By Matthew Russell Lee, News Muse
UNITED NATIONS, August 22 -- Amid killings in Syria and the endgame in Libya, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday night was the guest of honor at a photo awards ceremony thrown by the news service of his native South Korea, Yonhap.
On hand in the lobby of the UN General Assembly were Kim Sook, South Korea's Permanent Representative, and the country's Consul General, as well as at least three of Ban's Under Secretaries General: Kiyo Akasaka, Sha Zukang and political chief Lynn Pascoe, seen earlier in the day with Ban's "post-Gaddafi" adviser Ian Martin.
While the photographs were good, they were no better than those in the recent World Press Photo exhibit, which drew far fewer Ban Administration officials. That exhibit, still up but roped off in the GA lobby, was tagged with a sign saying that its display did not represent UN endorsement.
In the Yonhap awards, a top prize went to AP photos of cholera in Haiti - without a trace of irony, even though reports have essentially established that it was the UN, through Nepalese peacekeepers, which introduced this cholera epidemic into Haiti.
A $10,000 award was given to the UN Foundation, whose representative in turn thanks Ban's "deputy" chief of staff Kim Won-soo. The Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan was conspicuously present; her Turkish counterpart arrived later and told Inner City Press his view of Ban's Palmer report on last year's Gaza flotilla: on background, of course.
Meanwhile one wondered where Ban and his envoy Al Khatib were during the crucial hours in Tripoli, and whether answers will be provided about UN vehicles illegally moving cassiterite in the Congo, or deaths and ethnic firings in Sudan. Monday night the noodles were excellent -- but where's the beef? Watch this site.
Footnote: even in the South Korea-heavy atmosphere Monday night, Inner City Press' longstanding questions about the UN post Ban gave to Samuel Koo during his recent stay in Seoul went unanswered. Ban's Office of the Spokesperson has twice refused to answer, referring the Press to UNEP, which as noted hasn't answered. We understand Koo's wife is a musician - but the lack of transparency has us playing the blues.