U.N. chief wins alumni award from Seoul National University

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been chosen as a winner of the alumni award from his alma matar in Seoul for his contribution to world peace, his school said Tuesday.

Seoul National University decided to confer the Distinguished Alumni Award on Ban “for his decades of service to his home country and his contribution to global peace and the welfare of all mankind as the U.N. chief,” it said.

The awards ceremony is scheduled to be held next month to mark the school’s foundation day, though it is yet to be known if Ban will attend, the school officials said.

Ban graduated from Seoul National University in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in diplomatic science. He then passed the high-level civil service exam that same year.

He has since served in various posts including Seoul’s foreign minister before being elected to the chief of the international organization in 2006. (Yonhap News)