United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, South Korea (Maig 2024)
Ban Ki-Moon, (nascut el 13 de juny de 1944, Ŭmsŏng, Corea ocupada per japonesos [ara a Corea del Sud]), diplomàtic i polític sud-coreà, que va ocupar el vuitè secretari general (2007–16) de les Nacions Unides (ONU).
Test
Coneix Àsia
Quin és el riu més llarg d’Àsia?
Als 18 anys, Ban va guanyar una competició que el va portar a la Casa Blanca per trobar-se amb la pres dels Estats Units. John F. Kennedy, una visita que Ban va declarar va inspirar la seva carrera pública. Va obtenir el títol de batxillerat (1970) en relacions internacionals per la Universitat Nacional de Seül i va obtenir un màster (1985) a la John F. Kennedy School of Government de la Universitat de Harvard. Després d’entrar al servei d’exteriors de Corea del Sud el 1970, va exercir de conseller a l’ambaixada a Washington, DC (1987–90), director d’afers nord-americans del Ministeri d’Afers Exteriors (1990–92), viceministre d’afers exteriors (1995–96), i conseller de seguretat nacional del president (1996–98). Després d'una etapa d'ambaixador a Àustria (1998-2000), Ban va tornar a Seül com a viceministre d'Afers Exteriors (2000–01). El 2003 es va convertir en assessor de política exterior del nou president, Roh Moo Hyun.Com a ministre d'Afers Exteriors i Comerç de 2004 a 2006, Ban va tenir un paper clau en les converses de sis partits destinades a desnuclearitzar Corea del Nord.
Ban’s UN experience began in 1975 when he became a staff member of the UN division of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul. In the late 1970s, when South Korea had only observer status, Ban was posted to the South Korean mission to the UN. In 1999 he served as chairman of the preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. Ban also led the cabinet of the president of the UN General Assembly during South Korea’s tenure of the rotating presidency in 2001–02, the critical period following the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 (see September 11 attacks).
On October 13, 2006, just days after North Korea tested a nuclear weapon, Ban was named UN secretary-general-elect. Though Ban’s quiet demeanour led some observers to question his ability to take on the daunting challenges facing the UN, others characterized him as an astute consensus builder who would be able to work effectively with both the Americans and the Chinese. Ban succeeded Kofi Annan on January 1, 2007, becoming the first Asian to serve as UN secretary-general since Burmese statesman U Thant held the office (1962–71). Ban faced a number of challenges, including the North Korean and Iranian nuclear threats, troubles in the Middle East, and the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Reform of the UN itself was also a major issue. In 2011 Ban was elected to a second term.
His second term saw Ban deal with a number of crises, particularly in the Middle East, such as the Syrian Civil War and fallout from the various movements of the Arab Spring. In addition, he had to cope with the international turmoil over Russia’s forcible annexation of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea in 2014. The responses that the UN made to those crises were often criticized as being too slow or ineffectual, and his second term as secretary-general was widely perceived as having been far less successful than his first when it ended on December 31, 2016.
In 2017 Ban became chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission. The following year he cofounded the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens.
