The Korean Foreign Ministry has announced that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon will run for the post of United Nations secretary-general (see Yonhap for a much longer report in Korean).
I haven’t read all the analysis yet, but my initial impression is that while Ban is certainly a likable guy, the fact that a) Korea has a formal military alliance with the United States; and b) is a concerned party in the North Korean nuclear dispute would mean Ban stands a snowball’s chance in Hell of ever getting elected as UN secretary-general. But like I said, that’s just my initial impression. That might change after I do some reading.
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If this piece here http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl.....158228.htm is any chance, then Ban has an even shot at getting the job.
Of course, that still leaves a lot of other member states to court…
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[...] Ban comes from the most industrialized country of any current candidates, but as Marmot points out, this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they have some limited diplomatic and economic clout. On the other other, regions like ASEAN will strongly back someone who will represent all their interests as best possible, as Indonesia is currently doing for Thailand’s candidate, Thai Deputy PM Surakiart Sathirathai. Although I think it is far too soon to say he has a “snowball’s chance in Hell,” East Asia is far too fragmented to present a unity candidate– as comments on this blog probably prove. [...]