UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was approved by acclamation in the General Assembly to become the eighth U.N. secretary-general.
Ban, 62, succeeds Secretary-General Kofi Annan when Annan steps down Dec. 31 after serving two five-year terms.
"Mr. Ban, I am delighted that your election turned out this way -- early and orderly," Annan said. "Surely this is the way we wish all secretaries-general to be elected."
Annan praised Ban for his U.N. experience calling him "a man with a truly global mind at the helm of the world's only universal organization."
The veteran Korean diplomat was chosen by the 15-member Security Council on Monday.
He was a member of South Korea's U.N. mission earlier in his career and was a top aide to former General Assembly President Han Seung-soo in 2001, the U.N. News Service said.
Ban will be the first Asian to head the United Nations since Myanmar's U Thant was secretary-general from 1961 to 1971, the BBC said.
