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Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon comfortably won the fourth and last straw poll in the UN Security Council on Monday, winning 14 votes in favor, including all five permanent members, from 15 nations participating in the vote. He also won the previous three since July. UN officials said it was almost certain that Ban would be elected as the eighth UN secretary-general when the official vote in the Security Council is held on Oct. 9 and the General Assembly accepts the result.
The secretary-general represents the UN¡¯s 192 members and serves as the head of the Secretariat, which takes care of all work that is done in the world body. Ban¡¯s election to such a post would not only be a personal honor but also a splendid achievement in the nation¡¯s diplomatic history that every Korean should celebrate.
South Korea was established when the first general election was held in 1948 under UN observation, and we were able to beat back North Korea¡¯s military and protect our free and democratic society thanks to a UN resolution to sent troops to help us. The tragic division of the peninsula in the Cold War prevented both Koreas from joining the UN for a long time, but we did at last in 1991. Currently, South Korea ranks 11th in terms of financial contributions and 10th in terms of peacekeeping operations, which shows our improved standing in the organization.
Every one of us should actively support Ban so that the UN secretary-general can make strides on the global diplomatic stage, not least to give back some of what we received from the UN to the rest of the world. To achieve that, we need to let Ban work freely as a global citizen, not confined to national boundaries. The UN chief has an obligation to work closely not only with UN organizations but also with leaders of countries around the world to address complicated issues including terrorism, regional conflicts, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and drugs, environmental and water problems. He needs to be a fair mediator between rich and poor nations, Christian and Muslim and Asia and Europe/America. We hope that Ban, as the UN secretary-general, will set an example of open globalism in the 21st century, and by doing so let the lingering ice of the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula melt away and bring North Korea out into the world.
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