By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Video
three against (China, Russia and Bolivia) with
two abstaining: Ethiopia and Egypt, whose state media Akhbar al Yom favored by the UN and awarded Inner City Press' long time work space was again not present. The UN is becoming like... Then a meeting in Conference Room 1, interstitial Periscope here, during right the North Korean mission to the UN sent a statement to the Press referring to the the "non-existent" human rights issue. Attached here on Patreon. Finally, in the afternoon, a North Korea 1718 Sanctions Committee meeting. Inner City Press afterward asked outgoing chair Sebastiano Cardi about Feltman's read-out's reference to problems with "procurement" there; Cardi said he'd wait to hear from Feltman in the coming days. Video here. (Inner City Press hears: afternoon of December 12). Dutch Ambassador Karel van Oosterom was hanging around, leading Inner City Press to again surmise he's talking over the chair of the 1718 committee on Jan 1, something Cardi declined to confirm on camera. How open will Karel van Oosterom be? So far, not. Feltman has served more than five years, having been appointed to the UN under President Obama. Inner City Press reported that Feltman convinced Guterres to keep him on so that his UN pension could vest. Now, while Inner City Press sources tell Inner City Press of moves among some in the Trump administration to belatedly replace Feltman, he goes to North Korea. Is this to try to save his job, to become "indispensable"? Or is it the best way for the US, contemplating military action, to say diplomacy was tried, albeit with a lame duck? While most at the UN, spoon-fed by the reclusive Guterres, haven't hard these questions, others have, for example in South Korea where this article emphasizes Feltman's marginality, returning empty handed. But with Guterres selling himself first to Japan then on Wall Street, they believe the charade can continue. We'll have more on this. Because of today's UN secrecy, it was the North Korean government which issued a read-out of the meetings: "the visit of Jeffrey Feltman, the undersecretary general for political affairs at the U.N., helped the communist nation and U.N. understand each other deeply, and the two sides agreed to have regular communications at various levels, according to the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA reported that North Korea told U.N. officials that current situation on the Korean Peninsula is due to the United States' threat and its wish to launch a nuclear attack against North Korea first. The U.N. officials responded that they will help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula by following the U.N. Charter, which states the organization's mission of maintaining international peace and security, the KCNA added. According to the KCNA, Feltman recognized international sanctions against North Korea are having a negative influence on humanitarian aid there. He visited a children's food factory and a hospital in Pyongyang on Thursday. Feltman was expected to leave Pyongyang on a North Korean Air Koryo passenger jet to land in Beijing on Saturday." Maybe Feltman will speak there, as he so rarely has in his more than five years at the UN. Hett has yet to speak. While SG Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not initially confirm Inner City Press noting in "his" UN Press Briefing room that Feltman's predecessor and Ban's brain Kim Won-soo visited DPRK in February 2010 and now some surmise why. The month after that visit described by both as this one should be as having been successful, North Korea sunk South Korea's Cheonan ship, killing 46. And this time? Guterres himself, typically, is avoiding the Press. But multiple sources tell Inner City Press Guterres doled out quotes to media from a major UN funder. This before he whispers again on December 15 in a Wall Street event he'll be sold for $1200 a table at. We'll have more on this. For now, Feltman has issued this read-out: "Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from 5 to 8 December 2017. Mr. Feltman had a series of meetings with H.E. Mr. RI Yong Ho, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Mr. PAK Myong Guk, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, of the DPRK. They exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula and agreed that the current situation was the most tense and dangerous peace and security issue in the world today. Mr. Feltman emphasized the need for the full implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions. He also said there can only be a diplomatic solution to the situation, achieved through a process of sincere dialogue. Time is of the essence. Noting the urgent need to prevent miscalculations and open channels to reduce the risks of conflict, Mr. Feltman underlined that the international community, alarmed by escalating tensions, is committed to the achievement of a peaceful solution to the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr. Feltman also met with the United Nations Country Team and members of the diplomatic corps, and visited UN project sites, including a children’s foodstuff factory, TB prevention institute, breast tumour institute, and paediatric hospital. During the site visits he learned about the UN’s life-saving work on the ground as well as the challenges in procurement and funding gaps." And on this: in advance of a December 11, 11:30 am North Korea human rights event announced by the US, it belatedly emerges that the UN Security Council is set to hold a procedural vote at 10 am for a human rights meeting in the Council. Inner City Press twice asked Japan's Koro Bessho, the Council's president for December, about this. The first time he said it was still being worked on. The second time, he walked away. And it was his deputy, not him, who appeared at the Council stakeout on the afternoon of December 8. Inner City Press asked a question and it was partially answered. But it was not Bessho. More on this - and on Feltman and his team's trip to North Korea. It is customary to at least disclose the identities of such a delegation. And so today Inner City Press names two others accompanying Feltman: unsurprisingly the UN Resident Coordinator in DPRK since 2015, Tapan Mishra formerly of Burma Shell Co, and surprising to some, Department of Political Affairs staffer Samuel Martell of the UK, in his position since October 2014. We'll have more on these, amid Guterres increasingly shrunk UN transparency. He banned the Press from his swearing-in of Global Communications boss Alison Smale; now he says that unlike even Ban Ki-moon, he will hold no end of the year press conference, while arranging to be sold on Wall Street for $1200 a table. This is today's UN. As to Hett, she was suggested to (or some say, planted with) Guterres by Feltman during the former's transition, and since then Hett has nearly always been at Guterres' side. For example she took an August 2017 photographof Guterres with Palestine Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah published by the UN Department of Public Information. Inner City Press exclusively quoted DPA whistleblowers that Hett reported back to Feltman all of the people Guterres was interviewing to staff up his administration. (Guterres' spokesman called the questioning despicable.) Now Hett is in North Korea, with Feltman - and Guterres excluded the Press from his December 6 swearing-in of DPI's Alison Smale, here.Guterres is sure to hype up his wor on North Korea in connection with his December 13-14 trip to Japan. But what about Hett? To some, the UN is beginning to mirror Feltman and Hett's host. On December 7 (after the UN noon briefing was canceled on December 6 to a Guterres stakeout without any questions), Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: "the meetings that Mr. Feltman's had in North Korea, but the Swedish ambassador today in front of the Security Council said that he has a report from Sweden's embassy there. Has Feltman met with any of the remaining diplomatic corps in Pyongyang? And also, can you say what the composition of his team is? Is Katrin Hett on it, and if so, is she back with DPA [Department of Political Affairs], and who else is with him? Usually people do readout who went to a place. Deputy Spokesman: No. We're not doing that at this stage. Like I said, we're waiting until he's completed his visit to be able to provide some details. And he does intend to brief both the Security Council and the press corps once he's back."
