South Korean Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon was officially nominated as the next United Nations Secretary General on October 9 through a 15-nation Security Council ballot.

The recommendation was due to go to the 192 members of the General Assembly for confirmation on October 13, making it a virtual certainty that Ban will replace Kofi Annan as the eighth secretary general next January, when the current incumbent's second term expires on December 31.

Ban, 62, dreamed of being a diplomat since his 18th birthday, after a meeting with the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy at the White House. Later he earned a master degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and has since served in several posts in the South Korean diplomatic service. Since 2004, he has been the foreign minister of the Roh Moo Hyun administration.

Seen as a "soft-spoken" and low-key leader by Western media, Ban was recently quoted in the International Herald Tribune as saying: "Some Westerners don't seem to fully understand the Asian leadership virtue of being tender in appearance and resolute in mind."

That resoluteness will be needed to handle the pile of issues on his very full plate. Ban is currently dealing with several thorny diplomatic issues, including the nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea, the continuity of UN management reform, the realization of the Millennium Development Goals, and the human rights protection work such as aid to refugees left by war and regional conflicts.