start of 2007)
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