On September 26, 2006 (August 5, 2006 in the lunar calendar), Ban Ki-moon became the Secretary-General of the United Nations. On December 14, Ban Ki-moon answered reporters 'questions at a press conference held after he was sworn in. On October 13, 2006, the 61st United Nations General Assembly held a plenary meeting and adopted a resolution formally appointing South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon as the next United Nations Secretary-General. The dust settled in the fierce election for the United Nations Secretary-General. Ban Ki-moon, who replaces current Secretary-General Annan, will be the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations and the second Secretary-General from an Asian country after Myanmar's U Thant. His term of office will run from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2011. Ban Ki-moon was born on June 13, 1944 into a peasant family in Chungju City, North Chungcheong Province, southern South Korea. He aspired to become a diplomat since he was a child and studied English hard for this purpose. In his sophomore year of high school, he went to the United States to study as one of four students selected from across South Korea who received U.S. government scholarships. In 1970, he graduated with honors from Seoul National University in South Korea majoring in diplomacy. After graduating from college, Ban Ki-moon passed the Senior Civil Servant Examination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with excellent results and began a 36-year career as a diplomat. He has successively served as Deputy Consul of the Korean Embassy in India, Director of the United Nations Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consul General of the Embassy in the United States, Director of the Policy Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chief Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Austria, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ambassador to the United Nations, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, etc.