On North Korea Sanctions, Some Bring Up Human Rights But Not Rodman in UN Security Council Consultations

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and sanctions on it were behind closed doors the topics of a UN Security Council meeting on May 20. Afterward sanctions committee chair Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg emerged to provide a careful summary to the press.

  She said there was discussion of "implementation assistance notices" and of the ship stopped in Panama. Some members brought up human rights -- as an indication of the DPRK's attitude toward its obligations, she hastened to add.

  Inner City Press asked Lucas when other members states might get briefed -- June -- and if there was any further discussion of luxury goods and, yes, Dennis Rodman.

Flash back:  after Dennis Rodman's last strip to North Korea, bearing as gifts for Kim Jong-un a mink coat, Jameson and his own brand of vodka, on January 24 Inner City Press asked Lucas if this level of gift was too low for consideration by the committee. Video here and embedded below.

  No, Lucas said, "this is not too low." She said that "luxury goods are on the sanctions list, there are cases where luxury cases have been stopped and those cases have been referred to the committee... The feeling of the Council is that with DPRK, if you have an embargo on luxury goods this is going to hurt the leading parties."

  (The gaggle outside the Committee meeting was on the record, with digital audio recorders and now as before, small cameras.)

  She said the Rodman case had not arisen in the closed door January 24 meeting of the committee, which focused on an "incident report" about the ship from Cuba to North Korea stopped in Panama, and about scheduling. 

 (Click here for Inner City Press' report from earlier about the Democratic People Republic of Korea Ambassador Sin Son Ho's UN press conference, at which Inner City Press asked about Ban Ki-moon's call to South Korea's president, which the UN has refused to read-out.)

  But if reports are true that the Obama administration, miffed at Rodman's visits, is investigating his gifts to Kim Jong-un, the US is a leading member of the UN's sanctions committee. So soon the US will either put up or shut up. Would it be a slam dunk? Who knows. But here's Exhibit A, on Twitter. Watch this site.

   

On Dennis Rodman Gifts to Kim Jong-un, UN's North Korea Sanctions Chair Tells ICP "Not Too Low," Not Raised - Yet?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 24 -- After Dennis Rodman's recent trip to North Korea, bearing as gifts for Kim Jong-un a mink coat, Jameson and his own brand of vodka, on January 24 Inner City Press asked the UN's DPRK Sanctions committee chair Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg if this level of gift was too low for consideration by the committee. Video here.

  No, Lucas said, "this is not too low." She said that "luxury goods are on the sanctions list, there are cases where luxury cases have been stopped and those cases have been referred to the committee... The feeling of the Council is that with DPRK, if you have an embargo on luxury goods this is going to hurt the leading parties."

  She said the Rodman case had not arisen in the closed door January 24 meeting of the committee, which focused on an "incident report" about the ship from Cuba to North Korea stopped in Panama, and about scheduling. 

 (Click here for Inner City Press' report from earlier today about the Democratic People Republic of Korea Ambassador Sin Son Ho's UN press conference, at which Inner City Press asked about Ban Ki-moon's call to South Korea's president, which the UN has refused to read-out.)

  But if reports are true that the Obama administration, miffed at Rodman's visits, is investigating his gifts to Kim Jong-un, the US is a leading member of the UN's sanctions committee. So soon the US will either put up or shut up. Would it be a slam dunk? Who knows. But here's Exhibit A, on Twitter. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Of North Korea Chemical Weapons Gear & Luxury Goods, Budget Fights & South Sudan Troop Contributing Countries

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 20 -- It was the Friday before Christmas when the UN's North Korea sanctions committee met. Afterward chairperson Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg emerged and said the report on the Cuba / Panama ship is not yet ready, that they had discussed three "older" cases.

  Two involved Syria, but not chemical weapons components, rather protective gear for chemical weapons. There were two cases of luxury goods, she said, but little discussion of them. She called them minor.

  One thought of Dennis Rodman. But Inner City Press asked Lucas when it was, she thought the ship report might be ready. She said she still hoped for the end of 2013. There are eleven days left.

  Lucas noted that beginning January 1 there will be five female Permanent Representatives in the Security Council's 15 seats, with the possibility of going up to six. In the General Assembly, she said, there are now 30 female Permanent Representatives, of 193, the highest level ever.

  She said women should be involved with peace and security are discussed. Inner City Press wonders: would more women on the Council have pushed UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous to stop covering up the Congolese Army's mass rapes in Minova? We'll see.

  Elsewhere in the North Lawn building, the UN budget fight was heating up, with a "long weekend" to come. Inner City Press asked about it at the day's noon briefing and got something of an answer, which it will paste below for now. We'll have more.

  On the way to the North Korea meeting, UN Peacekeeping's closed door meeting with Troop Contributing Countries on South Sudan was letting out. Sources told Inner City Press that while some peacekeepers "have been evacuated, some were not able to get out."

UN Peacekeeping or the UN Spokesperson's office should be providing more information, but instead the Spokesperson has announced no briefing next week. And Ladsous' DPKOdribbles information, often false or incomplete, only to handpicked scribes who will provide positive coverage. So what will happen in coming days and, in the case of the North Korea ship, by the end of the year? Watch this site.

Subject: your question on the ACABQ
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 1:57 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

The Secretary-General has expressed the view that the General Assembly may wish to give consideration to the service of the members of the Advisory Committee becoming available full time.

Given the volume and complexity of the issues before it, consideration could be given as to whether the present working arrangements of the Advisory Committee are any longer optimal to enable the Committee to maximize its utilization of the expertise of its members in support of the requirements of the General Assembly and other governing bodies.

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On DPRK, UN Draft Has Exemption for Diplomats' UN Travel, Zeroes in on Yachts, Jewelry

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 -- Two hours after US Ambassador Susan Rice circulated a draft resolution on North Korea's February 12 nuclear test to UN Security Council members, a self described “Security Council Diplomat Familiar With the Negotiations” (or Text) described and answered questions about the text.

The diplomat, dubbed SCDFWN or, here, “ScudFawn” said among other things that the draft resolution has precedent setting travel elements -- to kick out of countries anyone working for particular entities -- as well as banking provision based on Iran sanctions.

ScudFawn said the draft deals with North Korean diplomats “who abuse their diplomatic privileges.”

Inner City Press asked ScudFawn if this might apply to Democratic People's Republic of Korea diplomats at the United Nations, and how that could be consisted with the UN's Host Country Agreement.

ScudFawn, familiar with the text, answered that the draft has a line on this issue, stating that nothing in the travel bans or kick out of territory provisions can be read as impacting North Korean diplomats' travel to UN headquarters.

But once in New York, it seems, violations of the Vienna Convention such as abuse of diplomatic pouches could result in expulsion.

In provision likely to be widely reported, ScudFawn said the draft is more specific about luxury goods, listing for example jewelry and yachts.

One imagines, too, joked about the trip of Dennis Rodman. At last night's Council on Foreign Relations session with Michael Posner, reported by Inner City Press, Posner was asked about Rodman's trip. Posner said he liked Rodman when he was with the Chicago Bulls, that's it. Rim shot, no rebound. Watch this site.

Posner Claims Obama on Sri Lanka Is Success, Wal-Mart's NYU Safe Space?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 4 -- When Michael H. Posner, soon to leave the US State Department's top human rights post, spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday evening he bragged about the Obama administration's rights work in Myanmar, Egypt and even Bahrain.

  Inner City Press asked Posner about the Obama administration's failure to act in 2009 as 40,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka, and only recently moving on UN Human Rights Council resolutions that seem unlikely to hold anyone in the Rajapaksa brothers' government to account.

  Posner said, instead, that Sri Lanka is a success because it shows that the administration's thinking can evolve if a government doesn't make progress. But what about the 40,000 killed?

  Posner recounted that recently Jane B. Zimmerman from his office, along with the Department of Defense's Vikram Singh, went to Sri Lanka and ostensibly talked truth to power.

  Meanwhile, as shown by Inner City Press, Sri Lankan military leader Shavendra Silva was giving a talk before US Marines, and hobnobbing with Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

  Posner acknowledged that the US did not support, more closely after the bloodbath on the beach, any commission of inquiry. In another answer, he said that for the US, or Obama, pursuing national security and human right is the same thing. 

 This seems unlikely, taking the relative silence on the crackdown on opponents and tweeters there as an example.

   Most of the questioners, selected by Slate's Jacob Weisberg, were already known to Posner. He was asked about labor rights in Myanmar, and gave a preview of what he'll say in his next job at NYU's Stern School of Business.

  There, he said, he wants to create a “safe space” for businesses to talk. Doesn't the UN's Global Compact already do that? There's more than enough safe space for businesses.

  Posner did chide the American Chamber of Commerce for opposing moves to expand workers' rights in China. When asked about Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea, he quipped that he liked Rodman when he was with the Chicago Bulls, since he's a fan.

   He noted that of the 100 largest economies in the world, 50 are businesses. He said “we have an ambassador to Benin, but no ambassador to Wal-Mart.” But the Obama administration now has an ambassador FROM Wal-Mart, just as it has one from Citigroup in Jack Lew. Safe space, indeed. Watch this site.