2006年VOA标准英语-Newsmaker Profile: Ban Ki-moon - UN Secretary-G

By Andre de Nesnera
Washington
07 November 2006

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon will succeed Kofi Annan as United Nations secretary-general on January 1.   

South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon gestures while answering questions at a press conference in Tokyo

The secretary-general of the United Nations is appointed to a five-year term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.  And in mid- October, the 192 U.N. member states adopted a resolution naming South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to the top U.N. post.

Mr. Ban becomes the eighth secretary-general in the U.N.'s 60-year history and is the first person to assume that position from Asia since U Thant of Burma, held the post from 1962 to 1971. Mr. Ban succeeds Kofi Annan of Ghana, who will retire at the end of December after a decade in office.

Donald Steinberg, U.N. expert with the International Crisis Group, says the Ban Ki-moon is a career diplomat¹.

"He's spent 35 years as a servant in the ministry² of foreign affairs and other departments within the [South] Korean government," Mr. Steinberg noted³.  "He's played some role at the United Nations in the past - he served there back in the 1970s. He was the head of the U.N. division in Seoul. He was ambassador to Vienna where he worked on a wide variety of nuclear issues. He also served as chief of cabinet for the president of the 66th session of the U.N. General Assembly."

Steinberg and other experts believe Mr. Ban was appointed because he was considered to be a "safe" choice, in other words, none of the five permanent members of the Security Council objected to his candidacy.

Former U.S. National Security Adviser⁴ General Brent Scowcroft says Mr. Ban's nomination⁵ is an interesting development, particularly for Washington.

"For the first time in the history of the United Nations, an ally of one of the permanent members of the Security-Council is the secretary-general," he noted.  "That's never happened before."

Many analysts⁶ say Mr. Ban, a low-key diplomat, will be very different from Kofi Annan, who was a strong public voice, talking about human rights, development and the plight⁷ of the poor.

But Nancy Soderberg, former U.S. alternate representative to the United Nations, says it is too early to tell what kind of a U.N. secretary-general Mr. Ban will be.

"You don't really know what's inside a human being when they are propelled to great positions of power," she said.  "So I think we are just going to have to wait and see. Kofi Annan was viewed as a U.N. bureaucrat⁸ at the time as well and when he was elevated from within the U.N. system to secretary-general, he blossomed into this visionary, very tough historic figure. So we'll have to wait and see whether the new secretary-general emerges in that light."

What is clear, analysts say, is that Mr. Ban inherits an organization in transition. It will be Mr. Ban's challenge to continue the reform process started by his predecessor⁹.

Former U.N. Under-Secretary General Brian Urquhart says Ban Ki-moon will also have to tackle major international issues.

"You have the ongoing¹⁰ problem in the Middle East, which has huge repercussions¹¹ on everything else, particularly the situation in Iraq," he said.  "You have terrorism, which the United States attaches enormous importance to. You have global warming. You have poverty, which is a huge problem. You have the down side of globalization, which is another huge problem. I mean -- he's not going to be short of work."

Analysts say Mr. Ban faces a delicate balancing act.  On the one hand he must manage and reform an international institution, while at the same time use diplomacy¹² and persuasion¹³ to try to resolve some of the world's most intractable problems.

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

6 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

7 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

8 bureaucrat   

n. 官僚作风的人，官僚，官僚政治论者

参考例句：

• He was just another faceless bureaucrat.他只不过是一个典型呆板的官员。
• The economy is still controlled by bureaucrats.经济依然被官僚们所掌控。

9 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

10 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

11 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

13 persuasion   

n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

参考例句：

• He decided to leave only after much persuasion.经过多方劝说，他才决定离开。
• After a lot of persuasion,she agreed to go.经过多次劝说后，她同意去了。