S Korean aims to be Annan's successor

By Anna Fifield 
February 15, 2006
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/45fdcb18-9dc8-11da-b1c6-0000779e2340.html

South Korea yesterday confirmed it would nominate Ban Ki-moon, its foreign minister, to succeed Kofi Annan as United Nations secretary-general.
Mr Ban joins other declared candidates Surakiart Sathirathai, the Thai deputy prime minister, and Sri Lanka's Jayantha Dhanapala in a contest Asia believes it should win.
Mr Ban, a 36-year veteran of South Korea's foreign service was chef de cabinet when his compatriot Han Seung-soo was president of the UN general assembly in 2001-02.
Mr Ban said Seoul had notified the foreign ministers of all UN member countries, including North Korea, of his candidacy.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Ban, a former ambassador to the UN and Austria, said the UN needed wide-ranging reform.
During its 60 years of existence, the UN has had the primary responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in the world, as well as helping developing countries of the world to overcome their economic difficulties, and supporting human rights and democracy.
However, globalisation is widening and deepening, and there are also new threats such as terrorism, widespread diseases like HIV/Aids, Sars and avian flu, and also narcotics and human trafficking. All of these are new threats that the international community should address with full co-ordination, he said.
Mr Annan's second five-year term ends on December 31 but a replacement is not expected to be named until the end of the year.
The selection of the secretary-general is an opaque process, without formal interviews, where winners can appear out of the blue.
Asia believes it is its turn to provide the world's top diplomat, in terms of the tradition of regional rotation, a view supported by China and Russia. Asia has not held the job since Burma'sU Thant retired in 1971.
But eastern Europe has also staked its claim. Likely contenders include Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the Latvian president, and Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former Polish president.