The UN General Assembly was scheduled to meet Tuesday to re-elect incumbent Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a second five-year term beginning in 2012, DPA reported.
The expected decision by the 192-country assembly to keep Ban in his post was based on the unanimous recommendation by the UN Security Council last week. Ban went through the selection process without any bumps after the council's veto powers - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - gave him the nod.
Ban's current term expires on December 31. He is the eighth UN secretary general since the organization was established in 1945 after World War II. No women have held the post.
Ban, 67, began his first term at the top UN post on January 1, 2007. He had 35 years in the diplomatic service of the South Korean government and was a foreign minister before being elected UN secretary general.
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 and later served at his country's embassy in Washington. He was director general of American affairs at the foreign ministry in Seoul from 1990-92. 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 in 1985 at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Ban is married to Yoo Soon-taek, whom he first met at high school in 1962 and who has been his closest partner throughout his many career turns. They have one son and two daughters.