Global21 Profile: Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

As Kofi Annan's ten year term as Secretary General of the United Nations draws to an end, the world greets Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean Foreign Minister, as his replacement. Ban's election is a major change for the UN in several ways. He will be the first Secretary General from a country that has strong military ties to the U.S., and also the first from an Asian nation in more than 30 years. Ban's leadership style is also anticipated to be drastically different from that of his predecessor. While many praise Ban's "typically Asian" style, others wonder if this quiet, underwhelming man can take on the job that Annan has called "the most impossible task in the world."

	http://www.flickr.com/photos/elmina/283956322/

Despite concerns, Ban is confident that he will be a successful global leader. Ban was born in a tiny village in Chungcheong province on June 13, 1944, the year before Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation. Directly following its independence, the penninsula was torn. North of the 38th parallel was protected by Soviet forces and the south by the Americans. Half a decade later, the three year Korean War left South Korea in a state of extreme poverty. A mere 60 years later, the international community is astounded that South Korea has become one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world. "Confidence in the face of adversity comes naturally to Koreans. We Koreans have quite literally risen from the ashes of war," Ban said in May in front of the Council on Foreign Relations. "We have done so through hard work, commitment, dedication and the help of friends, particularly the United Nations. Now we stand ready to pay back what we have owed".

The US initially preferred either Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga or former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani for UN Secretary General, but both were vetoed by other permanent Security Council members. Washington's reluctance to support Ban was due in part to South Korea's growing ties with China and to Seoul's "sunshine policy" towards Pyongyang. U.S. analysts point out that China supports Ban for it believes he will be able to counter U.S. influence. On the other hand, others believe that Washington eventually decided to support Ban because he is seen as as someone they can easily influence. In an interview with Newsweek last month, former U.S. Ambassador William H. Luers, now president of The United Nations Association of the United States of America said, "I don't think the U.S. wants a terribly strong, overly assertive secretary general. It causes problems for them. They want somebody they think they can work with. And I suspect [Ban] fills all those criteria."

In response to such criticism, the 62-year-old Ban told the Financial Times that he should not be underestimated: "I might look soft on the outside but I'm a man of strong inner strength-otherwise I could not have done all that I have." Even in "workaholic Korea," Ban's dedication to his job is legendary. As minister, Ban's schedule is broken down into five-minute blocks. He sleeps for five hours a night and claims never to have been late to work in his life. In the 33 months that he has been foreign minister, an eternity in South Korean politics, he has taken only a couple of days off, for his youngest daughter's wedding. Another one of Ban's most noticable qualities is inoffensiveness. He has spent 36 years as a diplomat, almost all of them outside the spotlight. Ban admitted to the Financial Times that he was "annoyed" by the suggestion that he suffers from a charisma deficit. "This is my style-I respect others before putting myself forward," he said, adding that in Asian culture, such modesty is considered a real virtue. It is anticipated that with Ban as Secretary General, most major deals will happen behind closed doors. There will be no grand media gestures. While this will attract less attention to the UN, Ban should be able to actually achieve goals in a truly professional diplomatic fashion.

As Secretary General, Ban will certainly face no shortage of challenges. These include bridging the growing divide between the old Security Council permanent members and the increasingly powerful countries such as India, Japan, and Germany who wish to have more influence. Ban's political agenda should also focus on the renewal of the Middle East peace process. Crises in Darfur, eastern Congo, Kosovo, Iran and North Korea will all test the new Secretary General. Indeed, a major concern about having a South Korean Secretary General is the North Korean question. The UN must be able to approach the North Korean crisis from a neutral perspective. When asked in an interview with Time whether it will be more difficult for him as a South Korean to deal neutrally with North Korea, or for other countries to trust his impartiality, Ban responded that "having known all the history and background and having known people in both the South and North, I can do a much better job [on the North Korean issue] than any other person."

Ban also made it clear that he will pay close attention to promoting peace and security to the Korean peninsula. He said, "Nobody in the United Nations can blame me for such an attitude." The North Korean crisis has surprisingly been ignored by the international community up until now. Even the UN has paid closer attention to more "lucrative" crises such as Iraq through the Oil-for-Food program. While it is unlikely that the North Korean crisis will be easily resolved, the Korean people welcome a Secretary General who has the motivation and initiative to finally make North Korea the priority of his tenure at the UN. Ban has already made it official that he hopes to travel to Pyongyang, something his predecessor, Kofi Annan, never had a chance to do during his 10 years in the post.

Another criticism that Ban faces is that since he has became foreign minister in 2004, South Korea's relations with Japan, the U.S., North Korea and China have all worsened. In an interview with Time magazine in October, 2006, Ban responded to such criticism by stating that in fact Korea's relations with its neighboring countries and the U.S. are actually "sound and healthy." He said that the U.S. and South Korea are currently going through what he called a very important realignment in their relationship. He said that as South Korea has matured politically, democratically, and economically, the Korean people wish to have a more mutually beneficial relationship with the United States. According to Ban, the only reason that U.S.-South Korean relations currently seem unstable is due to various difficulties that South Korea is running into in reaching such a status.

On the other hand, Ban acknowledged the deteriorating relationship between South Korea and Japan. However, he told Time that it is unfair for any responsibility to be levied on South Korea as the state of their relationship is a direct result of Japan's insincere attitude toward past history issues. Ban referred to Prime Minister Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class-A war criminals are honored, as well as Japanese history textbooks that outraged East Asian nations by omitting facts about Japan's past. Even Ban, known to be soft spoken, does not hesitate to criticize Japan for its disrespectful attitude towards other East Asian nations. It remains to be seen how Ban will handle this on-going Cold War between Japan and its neighboring nations.

Charles Hill, former special consultant on policy to former U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, is optimistic. He said, "Mr. Ban is well-prepared to become one of the most outstanding Secretary Generals ever." Hill also said that the only reforms that the UN needs at this time are managerial reforms, such as auditing, personnel management, and executive accountability. He explained, "The big reforms that the media likes to focus on, such as changes in the membership of the Security Council, simply are not possible in the foreseeable future because every reform proposed creates an automatic coalition of member states to block it." Hill criticized Annan for making promises about the UN that he could not keep. So far Ban has not promised any major structural changes in the United Nations. Many experts see this as a winning strategy.

Ban has said that he was inspired to become a diplomat when he met former US President John F. Kennedy. They met when Ban won a competition for a Red Cross-sponsored grant to travel to the U.S. for a few months in 1962 as a high school student. Ban has certainly come a long way, through times of war and poverty, and has made it to the top job in every diplomat's dream. He has the next five years to prove that he, the "Teflon diplomat," has what it takes to make a difference in the world.