Ban Ki-moon Fast Facts
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 US in Washington, DC.
1992-1995 – Minister, South Korean Embassy to the US.
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 the 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 the 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 Kiev, Ukraine.
December 12, 2015 – 195 representatives at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) 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” and says “the work starts tomorrow.”
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 (BFA).
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.
