South Korea is seriously considering fielding a candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as UN secretary-general, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.
Ban, a 61-year-old career diplomat, has himself been tipped as the likely contender in South Korean media - a step he would not rule out if his government put him up for the job.
"If and when the opportunity is given to me or anybody else, then I think Korea can serve the effectiveness and advancement of the United Nations," Ban told Reuters in an interview when asked about the news reports.
He said the government had been actively looking at the matter for more than a year but would not say when it might reach a decision.
Annan, who is Ghanaian, will stand down at the end of 2006 after a second five-year term overshadowed by charges of mismanagement stemming from abuses of the UN Iraq oil-for-food programme and other scandals.
No formal rotation system exists among the world's continents, but UN members generally agree the next secretary-general should come from Asia.
Two Asian contenders have already declared their bids - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Sri Lankan peace negotiator Jayantha Dhanapala.
A South Korean candidacy could make it more difficult for Asian states to unite around a single contender, although Ban said consensus was important.
"There are already two very good candidates but, you know, when I was in New York last month I heard from many, many member countries that Asia needs to have a very good, credible candidate," Ban said.
Because of the country's history, Ban said, a South Korean could serve as a bridge between developed and developing nations as well as between democracies and countries in transition.
A South Korean would also have much to offer in the quest for reform of UN institutions and management of its secretariat given the country's experiences in shifting from a military-run political system with a heavily state-run economy.
"Maybe this kind of experience and know-how could be applied to the United Nations," Ban said.
The only Asian to have been UN Secretary-General was U Thant of Burma, now Myanmar, who served from 1961 until 1971.
Ban, who has a masters degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, joined the diplomatic service in 1970 and was assigned twice at the United Nations, most recently as ambassador from 2001 to 2002.
An accomplished English speaker, he was named foreign minister in January 2004 and has gained international prominence as a major player in the six-party talks aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.
The UN secretary-general is appointed by the 191-nation General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council, where a candidate needs the approval of nine of the 15 members and can be vetoed by any of the five permanent member states.
Two of them, China and Russia, have already said they will back an Asian. Outgoing Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has also indicated he might run for the job.
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