Mr. Ban Ki-moon re-elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations

Early this morning (June 22, Vietnam time), 192 member countries of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously elected Mr. Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General for a second five-year term. His new term will begin on January 1, 2012 and end in 2006.

International news agencies said that the 57-year-old former South Korean Foreign Minister had no rivals in the competition for this position. Mr. Ban Ki-moon received the support of all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon was born in Chungju, Chungcheong Province, southwest of Seoul, South Korea. He graduated with a degree in International Relations from Seoul National University and went on to study for a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

After graduating from university, he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. In 2001, during the 56th session of the United Nations General Assembly, when Korea held the rotating presidency, he was unexpectedly selected to serve as Chief of Staff to President Han Seung-soo.

In 2003, he was appointed by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun as a foreign affairs adviser and a year later became Foreign Minister. On June 13, 2006, he was elected as Kofi Annan's successor, becoming the first Korean to serve as Secretary-General of the United Nations and the second Asian to do so.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon has been the Secretary-General of the United Nations since January 2007. During his tenure, he has been criticized for being unpopular and lacking charisma. But he has also been praised for his dedication to addressing issues of women and nuclear disarmament.

In particular, recently, Western countries have highly appreciated the UN Secretary General's tough stance on anti-government protests in the Arab world in recent months.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon's most notable achievement was in September 2009, when, in an unprecedented move, he strongly called on world leaders to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Speaking after his re-election, Mr. Ban Ki-moon said that the United Nations is now at the forefront of more conflict-fighting fronts than at any time in the past. He emphasized that world leaders need to coordinate their actions more to protect people and contribute to building peace in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East...

The former South Korean Foreign Minister also appreciated the United Nations' efforts in the fields of climate change and nuclear disarmament.

US President Barack Obama has welcomed Mr. Ban's re-election. The US government appreciates that Mr. Ban Ki-moon has implemented many important reforms and led this international organization to play an important role in crises and challenges around the world.

On the same day, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton welcomed Ban Ki-moon's re-election. China also sent congratulations to the UN Secretary-General and said it would continue to support his work with the UN.

According to VnEconomy