Ban-Ki-moon, who took over as the secretary-general of the U.N. from his predecessor Kofi Annan in 2007, second term will commence from January 1 next year and run until the end of 2016. The South Korean administrator Ban-Ki-moon declared his candidacy for the premier post two weeks ago and on last Friday the Security Council formally backed him.

After the re-election, as the eighth person to serve as UN Secretary-General, the 67-year-old former South Korean foreign minister termed his victory as a very great honour beyond expression.

During his first five year term as the U.N. secretary-general, Ban was criticised for failing to take a public stand on the jailing of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, but he was appreciated for his works toward combating HIV/AIDS; role in Haiti's earthquake recovery and for speaking directly with world leaders.

Ban-Ki-moon served as vice consul in New Delhi in his first overseas posting. In 1974, he was appointed in the United Nations, as First Secretary of the South Permanent Observer Mission. From January 2004 to November 2006, Ban was the foreign minister of Korea. He was first elected as the U.N. secretary-general on October 13, 2006.