Here’s a look at the life of Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations.
Personal
Birth date: June 13,1944
Birth place: Chunchongbuk-do Umsong, Republic of Korea
Birth name: Ban Ki-moon
Parents: Names unavailable publicly
Marriage: Yoo Soon-taek (1971-present)
Children: Hyun-hee, Woo-hyun and Seon-yong
Education: Seoul National University, B.A., 1970; Harvard University, M.A., 1985
Other Facts
Name is pronounced Bahn Gi-moon, with the K uttered as a hard “g.”
As a teen, he won a Red Cross-sponsored trip to the United States. He met President John F. Kennedy and decided then that he wanted to become a diplomat.
Timeline
1970 - Passes the South Korean Foreign Service exam.
1972-1974 - Vice-consul, South Korean Consulate General in India.
1974-1978 - Second secretary, South Korean Embassy in India.
1978-1980 - Secretary, South Korean Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
1987-1990 - Consul general, South Korean Embassy to the United States.
1992-1995 - Minister, South Korean Embassy to the United States.
1996 - National security adviser to South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
1998-2000 - South Korean ambassador to Austria.
1999 - Chairman of the preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.
2001-2002 - Chef de cabinet during the South Korean presidency of the UN General Assembly.
2003 - Foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
January 2004 - Appointed South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
February 14, 2006 - Officially declares his candidacy for secretary-general.
October 9, 2006 - Formally nominated by the United Nations Security Council to be the next secretary-general, replacing Kofi Annan.
October 13, 2006 - Appointed by the UN General Assembly.
January 1, 2007-December 31, 2016 - Serves as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations.
March 22, 2007 - Makes an unannounced visit to Baghdad, Iraq, to meet with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. During a live news conference with Maliki in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a rocket hits just outside the room.
January 20, 2009 - Tours the burned-out ruins of the UN compound in Gaza City which was destroyed by an Israeli bomb.
June 21, 2011 - Ban is appointed to a second term as UN secretary-general, by acclamation.
December 9, 2011 - Ban pays an unannounced visit to Mogadishu, the first time a UN chief has visited Somalia in nearly 20 years.
April 30, 2012 - Addresses Myanmar’s Parliament, becoming the first foreigner to do so since military rule began in 1962.
August 29-31, 2012 - Visits Tehran, Iran, for a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.
January 2014 - Invites Iran to attend the Geneva Conference on Syria. The Syrian opposition threatens not to attend the meeting if Iran takes part. The Iranian invitation is withdrawn.
March 2014 - Meets with members of political parties in Kyiv, Ukraine.
December 12, 2015 - At the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, 195 representatives pledge to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. Ban, who has made climate change one of his priorities, applauds the “Paris Agreement.”
June 30, 2017 - Is announced as a new member of The Elders, a group of elder statesmen from around the world that work to solve global problems.
September 14, 2017 - Ban is elected chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission.
February 20, 2018 - Ban is elected president of the Assembly and chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute.
April 9, 2018 - Ban is elected chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia.
January 2018 - The Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens is established. The Center is co-chaired by Ban and Heinz Fischer.
October 16, 2018 - Bill Gates, World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva, and Ban launch the Global Commission on Adaptation.
February 5, 2020 - Ban is awarded the Sunhak Peace Prize during the World Summit 2020 General Assembly.
February 18, 2024 - “The Quiet Diplomat,” a documtary about Ban premieres at The World Forum in Berlin.
