UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday expressed sadness over the death of his Austrian predecessor and ex-president Kurt Waldheim and sent condolences to his family.
"The secretary general learned with sadness of the passing of Kurt Waldeim, the fourth secretary general of the United Nations and former president of Austria," Ban's press office said in a terse statement. Waldheim, whose reputation was tarnished by revelations that he had been a Nazi officer who served in the Balkans during World War II, died Thursday at the age of 88, his family said.
The former statesman, who suffered a heart attack in May and had been ailing ever since, had served as UN secretary general from 1972 to 1981. Ban extended his condolences to the Waldheim family as well as to the Austrian government and people.
Ban, who knew Waldheim and his daughter personally during his tenure as South Korean ambassador in Vienna, had a private meeting with the former Austrian statesman last February during a two-day visit to Austria.
In 1988, a commission of historians determined that Waldheim had knowledge of the deportation of 40,000 Jews while an ordnance officer close to the German high command in Greece. He was banned from travelling to several countries, including the United States, at the request of the World Jewish Conference. His denials of any wrongdoing failed to stop him becoming a virtual outcast on the international diplomatic stage.
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