FILE: South Koreans have praised Ban Ki-Moon, nominated as the next U.N. Secretary General

South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon who was nominated as the next United Nations Secretary-General on Monday (October 9) is described as balanced and driven by his peers. Ban Ki-moon was formally nominated only hours after North Korea defied the world body by announcing a nuclear test. The U.N. Security Council voted by acclamation, thereby effectively anointing Ban as successor to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose 10 years in office expire on Dec. 31, said Japan's U.N. Ambassador, Kenzo Oshima, this month's council president. Six other candidates for the job had withdrawn, leaving members to vote only for Ban. The 192-member U.N. General Assembly must give final approval to Ban's nomination, which usually follows within a week or two. That vote is expected to be positive. Some diplomats, including Oshima, have speculated that North Korea's announcement on Oct. 3 of plans to carry out the underground nuclear test was timed, in part, to coincide with Ban's candidacy in an effort to get world attention. Shortly after the vote for Ban, Security Council members went into closed consultations on North Korea's to see what action could be taken. The council on Friday urged North Korea not to carry out a test, warning Pyongyang of unspecified consequences if it did. Ban was chief secretary to the President of the General Assembly at United Nations Han Seung-soo during the year of 2001-2002. Han emphasised Ban's decisive and objective nature. "With this experience (at the United Nations) and as a foreign minister, he is 'gentle in appearance, but sturdy in spirit.' As long as he makes up his mind, he has a strong drive force to reform anything," said Han who was also South Korea's foreign minister during the year of 2001-2002. There is a concern if Ban can handle North Korea-related things as a South Korean, but Han is confident that Ban can handle it better than anybody else. "Even if his nationality is Korean, as a secretary general of U.N. he is no more Korean, meaning he will work, I expect, very objectively to solve the matters as the highest diplomat in the world -- (North) Korea-related things, I am sure." The 62-year-old diplomat is described as humble, quiet and a democracy advocate who has been a diplomat for over 30-years. His diplomatic career has taken him from Austria to India and he has played a key role in transforming South Korea from an impoverished country into one of Asia's tiger economies. Ban's office says he also speaks French as well as some German and Japanese. Ban was appointed foreign minister in January 2004. Diplomats say he is very popular within his ministry which also handles the trade affairs of South Korea, a country that has depended heavily on exports to lift it from the ruins of war in the early 1950s to rank now as Asia's third biggest economy. But some South Koreans see Ban as a man of weak character. "His weakness is with his weak character, but I believe he is a leader who can harmonise with others and can foresee what will happen," said 58-year-old Kim Chung-yoon. Born to a farming family in 1944 -- towards the end of the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula -- he has moved inexorably up the ranks of the foreign ministry, which he joined straight after university, where he graduated at the top of his class, majoring in international relations. A fluent English speaker -- Ban holds a master's degree in public administration at Harvard and has held a number of posts focusing on U.N. related issues. Ban became minister after political infighting between the presidential Blue House and the ministry over differences on opinions on how closely to align Seoul to Washington. Analysts said he was seen as a man who would not ruffle feathers but had enough experience to handle the role as the country's top diplomat. Last week in a speech in New York, Ban pledged to play a more visible role in the Middle East and other regional conflicts, if elected. Ban, 62, would be the eighth secretary-general in the world body's 60-year history. He will inherit a bureaucracy of 9,000 staff, a $5 billion budget and more than 90,000 peacekeepers in 18 operations around the globe that cost another $5 billion.

ITN Source | October 9, 2006

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