South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was formally nominated as UN secretary-general today, only hours after North Korea defied the world body by announcing a nuclear test.
The UN Security Council voted by acclamation behind closed doors, thereby effectively selecting Mr Ban as successor to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose 10 years in office expire on December 31st.
Mr Ban's six rivals had withdrawn from the race earlier. The 192-member UN General Assembly must give final approval to Ban's nomination, which usually follows within a week or two.
That vote is expected to be positive. Shortly after the vote for Mr Ban, the 15 Security Council ambassadors went into closed consultations on North Korea to see what action could be taken after the country reported making a successful nuclear weapon test.
The council on Friday had urged North Korea not to carry out a test, warning Pyongyang of unspecified consequences if it did.
"I think the fact the candidate is current foreign minister of the Republic of Korea is an asset in dealing with the situation in the Korean peninsula that we are now facing," Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima told reporters.
"We have a very good candidate," said Mr Oshima, this month's council president. "It was the collective decision of the Security Council to recommend Ban Ki-moon to the General Assembly."
Some diplomats, including Mr Oshima, have speculated that North Korea's announcement on October 3rd of plans to carry out the underground nuclear test was timed, in part, to coincide with Ban's candidacy in an effort to get world attention.
Mr Ban (62) would be the eighth secretary-general in the world body's 60-year history. He will inherit a bureaucracy of 9,000 staff, a $5 billion budget and more than 90,000 peacekeepers in 18 operations around the globe that cost another $5 billion.
Mr Annan, in his own statement, welcomed the nomination. He said he had the "highest respect" for Ban and would do "everything possible to ensure a smooth transition," a spokesman said.
The low-key Mr Ban will be a contrast to Mr Annan, a Ghanaian who in his first five years won a Nobel Peace Prize and was sometimes dubbed a diplomatic rock star, before financial scandals took over headlines in the past few years.
Some diplomats, particularly US Ambassador John Bolton, would like to see a secretary-general be an administrator and have a lower profile around the world. Among his colleagues in Seoul, everyone seems to agree that Ban is pleasant and hard-working.