Ban Ki-moon

Related Category: United Nations: Biographies

(bän kē-m

n), 1944–, South Korean diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (2007–), b. Chungju, grad. Seoul National Univ. (B.S., 1970), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard (M.P.A., 1985). A career diplomat, Ban held a series of posts in the South Korean foreign ministry and in its embassies abroad, including ambassador to Austria (1998–2000) and to the United Nations (2001–2) and minister of foreign affairs and trade (2004–6). In 2006 he was elected to succeed Kofi Annan as UN secretary-general.