The new U.N. Leader to be South Korean

South Korea's Ban close to being new U.N. leader

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said on Tuesday he bore "a heavy sense of responsibility" after an informal ballot that virtually assured he would become the next United Nations secretary-general. ...
In Monday's Security Council straw poll, Ban got 14 positive votes, including from all the council's five members with veto rights-- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. ...
"He is the hardest-working person at the ministry," said one South Korean diplomat. "If you don't count his personal aide who has to be at his residence at 5:30 in the morning."
The diplomats say he is very popular within his ministry which also handles the trade affairs of South Korea, a country that has depended heavily on exports to lift it from the ruins of war in the early 1950s to rank as Asia's third biggest economy. ...