U.N. chief holds secret wedding for his son

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has surprised international diplomats stationed here after belatedly disclosing that he secretly held his only son`s wedding in New York on Saturday, according to Yonhap News Agency.



According to U.N. officials, the "confidential" wedding ceremony for Ban Woo-hyun and his bride, You Je-young, was held at a small cathedral in Manhattan with only relatives of both families and a "small number" of acquaintances attending.



The Ban family also refused to accept cash and other gifts from the guests, said the officials.



Ban`s aides said the top U.N. official had kept his son`s wedding ceremony secret, as he wished to celebrate it as a quiet family event, adding only around 150 guests were invited to the event.



"Ban may have thought that an ostentatious wedding party for his son would be inappropriate for the U.N. chief, as he is now spearheading U.N. reforms," said an aide.



"In addition, he could also have been burdened by a frequent mentioning of him as one of South Korea`s next presidential candidates."



Ban allegedly offered an apology for keeping his son`s wedding secret when he encountered reporters after the wedding ceremony.



"I`m sorry for (my son`s) stealth wedding," Ban was quoted as saying, with an awkward smile on his face.



Ban, who took office as the U.N. chief in 2007, gained acclaim for also discreetly holding weddings for his two daughters while serving as South Korea`s foreign minister years ago.



Ban Woo-hyun, the 35-year-old son of the U.N. chief, graduated from Seoul National University before receiving an MBA degree at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). He currently works for a Middle East branch of a New York-based financial company. The 27-year-old You Je-young is the eldest daughter of You Won-suk, vice chairman of the Korean Bar Association. She is studying at Brown University`s medical school.