Ban Ki-moon was born on June 13, 1944 in Eumseong, a small farming village in North Chungcheong, at the end of the Japanese rule of Korea. Thereafter, his family moved to a nearby town of Chungju, where he was raised. During his childhood, Ban's father had a warehouse business that went bankrupt and his family would no longer live amongst the middle class. When Ban was six, his family fled to the mountainside for safety during the Korean War. Once the war was over, his family returned to Chungju.

While at Chungju High School, Ban was a stellar pupil, and was exceptional in his studies of English. In 1952, he was chosen by his class to address a message to then UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. Ten years later, in 1962, Ban won an essay contest sponsored by the Red Cross and earned a trip to the United States where he lived in San Francisco with a host family for several months. As part of the trip, Ban met U.S. President John F. Kennedy. During the meeting with President Kennedy, a journalist asked Ban what he wanted to be when he grew up. Ban's response: "I want to become a diplomat."

Mr. Ban after high school received a bachelor's degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970 and in 1985, he earned a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In July 2008, Mr. Ban received an honorary Doctoral Degree from Seoul National University.

Ban Ki-moon and his wife, Madam Yoo (Ban) Soon-taek, whom he met in high school in 1962, have one son and two daughters. In addition to Korean, he speaks English and French.

On 1 January 2007, Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea became the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations bringing with him 37 years of service in Government and international affairs.  Mr. Ban now resides in New York City, New York.