The UN Security Council adopted on Friday a resolution endorsing a second term for incumbent Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and recommended his candidacy for approval by the UN General Assembly, dpa reported.
The 15-nation council adopted the resolution by acclamation during a closed-door session, recommending that Ban be appointed for a second, five-year term starting January 1, 2012.
The assembly, which has 192 members, is scheduled to meet Tuesday in a plenary session to consider the recommendation. Its members are expected to approve the resolution.
Gabonese ambassador to the UN, Nelson Messone, who is the council president, confirmed the decision to reporters following the private meeting.
The council's recommendation is the first step in the process to select a secretary general. It requires that permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - agree on the selection.
The second step is approval by the General Assembly. Ban is the eighth UN secretary general since the world organization was established in San Francisco in 1945. All its secretary generals so far have been male.
Ban, 67, took the post on January 1, 2007, following 35 years in the diplomatic service of the South Korean government. He was a foreign minister before being elected to the UN post.
As South Korea's top diplomat, Ban was involved - albeit unsuccessfully - in dispute settlement efforts over North Korea's nuclear ambitions and in inter-Korean dialogue on various issues, including family reunions between North and South Korea.
Ban began his diplomatic career in New Delhi. He has also served at his country's embassy in Washington. He was director general of American affairs at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul from 1990 to 1992. In 1995, he became deputy minister for policy planning and then national security advisor to the South Korean president in 1996.
Ban received his bachelor's degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970, and earned a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985.
Ban is married to Yoo Soon-taek, whom he first met at high school in 1962. They have one son and two daughters. dpa tn ncs Author: JT Nguyen