On Monday, the UN Security Council nominated South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon to be the new UN Secretary General. Ki-moon, 62, who has served in his current post since January 2004, declared his candidacy to replace Kofi Annan as UN Secretary General in February 2006.
"We have supported the candidacy of South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon since his nomination," the ministry said in a statement. "We consider him a highly skilled professional who is able to successfully implement the duties of the UN Secretary General. We expect that the UN General Assembly will make a decision on the appointment of Ban Ki-moon as the UN Secretary General by the end of this week."
After four straw polls conducted by the UN Security Council, Ban Ki-moon remained the only candidate with support from all five permanent members, each of whom has the power to veto candidates.
The ministry also said that since the beginning of the search for a candidate to replace the current UN chief, Kofi Annan, Russia had been advocating an Asian representative to the post.
"We are satisfied with the outcome," the ministry added.
