Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-Moon became the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations in December 2006. He had been Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea, having first worked with the Ministry's United Nations Division in 1975, and has worked with the UN throughout his diplomatic career.

International work

(CC) Photo: UN
Ban pays tribute after death of US Senator Kennedy in 2009.

In 1999, he served as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. In 2001-2002, as Chef de Cabinet during the Republic of Korea's presidency of the United Nations General Assembly, he facilitated the prompt adoption of the first resolution of the session, condemning the 9/11 Attack, and undertook a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening the Assembly's functioning.

Inter-Korean relations

Mr. Ban has also been actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relations. In 1992, as Special Adviser to the Foreign Minister, he served as Vice-Chair of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission following the adoption of the historic Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In September 2005, as Foreign Minister, he introduced a Joint Statement to the Six-Party Talks.

Early life

Ban Ki-moon was born in 1944 in the city of Chungju, Korea. He studied at Seoul National University and received a bachelor's degree in international relations in 1970.

In 1985 Ban Ki-moon was awarded a Master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.