South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon declares his bid for U.N. secretary-general in Seoul on Feb. 14

Ban is among Asian candidates vying to succeed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose term expires at the end of the year. But Ban had not previously announced his bid publicly.

Ban has "nearly four decades of extensive experience and an untarnished reputation as a diplomat and administrator, much of it directly relating to issues of peace and security, development and human rights and democracy, the three pillars on which the United Nations stands," said Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.

Asian countries believe the next secretary-general should come from their continent as part of a traditional rotation among regions for the top U.N. job every 10 years.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 18, 2006
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