Article from the New York Times about Ban's chances for UN position:

October 9, 2006

South Korean Won’t Need to Wait Long, or Look Far, for First Crisis as U.N. Chief

By CHOE SANG-HUN and MARTIN FACKLER


SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 8 — Ban Ki-moon, the soft-spoken South Korean foreign minister, has spent much of his 35-year career steering his country between its biggest ally, the United States, and its biggest threat, North Korea. Now, on the eve of his confirmation as the next United Nations secretary general, he is preparing to take on the North Korea portfolio on behalf of the world.

With North Korea threatening to test a nuclear weapon, the next secretary general could face an early challenge to help defuse a standoff and coax North Korea to return to the bargaining table. He would also be called on to mend estranged relations with the United States, the largest donor to the United Nations, which have grown more strained with the war in Iraq.

So far, Mr. Ban has been characteristically reserved about disclosing what he might do as secretary general. He has said, though, that he would try to play a more vocal role than the current secretary general, Kofi Annan, in trying to persuade North Korea to end its nuclear program. He has also said he may depart from his predecessor’s path by engaging North Korea in personal diplomacy.

“I plan to go to North Korea as soon as I get the chance,” Mr. Ban, who is 62, was quoted as saying last Tuesday by the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. “Secretary General Kofi Annan has never visited North Korea during his 10-year term.”

The selection of Mr. Ban to lead the United Nations would place a seasoned diplomat at the helm of a sprawling organization with an annual budget of $5 billion and a presence in every corner of the globe, including 92,000 blue-helmeted peacekeepers, according to the latest figures from Jean-Marie Guéhenno, under secretary general for peacekeeping.

Mr. Ban would also take over an organization reeling from criticism over mismanagement of the oil-for-food program in Iraq, reported sexual misconduct by peacekeepers and accusations of opaque and inefficient financial practices.

But the biggest challenge Mr. Ban may face as secretary general could be his own personality. While no one doubts the South Korean diplomat’s credentials, some have questioned whether his quiet, low-key manner is suited to the job. Known as a cautious consensus-builder, Mr. Ban would be taking a post with few formal powers, but one that has best served as a bully pulpit for swaying global public opinion.

“Personality is key for the success of any secretary general,” said Yasuhiko Yoshida, a former United Nations official who is now a professor of international relations at Osaka University of Economics and Law. “He must have a strong personality that is persuasive, to draw world attention to issues.”

In a recent interview, Mr. Ban bristled at suggestions that he may be too mild-mannered to bring about the necessary change at the United Nations. He defended his preference for building consensus, saying that when he wants to criticize something, he first tries to determine whether “7 out of 10 people” agree with him.

“Then I go and make my point very clearly,” he said, “because I know I am right.”

He added: “Some Westerners may say I look soft and not pushy. But I remind them that an unreasonably strong character doesn’t win respect.”

Having won the approval of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council last week , Mr. Ban appears certain to replace Mr. Annan of Ghana, who will step down as secretary general at the end of this year.

Mr. Ban won four informal polls in the Security Council, coming out ahead of six other candidates. They all withdrew their names last week to clear the way for the formal selection of Mr. Ban by the Council on Monday. His name then goes to the 192-member General Assembly for approval. He would take office on Jan. 1.

South Korea has reacted with pride to Mr. Ban’s apparently successful candidacy. In his hometown, Chungju, in the nation’s center, people hung banners proclaiming him “the favorite son of Chungju, the favorite son of the world!”

Mr. Ban has risen in the estimation of diplomats with a combination of talent and quiet tenacity. As a teenager in 1962, he scored at the top of an English-language speech contest in South Korea, winning him a trip to the White House to meet President Kennedy. He said the visit only firmed up his resolve to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a diplomat.

Han Seung-soo, a former South Korean foreign minister who has worked with Mr. Ban, described him as a gifted diplomat whose mild manner disguised an ability “to make a very tough decision.”

North Korea is already emerging as the first big crisis Mr. Ban could face. Last Tuesday, it escalated tensions by announcing that it would test its first nuclear bomb, provoking strong international condemnation.

As secretary general, Mr. Ban would have to assume a role different from the one he has played as South Korea’s top diplomat. Since becoming foreign minister two years ago, he has not always seen eye to eye with the United States on the North Korean weapons program.

Mr. Ban has been an advocate of the policy of the South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, who has favored engaging North Korea in dialogue and using economic incentives to entice it to compromise. At times, this has put him at odds with the United States, which supports a tougher approach.

“His experience and position as South Korean foreign minister is quite different from his position as secretary general,” said Soh Chang-rok, a professor at Korea University in Seoul, because Mr. Ban must “act as a global public official with a neutral stance.”

Mr. Ban is familiar with the United Nations, where he served for four years early in his career as first secretary at the South Korean mission, beginning in 1974. He has also worked at his country’s embassy in Washington, and as director of the North American department of the Foreign Ministry.

He will need those American contacts to improve the United Nations’ ties with the government in Washington, which frayed after the American-led attack on Iraq. Mr. Ban has also promised to mediate disagreements between the United States and third-world member countries. In what seems to be a nod to one of America’s concerns, he has vowed to clean up the United Nations’ financial management.

“I also know the criticism about inefficiency and corruption,” he said. “Through reform, the United Nations must be reborn as a viable and efficient organization so that it can properly deal with the challenges it faces in the 21st century.”

Choe Sang-Hun reported from Seoul, and Martin Fackler from Hiroshima, Japan.

oh please , get the UN to invade NK and take taht motehrfu-ker kim jong il to be executed.

From the way Americans talk of Ban, he's definitely has the position in the bag. I think he will definitely work to diffuse the crisis that make it worse.

Invade a confirmed nuke state? The UN is never going to do that even IF PRC and Russia does not hold the veto vote in the Security Council.

^agreed. I believe the purspose of UN is peacekeeping, not go to war.

UN is a joke. basically an arm of the U.S.

^doesn't mean that they aren't effective

Good Luck Mr.Ban and Congratulations to Asia .

Security Council has just nominated Ban to be next UN Chief. Now he just needs General Assembly approval!


U.N. Taps South Korean As Next Leader
From Associated Press
October 09, 2006 9:42 AM EDT
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council officially nominated South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Monday as the next secretary-general, and he said he would work to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Under the U.N. Charter, the 15-member Security Council makes a recommendation for the next secretary-general to the 192-member General Assembly, which must give final approval.

"The Security Council has just recommended to the General Assembly that Mr. Ban Ki-moon be appointed secretary-general of the United Nations" on Jan. 1 when Secretary-General Kofi Annan's second five-year term expires, Japan's U.N. Ambassador Kenzo Oshima told reporters after the council voted at a private meeting.

In Seoul, Ban expressed gratitude for being nominated and said he would work to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program after the communist country conducted an unprecedented atomic test.

If appointed to the top job at the global body, Ban said he would "contribute as much as I can to the resolution of all kinds of problems including the North Korean nuclear issue that may threaten international peace and security."

Ban was nominated by the U.N. Security Council to succeed Kofi Annan, whose term expires at the end of the year. He faces likely confirmation for the job by the U.N. General Assembly.

More information on Ban's nomination---


South Korean’s Rise to U.N. Chief Is Overshadowed

By WARREN HOGE


UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 9 — The Security Council today officially nominated Ban Ki-moon, the foreign minister of South Korea, to become secretary general of the United Nations on Jan. 1.

In a news conference in Seoul, Mr. Ban said the decision was an honor for him and his country. But he added, “This should be a moment of joy, but instead I stand here with a very heavy heart. Despite the concerted warning from the international community, North Korea has gone ahead with a nuclear test.”

Kenzo Oshima, the ambassador of Japan, the council president, announced that Mr. Ban had been approved by the 15 members by acclamation.

His nomination had been assured after he won four informal polls of the council over the summer, leading to the withdrawal last week of the six other candidates in the race.

Mr. Ban, 62, will succeed Kofi Annan, who retires Dec. 31 after two five-year terms in office. Mr. Annan released a statement affirming “the highest respect for Mr. Ban” and pledging to help insure a smooth transition.

Soft- spoken and retiring, Mr. Ban presents a sharp contrast to Mr. Annan, who won a Nobel Peace Prize, made pronouncements on violations of international law and gained diplomatic rock star status before the mismanagement of the oil-for-food program, sexual exploitation by blue-helmeted peacekeepers and scandals in the United Nations procurement office tarnished his reputation during his second term.

The council took its scheduled action on Mr. Ban before convening an emergency meeting on the apparent North Korean nuclear test, and Mr. Oshima noted, “I think the fact the candidate is current foreign minister of the Republic of Korea is an asset in dealing with the situation in the Korean peninsula that we are facing.”

In a similar reference, John R. Bolton, the American ambassador, said, “It’s really quite an appropriate juxtaposition that today, 61 years after the temporary division of the Korean Peninsula at the end of World War II, that we’re electing a foreign minister of South Korea secretary general of this organization and meeting, as well, to consider the testing by the North Koreans of a nuclear device.”

He said, “I can’t think of a better way to show the difference in the progress that those two countries — great progress in the south and great tragedy in the north.”

Mr. Oshima said he was sending a letter today to the 192-member General Assembly, which, under the United Nations Charter, is responsible for appointing a new secretary general on receiving the choice of the Security Council.

“I think we are going to have a good, strong secretary general,” Mr. Oshima said.

The General Assembly will draw up its own resolution on the subject and circulate it to the membership for action, expected before the end of the week.

Only a simple majority is required for approval, and the last four secretaries general were appointed by the General Assembly through a resolution adopted by consensus, without a vote. The assembly has never rejected the Security Council’s selection.

In Seoul, Mr. Ban said he would “contribute as much as I can to the resolution of all kinds of problems including the North Koran nuclear issue that may threaten international peace and security.”

In campaigning for the job, Mr. Ban offered himself as a secretary general who would focus on the need to overhaul the management of the United Nations, a priority of the United States and its allies, the need to guarantee human rights and the special responsibilities the world body had to the developing world.

Saying the United Nations had not “lived up to the expectations of the international community in terms of efficiency, transparency and accountability,” Mr. Ban declared, “I will do my best to make the U.N. secretariat reborn into a more relevant and efficient organization. I promise to help the secretariat operate more efficiently, promote harmony by eradicating mistrust at the secretariat and among member states and get rid of overlapping duties as much as I can among U.N. agencies.”

He said, “I will show that the U.N. keeps it promises.”

Choe Sang-Hun contributed reporting from Seoul, South Korea.