# KDI School 20th anniversary Seminar #

Education

• 1985: M.A. in John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
• 1970: B.A. in International relations, Seoul National University, Korea

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Professional Experience

• South Korea’s foreign service in 1970
• Counselor to the embassy in Washington, D.C. (1987–90)
• Director of American affairs at the Foreign Ministry (1990–92)
• Deputy foreign minister (1995–96), and national security adviser to the president (1996–98)
• Following a stint as ambassador to Austria (1998–2000) 
• Vice-minister of foreign affairs in South Korea (2000–01) 
• Foreign policy adviser to the new president, Roh Moo Hyun (2003)
• Minister of foreign affairs and trade from 2004 to 2006
• Ban played a key role in the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.
• The eighth secretary-general (2007–16) of the United Nations (UN).

Honours and awards

• The Order of Service Merit, 1st class, by the government of South Korea on three occasions: in 1975, 1986 and 2006.
• The Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star (4th Cl.) for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2001
• The Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco by the government of Brazil.
• Peru : Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (Gran Cruz del Sol) (2006)
• The Korea Society in New York City for his contributions to friendship between the United States and South Korea.
• Ban Ki-moon, in his capacity as Secretary-General of the United Nations, was one of the Olympic Flag carriers of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.
• Algeria : National Order of Merit of Algeria
• Commemorative Medal of Freedom Heroes of the Republic of Hungary
• El Salvador : Grand Cross with Silver Star of the Order of Jose Matias Delgado
• Philippines : Grand Cross of the Order of Sikatuna, Rank of Raja (30 October 2008)
• Kazakhstan : Order of Friendship, 1st class (2010)
• Tajikistan : Order of Ismoili Samoni – 2010
• Burkina Faso : Grand Cross of the National Order of Burkina Faso (2008)
• Ivory Coast : Grand Officer of the National Order of Ivory Coast (2008)
• Monaco : Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles (2013)
• Austria : Grand Golden Order of the City of Vienna (2013)
• Ban Ki-moon, in his capacity as Secretary-General of the United Nations, was one of the Olympic Torch carriers of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
• The 2014 Tipperary International Peace Award, described as "Ireland's outstanding award for humanitarian work", in County Tipperary, Ireland in May 2015.
• Netherlands : Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (19 April 2016)
• Russia : the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin, "for his special role in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding between nations" (8 June 2016)
• Argentina : Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín (2016).
• Ban Ki-moon, in his capacity as Secretary-General of the United Nations, was one of the Olympic Torch carriers of the 2016 Summer Olympics.