By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 26 -- Hunger in North Korea should be kept separate from politics, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos said Wednesday after showing a video of her recent mission to the country.
The film shows at her side Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's senior adviser Kim Won-soo, who previously traveled to North Korea along with Lynn Pascoe the chief of the UN Department of Political Affairs.
Inner City Press asked Amos whether Mr. Kim had any political -- Department of Political Affairs -- role during the trip. Amos said Kim was part of her delegation, and that the Secretary General and by implication his senior adviser is in charge of humanitarian as well as political affairs. But can or do they keep them separate?
Last week the UN's Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, painted a bleak pictures of rights in the country. Still he held out hope; some noted that Ban had also appointed him chair of his Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, whose report has yet to be acted on. Watch this site.
