On DPRK Test, Ban Says He Talks With All Parties, But Admits Not North Korea

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 12 – Alongside the nuclear test in North Korea, Monday evening UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appeared at the Council on Foreign Relations on Park Avenue in New York.

  Ban said he had two main issues: Syria and climate change. He said the North Korea, or the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as he called it, could be asked about afterward along with Mali, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (on which no questions at all were selected at CFR).

  When moderator Christiane Amanpour asked him who he speaks to in North Korea, Ban admitted: no one. He said that the North Koreans don't talk on the phone with anyone outside. 

  But what then was that smart phone Kim Jong-un was photographed with? And what about Bill Richardson? Google?

  The CFR session ended with a question from the chair of Ban's own Democracy Fund, after Ban was allowed to dodge a question about the UN's failure in Sri Lanka. (Inner City Press was there; no questions on DR Congo or Sudan were allowed, only CFR dues-paying members.)

   Late Monday night, New York time, news circulated first on Twitter about the nuclear test. By 11 pm some knew of a Security Council meeting set for 9 am on Tuesday.

   The South Korean mission, which holds the Security Council presidency for February, sent out an e-mail about the meeting and that their foreign minister, Ban's previous post, would speak to the press at the Council takeout after that meeting. (Inner City Press will cover the meeting and stakeout, live.)

  But even before that announcement, Ban Ki-moon put out a statement calling North Korea's defiance “deplorable” and saying that he “remains in close contact with all concerned parties.”

  So North Korea itself is NOT a “concerned party”? Because Ban had just admitted he is not any any contact, much less close contact, with North Korea. Should a diplomat be found who IS in such contact? Watch this site.

Footnote: At CFR Ban said he'll be in Washington February 13 and 14. Will he still go, and if so, what will his talking points be? Will the DRC, where the UN actually has a $1 billion a year peacekeeping mission, be shunted out of even the read-out “highlights,” as it was from Ban's doling of lunch and quotes to his UN Censorship Alliance, UNCA, on February 7?

   Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA, asked for a transcript and was told no. DRC was discussed but some was off the record; apparently only UNCA's 13 opaque apostles are trusted by Ban. We'll see.

At CFR, Ban Ki-moon Is All About Syria, Stonewalls on Sri Lanka & UN Corruption

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 11 – It was carefully scripted, when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday evening. 

  It was set up to only take questions from dues-paying CFR members, chosen by Christiane Amanpour after ten minutes of her own questions.

  But when two unexpected questions were raised -- about the UN's failure in Sri Lanka and what it learned from the so-called Petrie Report, and about the UN's lack of transparency and hiring of some incompetent high officials under Ban -- the questions simply weren't answered.

  And neither the softball Sri Lanka questioner nor Amanpour followed up. Ban answered the Sri Lanka question by talking about Mali, then praised the questioner (who had refused to disclose even the topics of his meeting with Ban, or his organization's position on Ban's UN moving to use drones).

  The session ended with a question chosen from the chair of Ban's own Democracy Fund. It was like Ban's lunch of the lost last week, with the 13 opaque apostles of UNCA. 

  There, as at CFR, the topic of the UN bringing cholera into Haiti wasn't raised, as Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky tersely disclosed to Inner City Press on February 8. It was Syria, Syria, Syria. And all to what end?

   One good question asked by Amanpour was who in North Korean Ban has spoken to. No one, as it turns out. Ban says the North Koreans don't speak to any outside by telephone. Then what is the smart phone Kim Jong-Un was seen with for?

   Ban said he is going to Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. 

  A questioner CFR member from the UN press corps, who has hissed that only UNCA and not FUNCA, the Free UN Coalition for Access launched after UNCA tried expelling journalists from the UN, was called on and said that Congress, apparently as a whole, doesn't like foreigners. Tell that to Chuck Hagel.

   Down in Washington, one wonders if Ban will be asked about the waste and fraud in his UMOJA program, and the memo exclusively published by Inner City Press today complaining that Ban's Office of Internal Oversight Services dropped its investigation. And will the session and questions, and requirement of answers, be fairer than Monday at CFR? We'll see.

Footnote: at other CFR events, similarly attended, Inner City Press as a non CFR member journalists has gotten questions in. But Amanpour announced from the start it would be members only. In the front row was Ban's political adviser Jeffrey Feltman, and the president of his partner in censorship, also a CFR member. 

  That this UN Censorship Alliance or UNCA has most recently mocked an alleged victim of sexual harassment , including with a flyer posted on the door of Inner City Press' UN cubicle office on February 8 and still up late on February 11 after the CFR event, while tearing down FUNCA flyers about free speech and reform, has not been acted on. But it will be raised. Watch this site.

UNSC To Belatedly Meet Jan 3 on Central African Republic, & Yemen

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, January 2, updated -- As the US, France, China and other evacuated their citizens from Central African Republic, and the UN pulled out all of its international staff, the UN Security Council has not held a meeting about CAR since December 19.

On January 2 as each Security Council member came to meet with January's Council president Pakistan, Inner City Press asked when they might at least get a briefing about the Seleka rebels' advance on Bangui.

French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud said there "could" be a meeting, but it's "the regional organizations that are in charge." This was not the approach taken when the M23 rebels moved on Goma; so much for consistency.

Inner City Press asked US Deputy Permanent Representative Rosemary DiCarlo is there would be a Council meeting about the Central African Republic before the regular, pre-scheduled one about the UN's political mission there -- all of whose international staff have been removed.

Ambassador DiCarlo told Inner City Press, ""I think there will be one." Later other diplomats confirmed a briefing for January 3 in the afternoon, after the Council meets to adopt its program of work for January.

  One of the new Council members, more open than the rest, told Inner City Press exclusively that the Thursday afternoon Council session will also concern Yemen, and a possible Council trip there.

  On Central African Republic, at Wednesday's UN noon briefing, the first since December 21, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed that all UN international staff were out of the country, but said that envoy Margaret Vogt is in touch with the Department of Political Affairs. 

  But is she in touch with Bozize? What is the UN's role now? What has this political mission being doing?* [See below.]

Footnote: All of the five new Security Council members sent their Permanent Representatives for bilateral meetings with January's President, Pakistan's Permanent Representative Masood Khan.

 This was true for two of the Council's Permanent Five members. Chinese Permanent Representative Li Baodong stopped and noted Kim Jong Un's overture to South Korea, saying that it is important to facilitate better relations on the Peninsula.

 Some might say, this make follow up on the Council's elements to the press about the launch less likely. Watch this site.

Update of 3:40 pm -- after publication, this came in:

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 3:33 PM
Subject: Questions
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com

On the Central African Republic: But is she in touch with Bozize? What is the UN's role now? What has this political mission being doing?

As made clear at the noon briefing, while as a security precaution, international staff have now all been temporarily relocated outside the country, we remain engaged in efforts to resolve the crisis. The Special Representative has remained in close dialogue with the key parties in the Central African Republic and the region and has offered support to political negotiations.

 

  We publish this ten minutes after receipt - and, we'll see. Watch this site.