UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will step down at the end of this year, recently accepted a media interview and summarized his nearly 10 years of work as UN Secretary-General. He believes that he has achieved satisfactory results in addressing climate change, promoting sustainable development and advancing gender equality, but he has regrets in terms of ending the Syrian crisis and responding to the sexual assault scandal in peacekeeping troops.

At the same time, he is disappointed with some national leaders who value power rather than improving people's lives. He also believes that the practices of Western leaders in some hot events are "unworkable."

Disappointment

Ban Ki-moon took office as Secretary-General of the United Nations on January 1, 2007, and is scheduled to officially step down on December 31 this year. In an exclusive interview broadcast by the Associated Press on the 14th, Ban Ki-moon had many feelings.

In an interview, Ban Ki-moon made no secret of his disappointment with leaders of some countries. He believes that the turmoil in today's world does not originate from the people, but from the leaders. Because for some people, the most important thing is to "use whatever means necessary" to get themselves elected.

“As soon as they are elected... they start to rule the people, and they often have corruption problems and do not respect the voice of the people," Ban Ki-moon said.

The United Nations Secretary-General said that he told the leaders of some countries last year to respect the constitutional term limits and not to linger on power.

The Associated Press reported that Ban Ki-moon was also frustrated by the five-year-old Syrian crisis, saying that he "really doesn't understand why we haven't solved this problem yet."

“Why is a person's fate so important? One person's fate should not hold the entire crisis hostage," Ban Ki-moon said.

One of the focuses of the Syrian issue is the fate of President Bashar Assad. Many parties are arguing about this, and the Syrian crisis has not yet been resolved.

Ban Ki-moon is also not satisfied with the performance of Western countries on some hot issues. He believes that the leaders of these countries only use words, make statements, and sometimes exert pressure to prevent him from visiting some countries.

Faced with pressure, Ban Ki-moon said he "does what he wants" because he firmly believes that only face-to-face talks can gain mutual support and ultimately resolve the crisis or reach agreement on climate change and poverty eradication.

“I've always said, I could make 100 statements here, but if you really want the apple to fall from the tree, shake the tree," he said.

Achievements

As for his political legacy, Ban Ki-moon believes that it should be left to historical assessment. However, for the United Nations Secretary-General, there are also things that make him proud during his tenure.

Ban Ki-moon concluded that he believed that he had dedicated time, energy and "passion" to three matters:

——Efforts on climate change. Since taking over from the previous UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon has been tirelessly pushing for countries to reach agreement on climate change. He hopes that the Paris Agreement reached in December last year will take effect before he leaves office.

—— Promote countries to agree on 17 new "Sustainable Development Goals" during the United Nations General Assembly in September last year, and set 169 specific goals for this purpose, striving to eliminate poverty, combat inequality and injustice, provide clean energy, and solve climate change and other issues from 2015 to 2030.

——Promote "gender empowerment", including the establishment of the United Nations Women's Office. This all stems from Ban Ki-moon's own belief that women are mankind's "most untapped" resources. If their potential is realized, "we can at least double the speed of economic productivity and social development."

Ban Ki-moon also said that he also had some regrets during his tenure, such as not seeing the end of the Syrian crisis and conflicts in Africa, and the sexual assault scandals exposed by United Nations peacekeeping forces.

Future

Ban Ki-moon said leaders may have different impressions of him privately.

“People say that I am always quiet and do not raise human rights issues, but I can tell you that I speak more than any leader of a Western country,” he said, “You have never seen anyone who is as fearless to speak out as me. ”

Ban Ki-moon believes that it is unrealistic to expect the UN Secretary-General to become a "nearly omnipotent person" because UN member states will discuss matters and then hand them over to the UN Secretary-General for execution. These decisions sometimes do not come from the UN Secretary-General’s own opinion.

At the same time, he will also give some suggestions to some leaders in private, but "only in private."

When asked about his plans after retirement, Ban Ki-moon said that he would return to South Korea, but avoided rumors that he would participate in South Korea's presidential election, saying that his current job is to be the Secretary-General of the United Nations until the end of the year.

As to whether he will write a book about the experience of the United Nations Secretary-General after leaving office, Ban Ki-moon replied: "One day, probably many years from now, I am not in a hurry to write... (then) I will speak more freely, because I don't want to keep blaming them (now) as the United Nations Secretary-General." ”