UNITED NATIONS - South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon took the reins of the United Nations on New Year's Day as the world body's eighth secretary-general with a tough array of global issues to confront - from escalating violence in Darfur and rising Mideast tensions to combating AIDS and poverty.

The 62-year-old career diplomat, who grew up during a war that left his country divided, has promised to make peace with North Korea a top priority.

He said he will travel there when necessary and cautioned that the reclusive communist nation must be talked to - and not just punished with sanctions for conducting a nuclear test.

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The United States is certain to press Ban to undertake more widespread management reforms at the United Nations, begun by his predecessor Kofi Annan whose 10-year tenure as secretary-general ended at midnight Sunday.

The 192-member General Assembly, which controls the UN budget and oversees its management, has been reluctant to institute changes that Annan and many experts say are essential to modernize the 61-year-old world body because the majority of UN member states fear losing the only real power the assembly has.

In a speech after taking the oath of office as secretary-general on Dec. 14, Ban said he will also work to strengthen the three pillars of the United Nations - security, development and human rights - to build "a more peaceful, more prosperous and more just world for succeeding generations."

In pursuing that goal, he said, "my first priority will be to restore trust" in the United Nations, whose reputation has been battered by the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, corruption in the UN's purchasing operations, and sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers.

"I will seek to act as a harmonizer and bridge-builder," Ban said. "And I hope to become known ... as a secretary-general who is accessible, hard-working, and prepared to listen attentively."

Ban officially became secretary-general at the stroke of midnight, but no official ceremony was scheduled.

Ban is temporarily residing at a hotel. He will not get to move into his official residence - an 85-year-old neo-Georgian town house on New York's fashionable Sutton Place overlooking the East River - until renovations, he first since 1950, are completed.

The General Assembly recently approved $4.9 million to modernize the residence's heating, air conditioning, plumbing, kitchen and security, which is expected to take about nine months.

Ban defeated six other candidates vying to be the UN chief and won final approval from the General Assembly in October. Since then, he has been meeting with a wide range of people inside and outside the UN to prepare for the job.

On Sunday, Ban was already taking charge. He announced his first two appointments - veteran Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar, who has been a special adviser to Annan, as his chief of staff, and award-winning Haitian journalist Michele Montas, the head of the French unit of UN Radio, as his spokesperson.

Ban said in a statement Sunday that he will be making more appointments in the coming days.

The most important will be his choice for deputy secretary-general - widely expected to be a woman from a developing country.

The new secretary-general's first day at UN headquarters will be Tuesday when he plans to hold a meeting with UN staff after an official welcome and sit for his official portrait.

Ban will be the first Asian to lead the organization in 35 years since Burma's U Thant, who served from 1961-71. It will also mark a milestone for South Korea which only joined the United Nations in 1991 and still has UN troops on the tense border with North Korea.

In his acceptance speech to the General Assembly in October, Ban said it was "quite fitting" that an Asian had been selected to lead the United Nations.

"Asia is dynamic and diverse, and Asia aspires to take on greater responsibilities for the world," he said. "Having come so far and rising still, the region is living and shaping the full range of achievements and challenges of our current times."

Ban noted that modesty is a virtue in Asia but that doesn't mean a lack of commitment or leadership.

"Rather, it is quiet determination in action to get things done without so much fanfare," he said. "This may be the key to Asia's success, and to the UN's future."

"We should be more modest in our words, but not in our performance," Ban said. "The true measure of success for the UN is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most."