26 February 2007
Whilst in Vienna, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has paid a visit to his disgraced predecessor Kurt Waldheim. Waldheim, 86, was secretary-general of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and later became president of the Republic of Austria. In 1986, the World Jewish Congress helped to expose Waldheim, who was a Nazi officer in the Balkans during World War II. In 1988, a commission of historians determined that he had knowledge of the deportation of 40,000 Jews while he was an ordnance officer close to the German high command in Greece. He was banned from traveling to several countries, including the United States, at the request of the World Jewish Congress.
"I can confirm that the secretary-general had a private meeting with Mr. Waldheim and my understanding is that (he) knew Mr. Waldheim and his daughter personally during his tenure as [South Korean] ambassador to Austria, so it was a private and personal visit," said BMr Ki-moon's spokeswoman Marie Okabe.
