By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 18 --
After South
Korea beat out
Cambodia for a
two-year
Security
Council seat
at the UN on
Thursday, its
Permanent
Representative
Kim Sook told
Inner City
Press, "give
me a moment
for breath." Video
here.
Inner
City Press had
asked for
South Korea's
position on
Syria. Kim
Sook
said, "My
country’s
position is
not very much
far from what
has been
discussed in
the Security
Council."
But
of course
there are at
least two
quite different
positions in
the Council,
as
reflected by
the three
double-vetoes
cast by Russia
and China.
Kim
Sook also told
Inner City
Press, "Maybe,
I’m going to
tell you
sometime next
week." We'll
wait for that.
Inner
City Press
noted that
former South
Korean foreign
minister Ban
Ki-moon is the
Secretary
General of the
UN.
Kim Sook
replied that
"Well I know
by heart, the
Secretary
General is
from the
Republic of
Korea. So by
heart, he may
wish a good
luck for us
but as
he handles the
United Nations
secretariat,
well he did
nothing to
intervene in
the election
process."
In
a scrum just
afterward with
Korean media,
an Inner City
Press source
says that Kim
Sook said that
Ban Ki-moon
called him and
said he hoped
Korea got the
seat.
Kim
Sook was asked
about North
Korea and
replied, "We
are watching
the current
situation but
I’m not going
to answer for
the
hypothetical
question of
the North
Korean issue
but whatever
happens
then the
Security
Council has
the primary
responsibility
to respond
to maintain
the security
and stability
in that region
as well." Yes
it does. Watch
this site.
Update: On October 19, after the Security Council finished meeting on the Congo, a large South Korean delegation went into the Council, accompanied by television cameras. To the victors go the spoils...
