Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade between 2004 and 2006. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations; he began to campaign for the office in February 2006. As the foreign minister of South Korea, he was able to travel to all the countries on the United Nations Security Council, a manoeuvre that subsequently turned him into the campaign's front-runner.
Ban in 2016
Ban, left, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January 2006
Left to right: Peter Krämer, Yoo Soon-taek, Jaka Bizilj, and Ban at Sports for Peace in July 2010
Ban Ki-moon with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Moscow in April 2008
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The Secretariat Building is a 154-metre-tall (505 ft) skyscraper and the centerpiece of the Headquarters of the United Nations.
Image: Sr. Gladwyn Jebb
Image: Trygve Lie 1938
