UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: biography, diplomatic activity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Pan Ki-moon - who is this? His name is often heard from TV screens in news releases. He was a South Korean diplomat and politician who led the country's Foreign Ministry from 2004-2006. Well, today Ban Ki-moon - who is it? From the beginning of 2007, he became the eighth UN Secretary General and continues to hold this position to the present.

Ban Ki-moon: biography

His nationality is Korean. As you know, now it is a divided people living in two states - North and South Korea. In which Korea was Ban Ki-moon born? His biography began in 1944 in the central part of South Korea, near the city of Chungju, when this entire country was still under the rule of the Japanese Empire. Pan's father was a merchant, had his own warehouse. As a child, he had to experience the horrors of the Korean War, when Pan's family was forced to flee from the North Korean army.

How did Ban Ki-moon live in the future? His biography turned out to be closely connected with the United States. In high school, he was the best student in learningin English. To practice speaking, the boy often walked a distance of 10 km to a local factory where American specialists worked. His success was confirmed when in 1962 he won a language competition and went to the United States for several months, where he also met with President John F. Kennedy. It was then that Pan decided to become a diplomat.

What did Ban Ki-moon do to realize his dream? His biography continued at the University of Seoul, from which he graduated in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in international relations. Later, already being a diplomat, he studied at the school. Kennedy, based at Harvard University, from which she graduated in 1985 with a master's degree in public administration.

How did Ban Ki-moon start his diplomatic career? His biography in the diplomatic field began under the military dictatorship of Pak Chung Hee (until 1979) and continued during the reign of President Chung Doo Hwan (1980-1988), who seized power after a military coup. Ban spent almost his entire long diplomatic career abroad, which allowed him to stay away from the vicissitudes of domestic politics.

Career Rungs

In which countries did Ban Ki-moon work? His biography as a diplomat dates back to 1972, when he took the post of vice consul in New Delhi. Two years later, he was appointed first secretary in the Permanent Observer Mission from his country to the UN (South Korea was not until 1991member of the UN, but had the status of a permanent observer). In November 1980, he received the position of head of the UN department at the South Korean Foreign Ministry. In 1987 and again in 1992 he was assigned to the embassy in Washington, and between these appointments he served as Foreign Office General Manager for American Affairs.

From 1993 to 1994, Ban was the Deputy Ambassador of South Korea to the United States.

In 1995, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Relations, and the following year he became the chief national security adviser to the South Korean President.

Conflict with the US and dismissal from service

He became ambassador to Austria and Slovenia in 1998, and a year later was also elected chairman of the commission working on the drafting of a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. In doing so, Ban made what he considers the biggest blunder of his career, signing an open letter from an international group of diplomats calling for the preservation of the ABM treaty shortly after the United States withdrew from the treaty. To avoid US anger, Ban Ki-moon was fired by President Kim Dae-jung, who also issued a public statement apologizing for the actions of the South Korean diplomat.

Resuming the diplomatic service

Thus, at the start of the new millennium, Ban found himself an unemployed diplomat awaiting assignment to a remote and unimportant embassy. But in 2001, during the 56th session of the UN General Assembly, at whichSouth Korea presided, to Ban's surprise, he was chosen as the chief of staff of Assembly Chairman Han Seung-soo. In 2003, newly elected President Roh Moo-hyun lifted Ban's "profession ban" and appointed him as one of his foreign policy advisors.

New rise and peak of career

In January 2004, Ban becomes Foreign Minister under President Roh Moo-hyun. In September 2005, he played an important role in the so-called Six-Party Talks in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear issue. After that, his government in January 2006 nominated Ban as a candidate for the election of the new UN Secretary General. He was elected to this post on October 13, 2006 by the UN General Assembly. On November 1, 2006, he resigned from the post of head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry, and on December 14, 2006, the new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took the oath.

Activities at the most important international diplomatic post

How did UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon perform after being elected to office? At his first press conference on January 2, 2007, he did not condemn (contrary to the expectations of many) the execution of Saddam Hussein, which took place three days earlier, and stated that the issue of using the death pen alty as a punishment for criminal offenses is a matter for each specific country. Pan has been criticized for this stance. With this in mind, he said in his speech in Washington two weeks later that the growing trend in international lawand domestic policy and practice is to phase out the use of the death pen alty.

March 22, 2007, he narrowly escaped death from a terrorist attack in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Only 50 meters from the building where the UN Secretary General spoke, a rocket exploded, leaving a funnel with a diameter of 1 m. His arrival was strictly secret, so it is assumed that the terrorists had an informer. To date, no terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In an interview with German media in July 2007 on the split in the UN over the legitimacy of the US military operation in Iraq, Ban Ki-moon said: "We should appreciate this contribution of the United States to the solution of the Iraq problem." This has been interpreted as a step away from his predecessor Kofi Annan's harsh criticism of US actions.

Ban visited the Darfur region in 2007 during the Sudanese crisis. After visiting the refugee camp, he was shocked by what he saw.

Ban Ki-moon became the first UN Secretary-General to take part in the mourning ceremony on August 6, 2010 on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. For the first time, the US ambassador was also there. The day before the ceremony, Ban Ki-moon met with the survivors of the nuclear explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and called at this meeting for the abandonment of all nuclear weapons so that their use becomes impossible in principle.

In June 2011, his candidacy was approved by the UN General Assembly for the post of Secretary General for a second term, and on 2012-01-01 this position was again officially taken by Ban Ki-moon. Photo of him, relating to this period,shown below.

His second term was marked by large-scale crises in the Arab world. Unfortunately, the efforts made by the UN Special Envoys for Syria, appointed by the Secretary General, were not crowned with success. On the issue of the crisis in Ukraine, the UN has not taken an active stance, at least, so far no noticeable initiative has been heard from it.

Pan Ki-moon: personal life

He has been married for 40 years to his former classmate Yoo Soon Taek, whom he met at school back in 1962, and has one son and two daughters. Speaks English, French, Italian, German and Japanese.