Word: seoul
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...expert puts it, but some wonder whether Ban has the steel to play a leading role on the international stage--a question that's been sharpened by North Korea's latest provocation. "This will be the first time he's ever been his own boss," says Peter Beck, the Seoul-based director of the International Crisis Group's Northeast Asia project. "Can he really assert himself and stand up to governments that act contrary to the U.N.?" His allies say that it's a mistake to assume that Ban is as diffident as he might sometimes appear...
...taint of South Korea's toxic political environment. "He doesn't make enemies," says Yan Sun Mook, the chairman of the opposition Democratic Party's international-relations committee. "He makes friends." But Ban can also be tough. In the face of opposition from his own diplomats, Ban reformed Seoul's foreign ministry, replacing a promotion system based on seniority with a meritocratic one. He's an "iron fist in a velvet glove," says an aide...
...diplomat of Ban's skills. The U.S. preferred either Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga or former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, but both were vetoed by other permanent Security Council members. Washington's reluctance was due in part to South Korea's growing coziness with China and by Seoul's "sunshine policy" of engagement with Pyongyang, which some Administration officials say has hindered efforts to get tough with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The U.S. is skeptical that Ban, long careful to avoid stepping on toes, would really be willing to challenge the entrenched interests inside the U.N. that...
...Concert, a rare event that brings together musicians from both North and South Korea, is a joint effort between the South’s Isang Yun Peace Foundation and the North’s Yun I Sang Music Institute. Koh will perform with the Isang Yun Orchestra and renowned Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Chung Myung-Whun...
...Monday, the United Nations Security Council holds its final vote to elect a successor to Secretary General Kofi Annan, an election South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon is widely expected to win. Ban talked with TIME'S Jennifer Veale at his official residence in Seoul about his candidacy, North Korea's latest provocations and what he can bring to one of the world's toughest jobs...