UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Ban Ki-Moon joked to hundreds of diplomats and U.N. staff as he left United Nations headquarters Friday for the last time as secretary-general that he feels “like Cinderella – tomorrow at midnight, everything changes.”
Flanked by the presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the native South Korean thanked U.N. workers for their hard work and commitment over the course of his 10-year tenure, which ends at midnight Dec. 31.
“Tomorrow night on the eve of the new year, I’ll be in Times Square for the ball drop. Millions of people will be watching as I lose my job,” he said with a broad smile.
He told his colleagues he had two words for them: “Thank You.”
As the top U.N. official over the last decade, Ban fostered a global agreement to combat climate change and new U.N. goals to combat poverty and inequality. However, he leaves amid continuing conflicts from Syria and Yemen to South Sudan and Libya.