Ban Ki-moon

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Person.png Ban Ki-moon  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Ban Ki-moon.jpg
Born13 June 1944
Onnan Township, Injō County, Chūseihoku Province, Japanese Korea
NationalitySouth Korean
Alma materSeoul National University, Harvard University
Children3
SpouseYoo Soon-taek
Member ofAtlantic Council/Distinguished Leadership Awards, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
8th UN Secretary General

Employment.png Secretary-General of the United Nations

In office
1 January 2007 - 31 December 2016
EmployerUnited Nations
DeputyJan Eliasson
Preceded byKofi Annan
Succeeded byAntónio Guterres

Employment.png South Korea/Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade

In office
17 January 2004 - 1 December 2006

Ban Ki-moon is a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006, having previously been a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ban was said to have struggled in his first month to adjust to the culture of the UN, but quickly found his bearings and passed several major reforms on peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with US President George W. Bush, and on the Darfur conflict, where he helped persuade Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan.[1]

On 21 June 2011, Ban was unanimously re-elected by the General Assembly to serve until 31 December 2016,[2] when he will be succeeded by Portugal's António Guterres.[3]

In August 2016, declaring "this may be our last chance to find the truth", Ban Ki-moon called for the appointment of “eminent person or persons” to pursue an investigation into the death of his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld in a mysterious 1961 air crash at Ndola in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia):

“Seeking a complete understanding of the circumstances is our solemn duty to my illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld, to the other members of the party accompanying him, and to their families.”[4]

Hammarskjöld Commission

Susan Williams' 2011 book "Who Killed Hammarskjöld?"

The Hammarskjöld Commission was established in July 2012 as a voluntary body of four international jurists who were invited by an international Enabling Committee to report whether, in their view, the evidence now available would justify the United Nations in reopening its inquiry into the cause of death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 1759 (XVII) of 26 October 1962.[5] The 2011 book by author Susan Williams entitled "Who Killed Hammarskjöld?" had argued that the plane was brought down, and prompted the diplomat's nephew Knut Hammarskjöld to call for a new inquiry.

The Hammarskjöld Commission's report, which was published on 9 September 2013, recommended that the United Nations should launch a new investigation into the crash, stating that the possibility that the plane was attacked from above, or that it was forced down due to threats, should be "taken seriously, despite everything". On 11 February 2014, the UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) reported that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had written to the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) requesting that the Hammarskjöld Commission's report should be included in the agenda of UNGA's current session since "new evidence has come to his attention."

A member of the Hammarskjöld Inquiry Trust, Karl Gustav Hammar, the former head of the Church of Sweden, welcomed the Secretary-General's initiative:

"My interpretation is that the Secretary-General wants the Member States to take an internal look and present whatever they may find in their archives," Archbishop Hammar says. "Since the Hammarskjöld Commission pointed to the US National Security Agency (NSA), I think Ban Ki-moon wants to decrease the pressure and ask: who knows anything at all? Now that the UN General Assembly will put the issue on its agenda, there will be a chance for a discussion," Hammar told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.[6]

E-petition

On 29 April 2014, an e-petition was created and recommended that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should propose extending the remit of the new UN Inquiry to cover the deaths of both Dag Hammarskjöld and Bernt Carlsson:

"Take action to investigate the deaths of UN Officials Dag Hammarskjöld and Bernt Carlsson!"[7]

On 19 May 2014, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that, because of the weight of evidence uncovered by Dr Susan Williams, UNGA had put the Hammarskjöld case on its agenda for discussion during its current session at a date to be arranged. As a result, a draft resolution to reopen the adjourned 1962 UN Inquiry could then be put to a vote by the General Assembly.[8]

 

Appointments by Ban Ki-moon

AppointeeJobAppointedEnd
Filippo GrandiUN/High Commissioner/Refugees1 January 2016
Margot WallströmUnited Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in ConflictApril 201022 June 2012

 

Events Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Munich Security Conference/20114 February 20116 February 2011Germany
Munich
Bavaria
The 47th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/201431 January 20142 February 2014Germany
Munich
Bavaria
The 50th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/202014 February 202016 February 2020Germany
Munich
Bavaria
The 56th Munich Security Conference, in 2020, "welcomed an unprecedented number of high-ranking international decision-makers."
Munich Security Conference/202416 February 202418 February 2024Germany
Munich
Bavaria
Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects
WEF/Annual Meeting/200625 January 200629 January 2006SwitzerlandBoth former US president Bill Clinton and Bill Gates pushed for public-private partnerships. Only a few of the over 2000 participants are known.
WEF/Annual Meeting/200823 January 200827 January 2008World Economic Forum
Switzerland
At the 2008 summit, Klaus Schwab called for a coordinated approach, where different 'stakeholders' collaborate across geographical, industrial, political and cultural boundaries."
WEF/Annual Meeting/200923 January 200927 January 2009World Economic Forum
Switzerland
Chairman Klaus Schwab outlined five objectives driving the Forum’s efforts to shape the global agenda, including letting the banks that caused the 2008 economic crisis keep writing the rules, the climate change agenda, over-national government structures, taking control over businesses with the stakeholder agenda, and a "new charter for the global economic order".
WEF/Annual Meeting/201323 January 201327 January 2013World Economic Forum
Switzerland
2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"
WEF/Annual Meeting/201422 January 201425 January 2014World Economic Forum
Switzerland
2604 guests in Davos considered "Reshaping The World"
WEF/Annual Meeting/201620 January 201623 January 2016World Economic Forum
Switzerland
Attended by over 2500 people, both leaders and followers, who were explained how the Fourth Industrial Revolution would changed everything, including being a "revolution of values".

 

Related Document

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Open letter to Ban Ki-Moon from Richard Falkopen letter7 February 2016Richard FalkOn-the-button open letter from Richard Falk to Ban Ki-moon about Israeli attacks on the latter for his modest, reasonable and accurate criticism of Israeli policy - Schadenfreude would be understandable in light of Richard Falks experience at Moon's hands.
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References

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