WASHINGTON/JEDDAH, 10 October 2006 — The United Nations Security Council officially nominated South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to be the world body’s eighth secretary-general in a formal vote in New York, the council president announced yesterday.
Ban’s name will now be sent to the General Assembly for ratification. That body, consisting of all 192 UN members, is scheduled to make Ban’s election official within a month.
If elected, of which there’s little doubt, Ban will take office Jan. 1, succeeding Kofi Annan, 68, of Ghana, and serve a five-year term.
Starting now, Ban will need to hone his diplomatic skills of 35 years. Announcement of his nomination came on the same day that his country’s rival, North Korea, said it had conducted an underground nuclear test, thus ensuring that the new secretary-general will face difficult challenges as soon as he takes office. It will be interesting to see how Ban deals with North Korea. As South Korea’s top diplomat, he has not always agreed with the United States on the North Korean weapons program. Instead of the tough talk that the US favors, Ban has pushed to engage North Korea in dialogue and to use economic incentives to entice it to compromise.
Ban told reporters that, unlike his predecessor, he wants to try personal diplomacy. “I plan to go to North Korea as soon as I get the chance,” he said.
The 62-year-old is a self-described “harmonizer” and consensus-builder, even if that means being deliberately bland and decidedly cautious.
“He’s not a guy who gets drunk at parties; I haven’t seen him shoot a hole-in-one at the golf course; I haven’t heard him sing karaoke. He doesn’t have a lot of charisma. He compensates for that with competence,” Donald Gregg, president of the Korea Society and a former US ambassador to South Korea, told reporters.
Some observers are already questioning whether Ban’s quiet, low-key manner is suited for the job, saying the UN boss needs a strong personality to draw world attention to issues.
Koreans working in Saudi Arabia expressed happiness over the nomination of Ban for the UN top job. South Korean Ambassador Lee Jae-gil said Ban is just the sort of candidate the permanent five UN members are looking for. He said Ban has been a strong supporter of the Middle East peace process.
“The appointment of Ban is a recognition of Seoul’s economic and political achievements regionally and globally,” said Soung Hyup-jwa, planning engineer at Samsung Saudi Arabia Ltd. C. C. Hong, an executive working for a local company, said Ban has been a highly respected figure on the Korean Peninsula and has made great contribution to the peace and security in the region.
Ban defeated six other candidates vying for the job — UN Undersecretary-General Shashi Tharoor, 50, of India; Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, 47; Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, Jordan’s ambassador to the UN; Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, 69; and former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, 57.
