Ban Ki-moon

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Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 1, 2007
Preceded by Kofi Annan
Succeeded by Incumbent
Born June 13, 1944 (1944-06-13) (age 63)
Flag of South Korea Eumseong, South Korea
Nationality South Korean
Spouse Yoo Soon-taek
This is a Korean name; the family name is Ban.

Ban Ki-moon (반기문 Hanja 潘基文; Ban Gimun IPA pronunciation: [pan.gi.mun]) (born June 13, 1944 in Eumseong, North Chungcheong, Korea) is a South Korean diplomat and the current Secretary-General of the United Nations. He succeeded Kofi Annan in this capacity on January 1, 2007.[1]

Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 1, 2006. On October 13, 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and was sworn in on December 14, 2006. He had previously addressed the General Assembly in his capacity as foreign minister during its annual general debate each year since 2004.

Contents

[edit] Education

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

[edit] Personal

Ban Ki-moon is married and has a son and two daughters.[2] In addition to his native Korean, Ban speaks English, French, Japanese and German, according to his curriculum vitae. However, there have been questions on the extent of his knowledge of French, a language that veto-wielding[citation needed] Security Council member France insists any United Nations Secretary General must be able to speak. This has resulted in some controversy. (See Criticism)

A high school exchange student during the 1960s in Marin County, California, Ban met then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C., after winning an English language competition organized by the American Red Cross. He has said that it was after this meeting that he resolved to become a diplomat.

[edit] Career

Ban Ki-moon with Condoleezza Rice.
Ban Ki-moon with Condoleezza Rice.

Ban joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1970, and worked his way up during the years of the Yusin Constitution.

His first overseas posting was to New Delhi, after which he worked in the United Nations Division at the foreign ministry's headquarters. At the time of Park Chung Hee's assassination, Ban had climbed to the position of First Secretary at South Korea's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN in New York City (South Korea only became a full UN member state on September 17, 1991). He subsequently assumed the post of Director of the United Nations Division. He has been posted twice to the Republic of Korea (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.

In 1999, 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). 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 relationships. 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.[citation needed]

[edit] Secretary-General of the United Nations

Ban Ki-moon with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Ban Ki-moon with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In February 2006, Ban declared his candidacy to replace Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General at the end of 2006, becoming the first South Korean to run for Secretary-General.[3] He topped each of the four straw polls conducted by the UN Security Council on July 24,[4] 14 September,[5] September 28[6] and October 2.[7]

On September 25, 2006, while these polls were being conducted, Ban addressed the Asia Society in New York on his candidacy and views on major issues confronting the UN.[8] The next day he gave an interview to the Asia Society's AsiaSource, focusing again on the upcoming challenges to be faced by the UN. Earlier in the year he had addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.[9]

Subsequently, in an October 2 informal poll, Ban received fourteen favorable votes and one abstinence or "no opinion" from the fifteen members of the Security Council. 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.[10] After the vote, Shashi Tharoor, who finished second, withdrew his candidacy[11] 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."[12]

On October 9, the Security Council formally chose Ban as its nominee. On October 13, the 192-member General Assembly adopted a resolution, by acclamation, appointing Ban as Secretary-General. On January 1, 2007 Ban took office as the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations.

[edit] Baghdad attack

On Thursday, March 22, 2007, while taking part in a press conference in Baghdad's green zone, a mortar attack hit close to where the secretary general was standing, interrupting the conference and visibly shaking Ban and others. No one was hurt in the incident.

[edit] 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 honored him with the James A. Van Fleet Award for his contributions to friendship between the United States and the Republic of Korea.[13]

[edit] Criticism

Ban claims to be fluent in both English and French, which have long been considered the de facto operating languages of the UN. However, he has struggled to answer questions in French from journalists, notably at the press conference following his induction as UN Secretary General.[14]

As the election of the successor to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan drew closer there was rising criticism of the South Korean campaign on Ban's behalf. Specifically, his alleged practice of systematically visiting all member states of the UN Security Council in his role as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade to secure votes in his support by signing trade deals with European countries and pledging foreign aid to developing countries were the focus of some news articles.[15][16]

According to the Washington Post, "rivals have privately grumbled that Republic of Korea, which has the world's 11th-largest economy, has wielded its economic might to generate support for his candidacy". Ban reportedly has said that these insinuations are "groundless". In an interview on 17 September 2006 he reportedly stated: "As front-runner, I know that I can become a target of this very scrutinizing process" and "I am a man of integrity."[17]

Although not directly a criticism of Ban Ki-moon, there has also been concern[citation needed] over the appointment of Kang Kyung-wha, Ban's campaign manager, as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, an assistant secretary-general-level position, with only weeks left in Kofi Annan's term.[18]

Within Korea, Ban’s nickname is "Ban-jusa", which may be loosely translated as “Ban the administrative clerk." This appellation is used by Ban’s supporters and opponents alike, but the latter intend to hint at a “lack of charisma and a supposed willingness to bend to the will of his superiors,” as well as his personality, which they perceive to be uninspiring.[19] Perhaps an attempt at a comeback to claims of a lack of charisma would explain his singing of a version of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, where he replaced the words 'Santa Claus' with his own name at the 2006 UN Correspondents dinner early in December.[20]

Ban has been criticized for not sufficiently condemning the death penalty, specifically in the case of Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar, two top officials who were convicted, along with Saddam Hussein, of the deaths of 148 Shia Muslims in the Iraqi village of Dujail in the 1980s. Though Ban did write a letter of appeal to Iraqi High Tribunal urging restraint in this case, he stated that capital punishment "was for each and every (United Nations) member state to decide." Ban has also been praised for respecting the UN's limited jurisdiction on the matter, as the UN Charter makes no mention of any position on the death penalty.

[edit] Religious views

Despite some initial rumors that he was a member of the Unification Church, and later reports that stated he is a member of a "group without Church",[21] The Economist confirmed in January 2007 that he is not a member of any church or religious group.[22]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ban named next U.N. secretary-general. AP. Retrieved on 2006-10-13.
  2. ^ Biography of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Republic of Korea - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
  3. ^ Song-wu, Park. "Minister Ban to Run for Top UN Job", The Korea Times, 2006-02-14. Retrieved on 2006-09-28. 
  4. ^ Ban takes 1st Straw Poll. UNSG.org (2006-07-24). Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
  5. ^ Ban firms up lead in second Straw Poll. UNSG.org (2006-09-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
  6. ^ Ban slips but holds, Vike Freiberga pushes into third. UNSG.org (2006-09-28). Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
  7. ^ Ban Ki-moon wins. UNSG.org (2006-10-02). Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  8. ^ http://www.asiasociety.org/speeches/06ny_ban.html
  9. ^ http://www.asiasource.org/news/special_reports/kimoon.cfm
  10. ^ Ban vows to reform U.N. if given top job. [1] (2006-10-03). Retrieved on 2006-10-09.
  11. ^ Shashi Tharoor pulls out of UN race. NDTV.com (2006-10-02). Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  12. ^ http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/sc/so061002pm3.rm
  13. ^ "Samsung Chairman Lee Receives Van Fleet Award", KBS World, 2006-09-20. Retrieved on 2006-09-28. 
  14. ^ Is Ban Ki-moon a franco-phoney?. CBC News.
  15. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2380336,00.html
  16. ^ online.wsj.com
  17. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801765.html
  18. ^ http://www.nysun.com/article/40249
  19. ^ The UN’s new secretary-general. The Economist. Retrieved on 2006-10-05.
  20. ^ Don't Ban Your Instincts, Ban Ki-moon. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  21. ^ http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7415
  22. ^ http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8525903

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Kofi Annan		 UN Secretary-General
2007 – present		 Incumbent
v • d • e
United Nations Secretaries-General

Gladwyn Jebb (acting) • Trygve Lie • Dag Hammarskjöld • U Thant • Kurt Waldheim • Javier Pérez de Cuéllar • Boutros Boutros-Ghali • Kofi Annan • Ban Ki-moon


Persondata
NAME Ban Ki-moon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 반기문 (Hangul); 潘基文 (Hanja)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Republic of Korean diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban_Ki-moon"
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