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Ban Ki-Moon
Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean diplomat who was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 2007 to December 2016. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. Ban was the foreign minister of South Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006 he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General and on 13 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly, a post which he took up on 1 January 2007. As Secretary-General, he was responsible for several major reforms on peacekeeping and UN employment practices.

Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with U.S. President George W. Bush, and on the Darfur conflict, where he helped persuade Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan. He stepped down as Secretary-General on the 31st December 2016.

Born 13 June 1944 in Injō, Japanese Korea

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