UN Secretary General’s secret visit to VN family temple

Local newspapers recently reported about a personal visit made by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the temple of forefathers of Phan Huy family in Hanoi in May 2015. The information has ignited rumors on the Vietnamese origin of Mr. Ban.

VietNamNet Bridge – Local newspapers recently reported about a personal visit made by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the temple of forefathers of Phan Huy family in Quoc Oai district, Hanoi in May 2015. The information has ignited rumors on the Vietnamese origin of Mr. Ban.

Mr. Ban and his wife take photos with the Phan Huy family.

Ban and his wife visited the family temple for 45 minutes on May 23 and they were escorted by several guards only, said Phan Huy Thanh, a member of the Phan Huy family.

During the visit, Mr. Ban burned incense, wrote on the visitors’ book, saw the family tree of the Phan Huy family, shook hands with the family members and took photos with them. He did not specify the reasons for the visit and did not express a wish to see the family genealogy, Thanh said.

The UN Secretary General wrote in the visitors’ book: “I’m deeply humbled to visit and pay my deep respect to this home of worship of Phan Huy Chu and other Phan family members. Thank you for preserving this house of worships. As one of the Phan family, now serving as Secretary General of the UN, I commit myself that I will try to follow the teachings of ancestors.”

Thanh said everyone in the family was surprised about the visit but they prepared well for the meeting and presented Mr. Ban with “Liсh Trieu Hien Chuong Loai Chi” (1819, the first encyclopedia of Vietnam, by Phan Huy Chu. [Phan Huy Chú (1782–1840) was a Vietnamese mandarin administrator, scholar and historian. He was a son of the scholar and official Phan Huy Ich, who had been a noted official in the Tay Son regime. He is best known as author of Liсh Trieu Hien Chuong Loai Chi.]

Information about the secret visit of Mr. Ban and his words on the visitors’ book has ignited the rumors of the UN Secretary General’s Vietnamese origin as the surname Ban in Korean is similar to Phan in Vietnamese.

Mr. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, confirmed with online newswire VNexpress that Mr. Ban made a visit to Vietnam in May but did not answer questions about his origins.

"During his visit to Vietnam this May, the Secretary General paid a personal visit to the family temple. He has never returned Vietnam since then," Dujarric told VnExpress.

{keywords}

Mr. Ban's note in the visitors' book of the house of worship of the Phan Huy family.

According to the head of Phan Huy family, Mr. Phan Huy Huan, the family has a clear family genealogy, which does not have any branch in Korea. The Phan Huy family in Quoc Oai District, Hanoi, originated from Loc Ha District of Ha Tinh Province, central Vietnam. In the 7th generation, the age of Mr. Phan Huy Can (1722-1789), the 6th son of Duke Phan Van Tinh, the family moved to Quoc Oai. Scholar, poet, and bibliographer Phan Huy Chu (1782-1840) was the grandson of Mr. Phan Huy Can.

Mr. Phan Huy Trieu, the 16th generation of Phan Huy family, said: "Mr. Ban Ki-moon’s visit to the family temple is a significant event. This is the pride of our family and we do not intent to speculate anything about his origin."

Historian Phan Huy Le, a member of the Phan Huy family, said: "He [Mr. Ban] personally visited the house of worships of the Phan Huy family. So I think we should respect his privacy and should not make comment about it.”

According to the well-known historian, as the head of the UN, Mr. Ban would have considered very carefully about anything he did. He would have had a reason to pay a visit to the house of worships of the Phan Huy family and noted on the visitors’ book as a member of the Phan family. However, Prof. Phan Huy Le said he did not have any documents to explain the relations between Mr. Ban and the Phan Huy family.

{keywords}

The house of worship of the Phan Huy family.

The historian said that there are two Vietnamese-origin Ly families in South Korea but the documents about these families are only founded in South Korea.

Mr. Phan Huy Huan, head of the Phan Huy family in Quoc Oai, said the family had not released information about Mr. Ban’s visit although it took place nearly half a year ago because it is the personal activity of the UN Secretary General and it would be respected.

He said that Prof. Phan Huy Le was seeking information about Mr. Ban’s family annals through his colleagues in South Korea to compare with that of the Phan Huy family in Vietnam.

On May 22-23, Mr. Ban visited Vietnam to promote cooperation programs after 2015. He discussed with Vietnamese leaders on international security issues, co-operation between Vietnam, ASEAN and the UN, and the peacekeeping operations. This was his second visit to Vietnam since assuming the position of UN Secretary General in 2007.

Mr. Ban, 71, graduated in international relations from Seoul National University (South Korea), has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University (USA). He is married and has three children. In addition to Korean, he can speak English and French.

Mr. Ban’s visit to the house of worship of Phan Huy family in photos: